Posted on 05/31/2010 8:24:40 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".
Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.
Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD
“That response pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? How is it that some people think they should be protected from all their bad decisions? Or that we’re somehow heartless in wanting them to take responsibility for themselves? Incredible!”
We have become a society whose goal it is to relieve its members of any bad consequences regardless of the choices they make. And as long as that continues we’ll continue our descent into poverty, immorality and decay.
Cell phone companies like it too.
Whenever “discourse” is used by a letter writer, one can be sure they are college ‘educated’.
I looked. All I could find was that $200 mil in annual MediCare funding was cut because of various issues re care standards. My guess is that means the nurses' union was unhappy with staffing levels.
Now that is worth cutting a head off for......
Just last week I saw a guy on his usual corner. He took some money from a car, then quickly turned his back and answered his cell phone!
Back in college, on my own, I made up care packages with a pair of cheap socks, mittens, and a hat for the homeless. And a pack of smokes and matches. (I used to smoke back then).
Now when I see a homeless person smoking (at $5+ a pack?) - it just looks like a waste of money. On the other hand - it may be one of the few comforts they have. Well, that and the booze for many of them.
I now limit my giving to the homeless to decent organizations that help them out.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Sorry Dr., you didn’t get the memo. Bambi’s whole purpose in life is to reward irresponsibility and dependency. Spread the wealth, baby. Yours, that is. Because the leeches get to vote just like you do...
(Which is wrong.)
The part of the american middle class that is not gaming the govt payout system is slowly being harnessed to the plow of slavery.
We slave away to pay cash dollar taxes to unaccountable bureaucrats who are paid to create training programs for jobs that may never exist.
We are slaves to those who have faith in the government rather than themselves.
I like this letter
Since by law (EMTALA) we are forced to see people for free in the ER( 1/3 of our patients in my group pay nothing towards their bill) and we see PLENTY with a patient profile like the one above, I’ve only half jokingly suggested we open a pawn shop in the ER.
At discharge, when we are done with you, but before you get your paperwork and (the all important ) narcotic prescription, or “free” tylenol, you get to meet our “financial consultants”, Fat Tony and Big Mike. They “help” you decide what you are going to put down on the bill, like your Ipod, or that big gold chain, or the pink slip on your hoopty etc. You get a reciept and 90 days to pay your bill or the item is ours to help defray the bill.
Ideally it would encourage these people not to abuse the ER, at worst we would have a great Gift Shop for the staff to use....
Just a thought.
www.emergencymedicine.umc.edu/classof2010.html
I saw a panhandler this weekend with a sign that read “Why lie? I want beer.”
Give that man a cigar!!!!!!
It was a woman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.