desertboom:
All the people abusing the poster have not had bad experience with the Nigeria Doctors and hospitals.

Please, pray not to get sick, pray so your relations or love ones don't sick, all of you should pray to have money for abroad medical trip if not. . .

I just loss my Aunt because of what OP is trying to narrate. My Aunt was in the hospital for over 4 days without doctor's attention, patients that needed medical attention were in the hospital and the doctor was busy with political rallies and campaign. She was transferred to another hospital due to lack of care, the diseases had eaten deep the new doctor said it's late and it's a 50-50 chance. It was not up to 4 days she died. My aunt that walk with her legs to the hospital was carried out with a casket. Just like that my Aunty gave up the ghost.

Many Nigerian doctors didn't have passion for the career but was forced by their parents and relatives, maybe because of prestige, fame and money. How can a doctor forget about patients but pay so much attention to politics? Greed, corruption, insensitivity, pride is the order of the day.

Fellow Nigerians, pray not to get sick because if you do and does not have money for oversea that is when you'll see reality of the Nigeria state. Just pray

I have heard this story over and over again
Patients walk in with their two legs and leave through the mortuary at the back of an ambulance
That is nigerian hospital for you
Not only do many not have the passion,many didn't even qualify to be there in the first place let alone graduate

Redoil:
Oddly and saddly babyosis is not far from the truth. But why have she decided to wash our dirty pants in public?

At least you were truthful

babyosisi:


What I described cuts across the whole of Nigeria ,I couldn't be bothered by those who deny it.

I agree that it does.

the op is 100% right in what she is saying , am really suprised at these people defending nigerian health system, I have been to govt owned hospitals and I can conclude here that the problem is not funding but non-challant and untactful attitude of health practitioners themselves, a doctor comes late any time he wants, he never keeps to time if he says he will be around by 12pm give him another 2hrs, or are we to talk about the nurses themselves? abeg we get better problem.

Zane2point4:
the op is 100% right in what she is saying , am really suprised at these people defending nigerian health system, I have been to govt owned hospitals and I can conclude here that the problem is not funding but non-challant and untactful attitude of health practitioners themselves, a doctor comes late any time he wants, he never keeps to time if he says he will be around by 12pm give him another 2hrs, or are we to talk about the nurses themselves? abeg we get better problem.

Don't mind them
Looks like I am talking to people who have never been sick or had a sick relative
Do you know they have no set time for ward rounds?
That wasn't the case back in the days
Today anything goes
When my relative was admitted in their so called premier hospital,you had to show up before 6 AM and wait to see and speak with their almighty doctors,nurses don't even know when they will show up
Can you imagine that
And they are supposed to be a team working together to treat patients yet the right hand has no clue what the left is doing
They could come at 7, at 9 at 3 pm or not at all
God help you and you go to the toilet to poo poo or go to the canteen to buy moi moi,that could be when they come
Another day wasted
Very disorganized folks

the thing is that our Nigerian doctors don't have an iota of compassion, all they are after is money, they easily go on strike, they treat women in Labour anyhow, they guess drugs or give incomplete drugs.

back to police report; maybe we should all start carrying police reports like an identification card, especially this election period. just leave the date blank till it's time to fill it up.

the thing is that our Nigerian doctors don't have an iota of compassion, all they are after is money, they easily go on strike, they treat women in Labour anyhow, they guess drugs or give incomplete drugs.

back to police report; maybe we should all start carrying police reports like an identification card, especially this election period. just leave the date blank till it's time to fill it up.

gun wounds could be treated at home with common hot knife to catarise the wound, a clinic or hospital could do better.

babyosisi:


Looks like I hit a nerve
Seeking legal redress in Nigeria?
You see the thing wey I dey talk
Go and wake all the people you have killed that are now in their graves to seek legal recourse

Come to which consulting room ?
Your mortuary entrance you mean

The way u talk eh, its definitely better u reside whr u say u do. I still wonder d purpose of this thread. smh

babyosisi:


I was present at a hospital room in the best FG hospital in Nigeria when a patient was wheeled in,the victim of 3rd degree burns from an oil tanker explosion
As soon as he was brought to the room,the nurse started screaming,please you people should take this man somewhere o
He will soon die here
I was like what?
The man has burns
He can hear everything you are saying,how heartless can you be
Said all that under my breathe

