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I agree. Its bad enough for the illegals to be telling their lies and the news media plays right into their hands and forces the world to hear it. Not me.
You don't even have to go to a traditional hospital to receive chemo, since there are many private outpatient chemo centers across the nation, most of them in large cities. Certainly, one can receive an MRI or CT after coming to Emergency, but in that case, you've probably suffered a traumatic injury and have been rushed through the waiting area for immediate diagnosis and treatment. You're not sitting around in the waiting room with the great unwashed. (Yes, I'm being facetious.) And, if you don't need to be rushed through the double swinging doors post haste, then you probably don't belong in the Emergency Department at all.
So, unless you're an emergency physician, nurse, tech, or support staff member, I suggest you find another line of argument.
Your point is what? Do you understand that a private physician may send a patient to the ER? If a child falls and there is a chance his arm is broken, the attending is probably going to tell the family to take the child to the ER for X-rays and further treatment if necessary. If someone suffers a serious facial cut, their physician may refer them to the ER so the cut can be sutured by a plastic surgeon. It is not at all unusual to have someone wait in an ER waiting room to have an MRI. Not all MRIs are done under emergency circumstances.
Clearly, there a times when actual Americans and legal residents need to make use of the Emergency Room. Instead of shuttling them off to various other locales , the illegal aliens who are cluttering up said ERs need to be returned to their home countries.
...you should realize there are mandates requiring hospitals to treat ALL emergencies. Often, emergency treatment involves a series of tests administered in various locations of the hospital. Furthermore, ambulances are required to take patients to the nearest hospital, whether public or private.
While private hospitals may not turn away an emergency based on ability to pay, they are under no obligation to provide on-going care once the patient is stable.
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Originally Posted by andreabeth
What private physician are you going to see if you wake up at 2 AM covered in hives due to an allergic reaction to a medication?
If you are having trouble breathing, then you are going to call for an ambulance which will take you to the nearest emergency department, where you will rushed through the waiting room past all the illegals and into a room where a physician will immediately begin treatment. If it is a simple case of hives, you will contact the prescribing physician's service, wait for a return call, and listen carefully to his instructions after he assesses your condition. It's likely that he will advise you to take a Benadryl and come in first thing in the morning.
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Clearly, there a times when actual Americans and legal residents need to make use of the Emergency Room. Instead of shuttling them off to various other locales , the illegal aliens who are cluttering up said ERs need to be returned to their home countries.
I won't argue with you here. The problem of indigent patients, including illegal immigrants, in EDs is huge. Uninsured and under-insured people of all stripes have become accustomed to receiving care for chronic health conditions through the ED, which makes it difficult for people with real emergencies to receive the care they need. But, when you write that shuttling patients off to other locales is a problem, I think you show a fundamental misunderstanding of how emergency medicine works. The entire point is to stabilize, transport, dismiss, or admit to make room for the next emergency.
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That's not what the American Society of Clinical Oncology says.
Thank you for a brilliant example of the danger of Google, especially in the hands of someone who is so eager to win a debate that he fails to comprehend the the information to which he has linked. If you had read further than the title, you would have noticed that the research abstract is summarizing the results of a chemotherapy toxicity study. The sample population was drawn from emergency department patients. In other words, chemo patients are heading to the ED post-treatment. The study evaluates which chemotherapy protocols are most likely to land patients in emergency treatment for toxicity. In no way, shape, or form does this article indicate that chemotherapy is being administered in the ED.
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Do you understand that a private physician may send a patient to the ER? If a child falls and there is a chance his arm is broken, the attending is probably going to tell the family to take the child to the ER for X-rays and further treatment if necessary. If someone suffers a serious facial cut, their physician may refer them to the ER so the cut can be sutured by a plastic surgeon. It is not at all unusual to have someone wait in an ER waiting room to have an MRI. Not all MRIs are done under emergency circumstances.
Yes, I understand that a private physician may refer a patient for emergency care, but even a broken arm doesn't necessarily mean a trip to the hospital. Most pediatricians can splint an uncomplicated fracture and refer you directly to a orthopedist for follow-up. Believe it or not, pediatricians can suture, too!
As far as an MRI is concerned, I will concede that small towns probably have one option, and it's the hospital. On the other hand, most metropolitan regions have a number of free-standing MRI centers that can provide this service, and your physician can give you a referral.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 10-18-2009 at 02:23 PM..
And how much will that copay be for that ambulance ride just to use the ER? I've had to do that before btw and an ambulance driver is the one who filled me in on it. He said the only way around the waiting room full of Illegals was to drive down the street and call 911. It's a very pricey work around to use a facility.
Of course they're not; however, your posts imply that the only way to gain entry to a hospital is through Emergency, and that is not the case, nor is it the case that you must go to a public hospital if your condition warrants emergency care. All major cities have private hospitals, and nearly all come equipped with emergency departments.
