Well, no.
I agree entirely for the patients who need high-level care: urgent cardiac catheterization/angioplasty; high-risk OB; chemotherapy; emergent neurosurgery.
But a lot of community hospitalizations fall short of this.
Grandpa’s COPD flares. Two days of IV antibiotics, respiratory treatments, general tuneup and home.
Great-grandma is acutely confused. Ooops, she has a UTI. IV antibiotics, careful hydration and nursing, home (or previous care facility) by Monday afternoon.
Hunter Bob is brought in because he got lost/ran out of gas and is modestly hypothermic. Or, maybe he veered into a ditch, rolled his truck, hit his head. Overnight and home.
Dad has chest pain after shoveling snow. EKG and labs in ER are equivocal. Overnight monitoring and re-check labs; probably home in the morning with a cardiologist evaluation next week.
Teenage Tom does something stupid involving alcohol/drugs/his truck and fortunately needs only overnight observation and not ICU care while he comes down.
Sarah didn’t take her seizure meds, again, and spent too long outdoors until she was picked up. IV fluids for the kidneys, get seizure meds back on board, home in 48 hours
Aunt Edith got her chemo in the big city Wednesday, and is due back next Wednesday. It’s no Friday night and it’s snowing hard. She has a low-grade temp and feels rotten. She might well need a 100-mile transport back to the major medical center…or, she might not. Or, the roads might not be open, and the helicopter grounded.
You get the idea.
A country as rich as ours should be able to provide adequate rural health care for its people.
And, as far as the “I’m sick of their whining”…well, me too. (See my previous rants re: overheard conversations at the Redneck Cafe) (Kidding! Those were before the Great Purge)
But seriously: as a smarter, better man than I once said, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
–sutton
who is not a fan of his species’ susceptibility to propaganda. Even the ones of average intelligence