This nurse abandoned the patient
I kept waiting for them to at least put an oxygen mask on him
Who sai
Patient stayed there ,burns all over for a good 30 or 45 minutes ,who knows how long he was at the out patient department before being admitted
Finally they wheeled him out perhaps to go and die somewhere else
This is the tertiary center o
And all that time no single doctor came by
Not even a house officer,I guess they were all relaxing somewhere and couldn't be disturbed
Who asked him to get burns after hours

. My Sister that was the exact reaction we got from the nurses, immediately we brought them in cos the explosion gutted the whole family, all the nurses started screaming and gathering around them. Compounding their issues by blocking ventilation and getting them more scared. When I began yelling like a mad woman @ them for their incompetence, they all took to their heelsm leaving me to search for the doctors all by myself. Haven't yet recovered from the shock, cos they passed last year. And the truth is they were not supposed to die if they were handled properly. And ofcourse we had to pay a huge bill for a service not properly rendered before transfering the remaiming surviving family members to another hospital. BTW, they refused me bringing a plastic surgeon to review them after he travelled a long distance from another state! Infact, I pray that I will not be @ the mercy of any health personnel till am ripe and set to take a bow.

babyosisi:


Sadly that is the truth
Anyone getting a wedgie over the topic should pray not to come down with any major illness or with an emergency situation
If you do,the chances that you won't make it far outweigh the chances of making it by far
The truth is bitter but it cannot be questioned

Well, no one prays to come down with any emergency ill health, but we do. A personal experience. Sometime back, I was rushed to the emergency with one of the worst gynae conditions any dr worldwide will tell ya- a ruptured ectopic.
I was in shock, and arrested severally. I was saved by drs, nurses, even attendants in d same General hospitals ya'all are castigating.
Till date, anytime I see the people who saved my life, I always want to hug them. But maybe I feel this much gratitude because I'm a health worker myself and didn't just feel they were only doing what they're being paid to do. But rather see the sacrifices they went out of their way to make to ensure I lived, dspite the limitations I know exist in the system.
Thank you my ever ready naija docs. God bless ya. Your work is a seed you sow which you will reap. I believe I reaped mine when God still allowed me to live despite an EBL- estimated blood loss of more than 2.5L.
Meanwhile on a lighter note, today is PLAB 1 exams, for those drs that are tired of the constant putting down by some ignorant folks. Its never too late, especially whem youvthink you just about had it upto here

babyosisi:


Looks like I hit a nerve
Seeking legal redress in Nigeria?
You see the thing wey I dey talk
Go and wake all the people you have killed that are now in their graves to seek legal recourse

Come to which consulting room ?
Your mortuary entrance you mean

Hehehhe. Hit a nerve? Come on madam don't flatter yourself. Nerve ko wire ni
I nor send you!u are very insignificant to me. So why would ur beserk ranting mean anytin to me

As a health care provider, I know my worth. I know my onion. I know where am gud at and my limitations.I go to d hosp every day with the sole determination to positively affect lives in d best way I can

I have come to expect more from u madam dan mere generalization of doctors. Granted there are a few bad eggs but its not true that all doctors are wicked n callous

Its just like saying alll men are useless because ur husband cheated on u.have u gone out with all men. Haveyou encountered all d doctors in 9ja

For all of you who have lost faith in 9ja doctors,pele.wen next u have headache, go abroad and get the "bestest" treatment where they have achieved zero percent mortalities in all cases brought to them. For the wretched ones who can barely afford MB in there fones to type shitt. Pls kindly go to d nearest native doctor for all your health needs cuz it wud be extremely shameful for u to go and seek medical health from d doctors u have rightly castigated.

Better still, go write waec and jamb, apply for medicine in this our "useless" country or go to the heaven u see in the united states and study medicine

Hehehehe nerve ko wire ni!

armadeo:



Lol. This your dr Na die. Even the FBS money e wan chop.

Meanwhile say one Nigerian dr u know not most.

Imagine the doctor tell my wife say diabetes dey communicable, say my wife fit contract the condition from me through sex!!!! I fear the man. He just like money too much. Later I meet and tell am say I go report am to NMA. I bow for am ooo. FBS that time na 1k 4 times a week. The metformin he dey administer, he nor gree tell me the name.

