Opus 2026-010: ER Meditations

My wife has been into the ER two or three times in the past month.  None of them gave her much in the way of answers and I’m sure that each one of them cost Medicare over $1000.  Over the past several years, I’ve been in a couple times usually when I am forced to by family members.  It has been, in some ways, a gratifying experience, knowing that we have so many highly trained professionals ready to help people in need.  On the other end, I am reminded that much of what we go to the emergency room for either is unnecessary or could be dealt with in ways that are much less expensive.

The last time I went in, I had a spell, an episode, a strange moment in my life.  If left to myself, I would have walked it off.  Based on the results of going to the ER, the results would have been the same.  The last time I was a bit woozy, a little bit out of contact with reality.  I wasn’t adrift, it was just a matter of not being sure of my balance and things like that.  I was able to make my way across the room use the bathroom and make my way back, but there was just something not right.  The reason I went to the ER was because a family member caught me in one of those woozy moments and of course we had to go check it out.  So we did.

I ended up spending that night in the hospital as they did their tests we started off with an EKG, and of course lots of blood tests.  I saw a physical therapist, and then we moved into the really expensive stuff.  I had a CAT Scan and MRI.  I had an echocardiogram with bubbles.  I think I had every test that they could think of to give me, and since everybody assumed insurance was paying for it, why not?  I must say, they were competent, courteous, kind, and generally if there had been something wrong with me, it would’ve been a worthwhile experience.

The results of all this high cost technology and education?  Nothing.  They found absolutely nothing to concern them. 

Is it a good thing I went in?  I have mixed feelings.  It was a waste of money, but you don’t always know your money is going to be wasted until afterwards.  If they found something serious, it would’ve been a life-changing experience.  If they found something of question, it might’ve been send me home and we’ll see what develops.  Since they found nothing of course it was a waste of money.  But that’s hindsight.  So I’m glad that we did it for that reason and secondly, it reassured me and reinforce my belief that as a general rule, if you are capable of it, walk it off.

A couple months ago I woke up in the middle of the night, hot and sweaty and then chills so I had what I considered chills and fever.  I eventually check my temperature and it was a little bit high.  Did I rush into the ER?  No I went back to sleep.  The next day I was pretty much OK.  In talking to my doctor during a regular appointment a few weeks later, he shrugged and said that’s probably what I should’ve done.  The temperature wasn’t high enough to be critical and I was over it the next day.

Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to have any common sense or any insurance.  They use the ER room as their general practitioner.  Since a lot of of these critical care places will not take insurance it is a matter of cash.  A lot of people can’t afford to go those so the ER has to take them.  One of the reason the ER is quite glad to take them is they get reimbursed at the top dollar no matter what happens and so they love it.  Last time I had a colonoscopy, we did it at the hospital.  The claim was that because I’m on a high blood thinner it was too much of a risk to do it in the clinic.  I think the real reason was that when we did it in the hospital, the doctor and his office got reimbursed fully whereas if we did it in the clinic, they would get a reduced fee.

Our system is broken.  It could be fixed if the people who have the power really wanted to, but it seems like the kickback system works well for them too.

Stay healthy.  

homo unius libri