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from the think-of-the-children's...-mother dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The US has a shameful record when it comes to caring for its moms. As Ars has reported before, the rate of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth is higher—much higher—than in any other developed country. By some estimates, mothers die in the US at a rate six-times that seen in Italy and three-times the rate in the UK, for instance. And of those that survive, tens of thousands suffer devastating injuries and near-death experiences each year.
Nevertheless, health researchers, hospital organizations, policy makers, and state task forces have been working to understand and reverse the horrific numbers—often doing so with limited resources and reliance on volunteers. While reports have offered glimpses of the problem, a new investigation by USA Today provides one of the sharpest pictures yet.
Many of the pregnant women and mothers who suffer and die in this country do so from easily preventable, common complications—and hospitals know exactly what safety features and practices are needed to spare mothers' lives and suffering, they just aren't using them. Women are left to bleed to death because doctors don't bother monitoring blood loss. Women suffer strokes and seizures and even die because doctors and nurses fail to treat their high blood pressure in time. The bottom line is stunning, simple negligence.
[...] While high blood pressure is one of the top causes of maternal deaths and complications, experts estimate that up to 60 percent of hypertensive deaths are preventable.
Hemorrhaging is another common but easily treatable complication. Women can bleed to death in as little as five minutes during childbirth. Yet experts estimate that 90 percent of maternal deaths from extreme blood loss are preventable. Such strategies to avoid harms are simple things, like weighing bloody pads to monitor blood loss (not relying on inaccurate visual estimates), having medications and supplies to curb blood loss readily available in a mobile cart, and responding promptly to signs of trouble.
Such simple steps have been recommended by experts for years. But in interviews with USA Today, many hospitals admitted they weren't following guidelines.
To put the data in real terms, USA Todaytold the story of 24-year-old Ali Lowry, who bled internally for hours after delivering by Cesarean section in an Ohio hospital in 2013. Her blood pressure registered at alarmingly low levels—52/26, 57/25, 56/24, 59/27—for more than three hours before staff responded. By the time she was airlifted to another hospital for life-saving surgery, her heart had stopped and she needed a hysterectomy. She eventually settled a lawsuit with her doctor and the hospital, which denied wrongdoing.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @02:26PM (10 children)
It's almost as though the doctors are being directed and managed by people who do hold stock in the hospital. I'm working on a conspiracy theory about this! I think I will call them "administrators" and "members of the board," though I have not yet decided if these are ranks of lizard person below the Red Dresses, or how they are using their massive profits from capitalist medicine to further the weather war.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday August 03 2018, @03:13PM (4 children)
After half a dozen hospital visits in the US, it will be crystal clear to anyone who pays attention that they put money 1st, patients and health a distant 2nd. Joe Merhcant's experience is all too common. They make a lot more money treating an emergency than doing a little extra prevention.
My own story: 10 years ago, while driving my parents around for a bit of shopping, I was in an auto accident. Kid ran a red light, right in front of me, and I T-boned him. Everyone's legs took a beating. Mom got a broken ankle, and just below the shins, Dad got a bad bruise on one leg and a cut on the other. The bruise did not heal like it should thanks to weak circulation, and he ended up returning to the hospital for that. They racked up some $20k in charges over a friggin bruise. Made a surgical cut to clear out the clots, then put this "wound vac" on the cut they had made to apply some suction to make it heal faster. That damned wound vac cost $1100 per week to rent, and we didn't find out about that until it was all over. The bastards had us keep the vac one more week, "just in case". Such a device ought to cost no more than $200 to buy. Yes, insurance cut that rental cost way down, but it was still outrageous.
Meanwhile, once they set Mom's ankle, the hospital transferred her to this private hospital for physical therapy. And when she was ready to be discharged, they had a nice little farewell "gift" for us. Those bastards ignored all my protestations that we had a friend who was willing to let us have their wheelchair, to push their own wheelchair on us. Gave us crap about how they couldn't guarantee a good outcome if we didn't use their approved devices. Before she was allowed out the door, with their wheelchair, they shoved a document under her nose for her to sign. It said that if insurance didn't pay for that wheelchair, we promised we would pay for it. $820 wheelchair, ka-ching!
The kicker? Dad's bruise would have healed just fine on its own if only he'd kept the leg elevated, known to keep it elevated, you know, like in some of those old depictions that show a person lying in bed, with one leg wrapped in bandages and held half a meter above the bed by a sling hooked to something up high.
That's hardly the only encounter I've had. It was the same thing all over for my own visit to emergency several years later. $300 for a $2 bag of saline solution, $20 for one pill of aspirin, and the usual bullcrap justification that they have to inflate prices like that to cover other expenses.
There are a lot of forces who like it the way it is. Ambulance chasing lawyers love it. The more cost the medics rack up, the more damages they can try to win, of which they get a huge cut, about 1/3. They will egg on the doctors, and who are the doctors to say no to more money, eh? Health insurance is supposed to fight this. Instead they've found it easier to bully patients into paying higher premiums and accepting less coverage.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 03 2018, @07:22PM (2 children)
That wasn't a $2 bag of saline solution. It needed to be sterile, special storage, etc. I'd guess that $50 would have been a fair price, but I don't know the details of handling and sterility requirements. And formulation. Still, they use a lot of them, so my guess is $50. For a one-off $200 would be extremely cheap...but it's not a one-off.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:37AM (1 child)
Medicare says a bag of saline solution is worth around $2. Just look for item code J7030. Further, how is it even Starbucks can serve hot coffee, a much more complicated brew, for far, far less money, and still profit?
What you said is exactly what they tried to use as excuses why it's so expensive. But sterilization is quite easy. Irradiate or heat it. it doesn't even have to be boiling, a mere 160F is hot enough. Storage is no big deal either.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:04PM
Well, for one thing, coffee is rarely kept sterile.
OTOH, the argument about the "official Medicare price" is an excellent counter to my guess. I still find $2 unbelievably cheap, but I guess if they use them in quantity it might be reasonable.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:05AM
Meanwhile, I had to take a friend to emergency twice in the last year here in Canada, each time it cost $5 for parking.
The whole experience was rather good, considering my friend was dying. In to the cubicle where they take all the info by the time I finished parking, into a bed with an IV within another 15 minutes or so. The first time, they were busy so it was a bed in the hall for a couple of hours and he got moved around a bit much but the price was good. Operated on the next day in both cases, sent home about a week later and total cost was my $5 parking bill.
In his case, being on disability, all the pills he takes are free, otherwise after leaving the hospital, those medications would have added up without insurance. Canada has expensive drugs, second most expensive in the world I understand.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday August 03 2018, @03:23PM (4 children)
See above re: highly actionable
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @03:43PM (3 children)
See reality, private businesses do what they want. Unless you're suggesting regulation would solve that little problem ;)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:51AM (2 children)
Take your own advice. Medical lawsuits are an enormous industry.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:55PM (1 child)
You cant sue the hospital if they charge you high rstes, you should have "shopped around" better. I would lend you my clue bat but im worried it would turn on you and beat you to a pulp.
Maybe catch a ride on the plane as it soars over your head next time.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @10:10PM
Lost track of what we were talking about, didja? Reread and try again if you like.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.