There are serious problems wit health care delivery in Nigeria at the level of district hospital and tertiary centre. The fact is that is A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ISSUE from demand for police reports and the two should not be conflated.

There are multifactorial reasons why the healthcare is the way it is but to summarize it is simple; it is being run and staffed by Nigerians in Nigeria.In that context whether in the healthcare sector,police or elsewhere Nigerians have a bad attitude and culture from the highest level.This is alll pervasive and not peculiar to the health sector. We see it in the police ,at airports,soldiers burning buses and police stations,job applicants writing tests in stadiun and dropping dead and then being blamed with no consequences etc. What manifests in the health sector is not the disease but rather a SYMPTOM. The problem will not be solved by focusing on the sector. Asimple example. I know one acting Director at a Federal Hospital which was visited by legislators from the National Assembly. They virtually threatened he would not be confirmed in post unless they were settled. The question is where would the money to settle them come from.It is a mistake to believe that a doctors training ends with degrees. Just like athletes they need to maintain "fitness" with training which costs money.If that money is used to settle legislators what do we expect?.I would suggest every doctors should have an annual training budget of about a million naira ,does this happen


Cuban doctors have a great reputation internationally and I understand that they earn $100 a month(I struggle to believe it) .The point is they will make sacrifices if those at the top do. A situation where politicians are living large will not encourage anyone to make sacrifices.When you spend billions to feed at Aso Rock and buy a jet every other year that sends the wrong signal.Leadership must start at the TOP.


Anyway none of this has anything to do with police report demands. If the OP wanted to discuss healthcare system failings fine ,no problem but then the thread should have been titled appropriately. The healthcare system in Nigeria is not worse than any other Nigerian sector whether it be police,immigration,Fire Service,Road Safety,Army,Teachers etc

tuoyoojo:


Hehehhe. Hit a nerve? Come on madam don't flatter yourself. Nerve ko wire ni
I nor send you!u are very insignificant to me. So why would ur beserk ranting mean anytin to me

As a health care provider, I know my worth. I know my onion. I know where am gud at and my limitations.I go to d hosp every day with the sole determination to positively affect lives in d best way I can

I have come to expect more from u madam dan mere generalization of doctors. Granted there are a few bad eggs but its not true that all doctors are wicked n callous

Its just like saying alll men are useless because ur husband cheated on u.have u gone out with all men. Haveyou encountered all d doctors in 9ja

For all of you who have lost faith in 9ja doctors,pele.wen next u have headache, go abroad and get the "bestest" treatment where they have achieved zero percent mortalities in all cases brought to them. For the wretched ones who can barely afford MB in there fones to type shitt. Pls kindly go to d nearest native doctor for all your health needs cuz it wud be extremely shameful for u to go and seek medical health from d doctors u have rightly castigated.

Better still, go write waec and jamb, apply for medicine in this our "useless" country or go to the heaven u see in the united states and study medicine

Hehehehe nerve ko wire ni!

You are right though some few bad eggs have made some Nigerians lost faith in doctors. I am diabetic and I must tell you that the doctor who was previously managing my condition almost got me killed with his hopeless treatment, my sugar level was going up and up never coming downing not until I met a family friend who also is a doctor, it is this family friend that admitted me in his hospital for 4 days and brought the sugar level down to normal. Till date the sugar level is normal and sometimes for 3 days I don't go on medication. He gave me the best education about the condition. In fact some doctors are GOOD!!! I hail

9jatatafo:


You are right though some few bad eggs have made some Nigerians lost faith in doctors. I am diabetic and I must tell you that the doctor who was previously managing my condition almost got me killed with his hopeless treatment, my sugar level was going up and up never coming downing not until I met a family friend who also is a doctor, it is this family friend that admitted me in his hospital for 4 days and brought the sugar level down to normal. Till date the sugar level is normal and sometimes for 3 days I don't go on medication. He gave me the best education about the condition. In fact some doctors are GOOD!!! I hail

for 3 days u weren't on medications?! Means u are not compliant. Nd it seems u used a private hospital,so no1 to check his back. I mean his senior.

babyosisi:


Mishandled?
Hahahahaha
Is that what you heard from your babalawo?




http://allafrica.com/stories/201406110850.html

You see am
The cancer that killed her was diagnosed in the USA
If it had been an average Nigeria there will be no diagnosis and when she dies,they will blame it on a political opponent

Dora had been diagnosed in Nigeria some years earlier of cancer, but she got a contrary opinion form the US where she was told it was benign. She later however came back when the disease had already spread and even a cleaner wouldn't have missed it by then.

