Great article as always. I left. Nights for over 20 years and always asking for more help only to be told no or have a mid level or suck it up.
Thanks, but no thanks. I did my 25 years and now I'm full time telemedicine and actually happy instead of feeling defeated, depressed and burned out about a system that cannabalizes its best employees and demands impossible outcomes from wildly insufficient sources.
I appreciate your writing, sir and I agree this needs to be a national discussion.
Great article, Ed. I don't see things improving any time soon. Do you? The HOR just passed the "Big, Beautiful" Reconciliation Bill that will now go to the Senate for tweaking prior to passage. It will cut Medicaid funding exponentially and will result in millions of poor folks who will become suddenly unable to afford medical/mental healthcare. It is also expected to result in the closure of numerous small, rural community hospitals. Those affected will have to travel significantly greater distances to receive emergency care. Patients with serious injuries and life-threatening medical conditions will arrive in worse condition and are more likely to die enroute. This will, of course, place a greater burden on receiving hospital ERs and beds available for admissions. What is in store all seems so obvious and predictable, yet our so-called "leaders" remain incredibly oblivious and determined to carry on. What are they thinking!?
You’re right on, no doubt. My specialty was working in small, rural ER’s and I loved practicing ER medicine.
Once it became clear that we were being set up to fail, on just about every front, I left.
I didn’t nearly kill myself a thousand times over in order to become a professional just so I could participate in some pathetic joke of a system that refuses to address basic reality in a meaningful way. Being lied to makes me very unhappy.
To be honest, I don’t see any way of resolving this short of letting the “plans” of the idiots, fools, and self-deceptive murderers play themselves all the way out, and this isn’t going to be pretty.
Once Americans wake up to the complete filth that’s been made of basic healthcare and the shocking, miserable, inexcusable failures not only tolerated but supported by this “system”, don’t be surprised if a patient’s family shows up armed to insure that their beloved isn’t “accidentally killed” or intentionally poisoned by some technocratic willing executioner. This is a rational expectation, of course, given what’s been done to Americans in the last few years.
Americans have proven incredibly patient with this vile failure, however, patience has always proven to have limits.
The fact that we haven’t seen physicians coming out in droves to beg forgiveness for the mass poisoning and murderous tyranny imposed upon our citizens tells us that these clowns think they’re immune from the justice that’s coming. People won’t play along with the fraud forever.
You don't know why it's not being discussed nationally? It's a third rail, like social security. It's far easier to bemoan the problem than to try to solve it. And, lest you think the politicos have an answer, look at the proposed legislation to cut funding for Medicaid, which some 20% of the population relies on for funding of health care, and consider the numbers who will be visiting hospitals, where they can't be turned away for inability to pay, wanting/needing complex care which will further endanger the finances of hospitals, especially those designated as critical access. Anyone surprised that half of all bankruptcies in the US are due to overwhelming medical bills?
Here's another commentary. A prominent, now retired, ED physician recently posted about his weight loss of almost 100 lbs. He adds that he was able to self-fund the cost of treatment, by medication, at almost $150....per pound. Since obesity has long been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, why aren't we doing more about this (and getting highly processed foods and corn syrup created sugar can be a good start)?
I suspect that the next epidemic, and one is coming, will make Covid look like, well, a measles epidemic used to be.
Last evening, I had to take a grandson to the emergency room because of an accident with a knife. He tried to catch a knife as it dropped. They were working as fast as they could, but I was home 4 hours later.
I write about similar problems up in Canada
Great article as always. I left. Nights for over 20 years and always asking for more help only to be told no or have a mid level or suck it up.
Thanks, but no thanks. I did my 25 years and now I'm full time telemedicine and actually happy instead of feeling defeated, depressed and burned out about a system that cannabalizes its best employees and demands impossible outcomes from wildly insufficient sources.
I appreciate your writing, sir and I agree this needs to be a national discussion.
Great article, Ed. I don't see things improving any time soon. Do you? The HOR just passed the "Big, Beautiful" Reconciliation Bill that will now go to the Senate for tweaking prior to passage. It will cut Medicaid funding exponentially and will result in millions of poor folks who will become suddenly unable to afford medical/mental healthcare. It is also expected to result in the closure of numerous small, rural community hospitals. Those affected will have to travel significantly greater distances to receive emergency care. Patients with serious injuries and life-threatening medical conditions will arrive in worse condition and are more likely to die enroute. This will, of course, place a greater burden on receiving hospital ERs and beds available for admissions. What is in store all seems so obvious and predictable, yet our so-called "leaders" remain incredibly oblivious and determined to carry on. What are they thinking!?
Short answer: the ones in power aren't thinking, and frankly don't care.
You’re right on, no doubt. My specialty was working in small, rural ER’s and I loved practicing ER medicine.
Once it became clear that we were being set up to fail, on just about every front, I left.
I didn’t nearly kill myself a thousand times over in order to become a professional just so I could participate in some pathetic joke of a system that refuses to address basic reality in a meaningful way. Being lied to makes me very unhappy.
To be honest, I don’t see any way of resolving this short of letting the “plans” of the idiots, fools, and self-deceptive murderers play themselves all the way out, and this isn’t going to be pretty.
Once Americans wake up to the complete filth that’s been made of basic healthcare and the shocking, miserable, inexcusable failures not only tolerated but supported by this “system”, don’t be surprised if a patient’s family shows up armed to insure that their beloved isn’t “accidentally killed” or intentionally poisoned by some technocratic willing executioner. This is a rational expectation, of course, given what’s been done to Americans in the last few years.
Americans have proven incredibly patient with this vile failure, however, patience has always proven to have limits.
The fact that we haven’t seen physicians coming out in droves to beg forgiveness for the mass poisoning and murderous tyranny imposed upon our citizens tells us that these clowns think they’re immune from the justice that’s coming. People won’t play along with the fraud forever.
You don't know why it's not being discussed nationally? It's a third rail, like social security. It's far easier to bemoan the problem than to try to solve it. And, lest you think the politicos have an answer, look at the proposed legislation to cut funding for Medicaid, which some 20% of the population relies on for funding of health care, and consider the numbers who will be visiting hospitals, where they can't be turned away for inability to pay, wanting/needing complex care which will further endanger the finances of hospitals, especially those designated as critical access. Anyone surprised that half of all bankruptcies in the US are due to overwhelming medical bills?
Here's another commentary. A prominent, now retired, ED physician recently posted about his weight loss of almost 100 lbs. He adds that he was able to self-fund the cost of treatment, by medication, at almost $150....per pound. Since obesity has long been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, why aren't we doing more about this (and getting highly processed foods and corn syrup created sugar can be a good start)?
I suspect that the next epidemic, and one is coming, will make Covid look like, well, a measles epidemic used to be.
Last evening, I had to take a grandson to the emergency room because of an accident with a knife. He tried to catch a knife as it dropped. They were working as fast as they could, but I was home 4 hours later.