It Struck Me Funny…

My brother-in-law had to have a double heart catheterization yesterday.  He has to have at least one a year since his heart transplant.  Besides spending more than 15 hours there,  he was allowed to leave the hospital only after:

- I signed a discharge form, since he had been mildly sedated during the procedure.
- The nurse read an extremely long list of “do’s” and “don’ts” to him.
- He and I acknowledged the list.

…which took some 15 minutes or so.  My brother-in-law and I then headed down the elevator and then toward the garage.  The same nurse came running up, breathless, to recite a forgotten part of her script before we got out of the building.  We left the 5th floor, crossed a large lobby and walked down a long hallway before she caught up to us.

Why?  Because hospitals and doctors, nurses, aids, janitors, etc. are sued every day for every form of supposed infraction.  Who pays for these lawsuits?  Of course in the end, we all do.  However, those “greedy” insurance companies are first in line to pay,  not that I’m a big fan of insurance companies.  There are certainly many things that need fixed in that industry, but it’s hard to lay the blame for this insane desire of our elected officials to control your health care completely at their feet.

I won’t go into the rigamarole he had to go through **while he was in the O.R.** the last time he had one of these, all in the name of helping prevent lawsuits… (think recorded disclaimers, ad-infinitum)

Wanna help control health care costs?  Spend some effort focusing on the insane number of lawsuits that are filed each second of every day.  Will that “fix” health care in America all by itself?  No.  But imagine what a difference it could make.