Regardless of your opinions, cancer is being diagnosed daily in Nigeria and some even by house officers, and confirmation is also been done daily.

@ babyosisi, I dnt knw whc hospital u are talking abt,d one I knw doctors don't jst breeze in nd out. Ward rounds hv specific time too nd it starts @ dat tym no African time. Even clinics.

ayoi:
for 3 days u weren't on medications?! Means u are not compliant. Nd it seems u used a private hospital,so no1 to check his back. I mean his senior.

Yes it is private. What I am saying is, since I met our family friend who is a doctor, with the treatment he gave me and advise on exercise and diet, I can go on for three days without medication so that my sugar level will not be too low. I am very compliant as I check my sugar level regularly

Zane2point4:
the op is 100% right in what she is saying , am really suprised at these people defending nigerian health system, I have been to govt owned hospitals and I can conclude here that the problem is not funding but non-challant and untactful attitude of health practitioners themselves, a doctor comes late any time he wants, he never keeps to time if he says he will be around by 12pm give him another 2hrs, or are we to talk about the nurses themselves? abeg we get better problem.

You probably didn't notice, but take a good look again ,those attacking the OP are health workers...

Until just 2% of nairalanders ( who are not health workers) disagree with the OP then we can conclude that the OP is not far from the truth.


As for me (and most Nigerians) we've experienced 1st hand the wickedness of these so-called health workers.

armadeo:


Sorry for your loss, however I must ask what was your aunt doing in a hospital for 4 days on admission with no dr in sight. Who then treated her for the 4 days.

It was a big and unforgettable loss to the family. No family member was there at that time, it was friends and church members that took her there. It was when she was transferred to the next place that family members were contacted. She was sick and couldn't make decisions and the doctor was busy with political campaign and rallies.

babyosisi:


I was present at a hospital room in the best FG hospital in Nigeria when a patient was wheeled in,the victim of 3rd degree burns from an oil tanker explosion

Sad. Third degree burns over a large percentage of the body area usually have a poor prognosis.

Once had a relative of a family friend with 3rd degree burns over 50% of her body. Kerosene explosion. Did not make it.(She ended up in the hospital where I was doing my house job at the time.Sigh).

As soon as he was brought to the room,the nurse started screaming,please you people should take this man somewhere o
He will soon die here
I was like what?
The man has burns
He can hear everything you are saying,how heartless can you be
Said all that under my breathe

Yes...she said that because.....our hospitals are not fully equipped to take care of burns patients.Reason being that we have seriously limited health care funding.

Right now....no tertiary hospital in Nigeria has a SPECIALIZED burns unit. (I am not talking about ICU....I am talking about a high dependency ward completely sealed , sterile,with health workers dressed like it is a operating theater).

Also, most tertiary hospitals do not have the basic equipment needed to save a burns patient. For a burns patient....you need a re-breatheable Oxygen mask to help with airway and breathing.......not nasal prongs. Not easy to come by....because the hospital probably does not have it.

Again funding is the issue.

And all that time no single doctor came by
Not even a house officer,I guess they were all relaxing somewhere and couldn't be disturbed
Who asked him to get burns after hours

Now that's not right.

ebosse:




You probably didn't notice, but take a good look again ,those attacking the OP are health workers...

Until just 2% of nairalanders ( who are not health workers) disagree with the OP then we can conclude that the OP is not far from the truth.


As for me (and most Nigerians) we've experienced 1st hand the wickedness of these so-called health workers.

Softly, softly....we health workers are not all wicked.

eyinjuege:


Dora had been diagnosed in Nigeria some years earlier of cancer, but she got a contrary opinion form the US where she was told it was benign. She later however came back when the disease had already spread and even a cleaner wouldn't have missed it by then.

Regardless of your opinions, cancer is being diagnosed daily in Nigeria and some even by house officers, and confirmation is also been done daily.