Other than when my son was transported via helicopter to Johns Hopkins for a CT following a head injury (he's fine, thanks), my family has always received treatment through private physicians, outpatient treatment centers, or small, private hospitals. If you are insured, these options are probably available to you, too, and it would solve your problem of having to spend any time at all with indigent patients in the waiting area of an inner city public hospital.
Just thought you should know, so you can avoid situations that obviously make you uncomfortable.
This is not going to work. You most likely will encounter illegal aliens (since this is the illegal immigration forum they will be our 'indigent patients') in the ER waiting rooms of the finest hospitals in the US, be it Cedars Sinai in LA or the Mayo Clinic. The EMTALA is why.
Have you heard of EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) and do you understand how it works? The EMTALA was signed into law as part of as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986. In a nutshell, the EMTALA mandates the following:
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Any patient who "comes to the emergency department" requesting "examination or treatment for a medical condition" must be provided with "an appropriate medical screening examination" to determine if he is suffering from an "emergency medical condition". If he is, then the hospital is obligated to either provide him with treatment until he is stable or to transfer him to another hospital in conformance with the statute's directives
The kicker is the phrase 'emergency medical condition'. In the hands of a malpractice attorney, anything can be turned into an 'emergency medical condition'- a cold, a bruise where you whacked your hand with a hammer, a hangnail. Hospitals/ ERs know this. It is safer from a medico-legal point of view (and financial point of view) to simply see anyone who shows up in the ER no matter what their complaint is. ER staff would probably evaluate someone who had no complaint at all and simply came to the waiting room to watch TV, just to be on the safe side. Once everyone agreed that he was OK, he could then resume watching American Idol.
Any woman who shows up in labor is considered an emergency and must be admitted or, if the hospital does not have a labor and delivery unit, transferred to one that does.
EMTALA applies only to "participating hospitals" -- i.e., any hospital that accepts payment for Medicare/Medicaid patients.
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In practical terms, this means that it applies to virtually all hospitals in the U.S., with the exception of the Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children and many military hospitals. Its provisions apply to all patients, and not just to Medicare patients.
( I believe Indian Health Service Hospitals and Va hospitals are also exempt. I strongly suspect that if an illegal were to show up at one of the above mentioned hospitals, they would still treat him or stabilize him prior to transfer. The fallout from the activists and ethnic advocacy groups would be far more damaging than the time and expense of trying to explain to the illegal that a cold is not an emergency and directing him to another hospital.
The bottom line is that almost any hospital in the US that has an ER is obligated to evaluate and treat anyone who walks through the door.
Your small, private hospital is no guarantee that you are not going to encounter a bunch of illegals. If that small, private hospital accepts Medicare or Medicaid patients, then they are obligated to treat anyone and everyone in their ER, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Private physicians and outpatient emergency centers can only treat conditions up to a certain level of severity. Beyond that, you simply need to go to an ER.
of course it's crazy for illegals to be receiving all that medical care and aid. they are illegal and jumped the border. unless they were fleeing burning at the stake or roasting alive or some heinous torture, there isn't really an excuse.
i am biased though because i have sympathy for starving north koreans who try to cross into china. my reasoning is they are actually starving. i have yet to see a skin and bones mexican or illegal alien.
And how much will that copay be for that ambulance ride just to use the ER? I've had to do that before btw and an ambulance driver is the one who filled me in on it. He said the only way around the waiting room full of Illegals was to drive down the street and call 911. It's a very pricey work around to use a facility.
It's usually much less expensive to have a private physician administer treatment, but many people just assume that some things require a trip to ED. To use two previous examples, private physicians can reduce fractures and suture wounds.
Your point is what? Do you understand that a private physician may send a patient to the ER? If a child falls and there is a chance his arm is broken, the attending is probably going to tell the family to take the child to the ER for X-rays and further treatment if necessary. If someone suffers a serious facial cut, their physician may refer them to the ER so the cut can be sutured by a plastic surgeon. It is not at all unusual to have someone wait in an ER waiting room to have an MRI. Not all MRIs are done under emergency circumstances.
Clearly, there a times when actual Americans and legal residents need to make use of the Emergency Room. Instead of shuttling them off to various other locales , the illegal aliens who are cluttering up said ERs need to be returned to their home countries.
In March, I took my dad to the hospital because he had developed a mysterious rash. Rather than taking him to the nearest hospital, I drove him across town to the hospital where he had received his cancer treatments. The diagnosis was shingles, which of course is contagious. Due to his advanced cancer, they wanted to assign him to a room on the oncology ward, but there were no private rooms available. My dad remained in an isolated room inside the ER for almost 3 days before he was assigned a room on the ward. Needless to say, I got my fill of the ER, and those seeking treatment.
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