Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ_Boston
One more post on the subject:
We also have a very high number of dumps. Families who are just tired of taking care of their family members. They know the medicare rules by heart and will 'dump' their loved one in ER knowing that in 3 days Medicare will pay for another stint in rehab. They dump the patient at ER and then never come see them in the hospital. Most of these patients are not medically needy enough to take up the room on the medical floor but we can't just call a taxi for them and send them home so they occupy a room that could otherwise be used to free up the ER holds. Sad but very, very true.
OK enough ranting - off to golf  |
I have no idea why I am responding to this, as I am now at Mayo Clinic and a full plate already, except that part of your post, for lack of a better word, infuriated me.
Not everyone who is admitted under the scenario that you describe above is a "dump". We are only one family so I can only speak to our experience. I have cared for my husband at home for four years as he declined with a progressive neurological disease. Last fall, I took him to The Villages ER on the instructions of our primary care doctor for a possibly very serious condition. He did not have the very serious condition, but after being examined by the ER doctors, the decision was made to admit him. I went home as I was quite sick myself. I was never able to visit him in the hospital as I was ill the entire time he was there. He was then transferred to a rehab hospital.
What guaranteed do I have that my husband was not one of those that you consider to be a "dump"? After all, by your definition and description, he fits the picture exactly. My husband never was and never will be a "dump." He is loved beyond description.