Proof?
You don't know her situation more than her family do you
She was misdiagnosed in Nigeria of an enrirely different illness years ago in Nigeria and the correct diagnosis of IBS was made in the UK
You are mixing and confusing two separate stories
Read the link I gave earlier

babyosisi:


Doctors in Nigeria are generally heartless
They care nothing about their patients,human lives mean nothing to them and their nurses
The reception has a standing order not to let anyone without the stipulated thousands get past the outpatient department no matter how sick
All they are after is how much they milk from the ignorant helpless citizens
A nigerian doctor will keep a patient for weeks and pour infusion ( drip) down their arms endlessly without a diagnosis
Diagnosing your illness is not a priority,many don't care about that,they are after the payment of the bills
That's why a patient with a treatable ailment will walk in with both legs and leave in a casket
Butchers many of them

In all my years living and working in the USA I have never heard of a single woman I know or a woman known by anyone I know die while having a baby but in Nigeria it's a minute by minute occurrence.
People with normal uncomplicated pregnancies die daily at childbirth in nigerian hospitals due to negligence and malpractice and the families have no recourse.


Ever wonder why these folks don't let patients in on what is ailing them?
Ever wonder why they scratch off the names on the medication bottles they give you?
Ever wonder why they get angry when a concerned doctor calls to chat about a patient in their care and course of treatment?

The same corruption,heartlessness and greed that has permeated every sector of Nigeria is also rife in the hospitals
Why should anyone be surprised?

....And it is the fault of a Nigerian doctor that those pregnant women die shey? The patients don't have their faults?
Is it the practice of d women in USA to stay at home in obstructed labour for 2days and decide to go to the hospital at the verge of death? Or is it the practice of people ova there to stay home and use concotion till their condition deteriorate? How many Nigerians present to hospitals early?
You say doctors in Nigeria care about the money....Pray, tell me, will you get health care in the USA without health insurance? Abi, d health insurance providers will not cover a major part of the fees.
What statistics do you have to show that patients are left undiagnosed? There are patients that require only conservative management.
So please, stop painting us bad in this country. Your points are very prejudiced.

Right now....no tertiary hospital in Nigeria has a SPECIALIZED burns unit. (I am not talking about ICU....I am talking about a high dependency ward completely sealed , sterile,with health workers dressed like it is a operating theater).

Also, most tertiary hospitals do not have the basic equipment needed to save a burns patient. For a burns patient....you need a re-breatheable Oxygen mask to help with airway and breathing......


Na wa 4u o! What do you mean by NO tertiary hospital in Nigeria have burns unit? And what do you mean that MOST tertiary hospitals don't have BASIC equipments? Haba fear God o.
How many tertiary hospitals have u been to? No offence meant o, but I think you need a reorientation about what a TERTIARY hospital is....Here @ UCH, Ibadan, there is a specialized Burns Unit and I'm sure, until you bring evidence to support otherwise that it also applies to other tertiary health centres in Nigeria.

ceyrahtlk:




....And it is the fault of a Nigerian doctor that those pregnant women die shey? The patients don't have their faults?
Is it the practice of d women in USA to stay at home in obstructed labour for 2days and decide to go to the hospital at the verge of death? Or is it the practice of people ova there to stay home and use concotion till their condition deteriorate? How many Nigerians present to hospitals early?
You say doctors in Nigeria care about the money....Pray, tell me, will you get health care in the USA without health insurance? Abi, d health insurance providers will not cover a major part of the fees.
What statistics do you have to show that patients are left undiagnosed? There are patients that require only conservative management.
So please, stop painting us bad in this country. Your points are very prejudiced.

Yes!

I have answered the only intelligent question posed
No single hospital anywhere in the USA will turn a patient who shows up at the emergency room away

.INSTSANT REBUTTAL
The YOUESSAY is not heaven.Let us not deceive ourselves

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/13/news/mn-21862

THE NATION 10% of ERs Rejected Patients, Study Finds
Health: Hundreds, including 77 in state, broke law requiring treatment regardless of ability to pay.
July 13, 2001|TED ROHRLICH and NICHOLAS RICCARDI | TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Hundreds of hospitals around the country have violated a 15-year-old federal law that requires them to provide emergency care to anyone, regardless of ability to pay, according to a federal survey of emergency room workers and a consumer group's report released Thursday.

Government investigative files reviewed by the group, Public Citizen, showed that more than 500 hospitals, including 77 in California, were cited by the federal government from 1997 through 1999. That amounts to about 10% of the nation's hospitals.

Additional files reviewed by The Times showed that 47 of about 500 California hospitals were cited for later violations, mostly in 2000.

Turning away such vulnerable patients is "a national disgrace," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, medical director of Public Citizen, which was founded 30 years ago by consumer activist Ralph Nader.

Wolfe called for an increase in seldom-imposed fines, which now top out at $50,000--a sum so low, he said, that "it's almost an open invitation to American hospitals to violate the patient-dumping law."

Alicia Mitchell, spokeswoman for the American Hospital Assn., countered that the report "highlights the exception, not the rule." She said American hospitals provided $20 billion in uncompensated care in 1999, the last year for which data are available.

Federal law requires hospitals to screen without delay all emergency room patients by giving them examinations and tests to make diagnoses. Hospitals must also try to stabilize patients by using doctors who are on hand or on call.

If patients cannot be stabilized, hospitals generally are free to transfer them to more sophisticated medical centers, which are required to accept them.

The law means that hospitals and on-call physicians must provide services first and worry about payment later. They are not allowed, for example, to delay a screening until they have determined how a patient will pay.

But that did not stop the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Bellflower from refusing to care for a man who arrived by ambulance after a traffic accident in 1999, according to federal documents cited by Public Citizen. He was told he would have to pay $75 before a nurse or doctor looked at him, since he was not a Kaiser member.

Similarly, at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana in 1997, a man who was having a heart attack went to the emergency room but was told to go elsewhere because the hospital did not have a contract with his HMO, documents show.

And New York's St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in 1999 told uninsured patients that they would have to pay a fee of at least $400, the consumer agency's report said. According to government documents, patients would simply leave.

Spokesmen Call the Incidents Isolated

Spokesmen for all three hospitals said that the incidents were isolated and that the problems that produced them have been corrected. In fact, almost all of the hospitals cited since the law was passed have filed plans of correction, as they were required to do to maintain eligibility for Medicare reimbursements. Only six hospitals lost Medicare eligibility when they did not fix cited problems.

It is difficult to say precisely how widespread patient dumping is. There are, however, some indicators.

More than one in five of the nation's roughly 5,000 hospitals have been cited for violations since the anti-dumping law passed in 1986. More than 100 have been cited more than once.

Wolfe said he believes this is just the tip of the iceberg, because most victims of violations do not complain.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency that issues the citations noted that the number peaked in 1994 at 465. That year the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services adopted regulations that clarified the law. Since then, citations have ranged from 180 to 210 annually.

A federal hospital survey published this year suggests that many facilities screen patients for their insurers' ability to pay--a practice that is legal unless it results in delays.

According to the survey of 100 hospitals by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in every three hospitals reported that it routinely contacts health plans to authorize screening examinations. And one in four said it routinely asks health plans to authorize stabilizing treatment.

Of the hospitals that seek authorizations, 10% to 15% do not screen or treat patients if health plans deny the authorizations, staff members reported. That would be unlawful.

Hospitals that do not have the medical resources to help emergency patients may transfer them to hospitals that do. And the hospitals with resources are compelled to accept them.

babyosisi:


Yes!

I have answered the only intelligent question posed
No single hospital anywhere in the USA will turn a patient who shows up at the emergency room away

RUBBISH!
http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/hospitals-demand-payment-upfront-from-er-patients/

Some of the OP's comments r true, bt nt to d extent she exaggerates them. She also reasons wt a lot of prejudice, which hs affected d credibility of her assertions. She needs to improve on her critical reasoning skills and on skills about constructive criticisms, so dat she can pass her points across intelligently. Cos despite that she has made some points, her comments and responses appear highly sentimental and not based on facts. A foreigner readin dis would think either we dont get sick in naija, or dat we r all dead already.

omonnakoda:
.INSTSANT REBUTTAL
The YOUESSAY is not heaven.Let us not deceive ourselves

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/13/news/mn-21862

THE NATION 10% of ERs Rejected Patients, Study Finds
Health: Hundreds, including 77 in state, broke law requiring treatment regardless of ability to pay.
July 13, 2001|TED ROHRLICH and NICHOLAS RICCARDI | TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Hundreds of hospitals around the country have violated a 15-year-old federal law that requires them to provide emergency care to anyone, regardless of ability to pay, according to a federal survey of emergency room workers and a consumer group's report released Thursday.

Government investigative files reviewed by the group, Public Citizen, showed that more than 500 hospitals, including 77 in California, were cited by the federal government from 1997 through 1999. That amounts to about 10% of the nation's hospitals.

Additional files reviewed by The Times showed that 47 of about 500 California hospitals were cited for later violations, mostly in 2000.

Turning away such vulnerable patients is "a national disgrace," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, medical director of Public Citizen, which was founded 30 years ago by consumer activist Ralph Nader.

Wolfe called for an increase in seldom-imposed fines, which now top out at $50,000--a sum so low, he said, that "it's almost an open invitation to American hospitals to violate the patient-dumping law."

Alicia Mitchell, spokeswoman for the American Hospital Assn., countered that the report "highlights the exception, not the rule." She said American hospitals provided $20 billion in uncompensated care in 1999, the last year for which data are available.

Federal law requires hospitals to screen without delay all emergency room patients by giving them examinations and tests to make diagnoses. Hospitals must also try to stabilize patients by using doctors who are on hand or on call.

If patients cannot be stabilized, hospitals generally are free to transfer them to more sophisticated medical centers, which are required to accept them.

The law means that hospitals and on-call physicians must provide services first and worry about payment later. They are not allowed, for example, to delay a screening until they have determined how a patient will pay.

But that did not stop the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Bellflower from refusing to care for a man who arrived by ambulance after a traffic accident in 1999, according to federal documents cited by Public Citizen. He was told he would have to pay $75 before a nurse or doctor looked at him, since he was not a Kaiser member.

Similarly, at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana in 1997, a man who was having a heart attack went to the emergency room but was told to go elsewhere because the hospital did not have a contract with his HMO, documents show.

And New York's St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in 1999 told uninsured patients that they would have to pay a fee of at least $400, the consumer agency's report said. According to government documents, patients would simply leave.

Spokesmen Call the Incidents Isolated

Spokesmen for all three hospitals said that the incidents were isolated and that the problems that produced them have been corrected. In fact, almost all of the hospitals cited since the law was passed have filed plans of correction, as they were required to do to maintain eligibility for Medicare reimbursements. Only six hospitals lost Medicare eligibility when they did not fix cited problems.

It is difficult to say precisely how widespread patient dumping is. There are, however, some indicators.

More than one in five of the nation's roughly 5,000 hospitals have been cited for violations since the anti-dumping law passed in 1986. More than 100 have been cited more than once.

Wolfe said he believes this is just the tip of the iceberg, because most victims of violations do not complain.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency that issues the citations noted that the number peaked in 1994 at 465. That year the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services adopted regulations that clarified the law. Since then, citations have ranged from 180 to 210 annually.

A federal hospital survey published this year suggests that many facilities screen patients for their insurers' ability to pay--a practice that is legal unless it results in delays.

According to the survey of 100 hospitals by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in every three hospitals reported that it routinely contacts health plans to authorize screening examinations. And one in four said it routinely asks health plans to authorize stabilizing treatment.

Of the hospitals that seek authorizations, 10% to 15% do not screen or treat patients if health plans deny the authorizations, staff members reported. That would be unlawful.

Hospitals that do not have the medical resources to help emergency patients may transfer them to hospitals that do. And the hospitals with resources are compelled to accept them.

sorry for quotin all this, but dis is how to argue intelligently and with facts....not wat the Op is doing.

She has some points o, but she failed to reason what actually d problem is.

Look, the law is even just 15yrs! In a developed country o, and it is still broken.

The fact is generally, the public hate doctors. Even in d usa. Its a global trend to bash doctors collectively, even wen individually many like them.

bushdoc9919:


Softly, softly....we health workers are not all wicked.

You are actually right... The nicest uncle I have happens to be a doctor.

But the bad *heads* are not making it easy for you guys.. The ratio of bad/good doctors is 15:1 ... Isn't the doctor's no1 responsibility to save lives?? Abi no be some doctors dey carry leg go work for thick African rural communities for next to nothing .....




Fact, most doctors (15:1) don't actually care enough, they don't make the much needed efforts to save lives anymore...


FYI, I think health workers should be paid more than any other profession, but the rude, shocking & nonchalant attitude with which these so-called health workers practice these days I don't think they should get half of what they are currently getting.