If you have health insurance does that mean they can't pull the plug?

[davsand]

We have a big headline case going right now on the issue of pulling the plug on patients with poor prognosis.

We also have a sideline discussion of baby in Texas whose mother wanted him left on life support and the hospital decided to pull the plug. The woman had no parental care, I suspect she and her child may have been uninsured.

March 8 there was an article out of Texas about a man who was on life support and the hospital decided to pull the plug. This article, at least, was upfront about the real issue at hand. Check the headline:

Hospitals can end life support
Decision hinges on patient's ability to pay, prognosis
By LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A patient's inability to pay for medical care combined with a prognosis that renders further care futile are two reasons a hospital might suggest cutting off life support, the chief medical officer at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital said Monday.


Dr. David Pate's comments came as the family of Spiro Nikolouzos fights to keep St. Luke's from turning off the ventilator and artificial feedings keeping the 68-year-old grandfather alive.

St. Luke's notified Jannette Nikolouzos in a March 1 letter that it would withdraw life-sustaining care of her husband of 34 years in 10 days, which would be Friday. Mario Caba-llero, the attorney representing the family, said he is seeking a two-week extension, at minimum, to give the man more time to improve and to give his family more time to find an alternative facility..."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3073295



We have arrived at the point where the hospital industry is now OPEN about the fact that they will be happy to help you die if you are uninsured...

It is ALL about health care and the lack of health insurance. Next time anyone tries to talk to you about the big case in Florida--remember this.


Laura

[Toots]

1. The American Way.... "Your Money or your Life?"

Highwaymen could relate

[oneighty]

2. Lets face it

We can live until the money runs out.

And that is a fact with few exceptions.

I suffered a cracked pelvis (OUCH) in a minor car accident. At the hospital the examining Doctor informed me I would have to be put in a body cast and spend several weeks in the hospital. I said "Doctor I do not have money or insurance." "Oh" He says "You can go home now." Several weeks of being very careful and I repaired just fine.

It is all about money.

180

[MissWaverly]

3. my neighbor's husband

was an alcoholic, whose liver failed, after their live savings were
gone, the dialysis treatment stopped and he died.

[solinvictus]

4. Health insurance is no guarantee..

Often, employer-sponsored plans have lifetime maximum benefit thresholds written into the contract. This means that if the contract has a maximum payable benefit of $500K, that is all it will pay out for medical claims over the insured's lifetime whether it is a thousand office visits or a single incident.
I'll give you a first hand example. My father-in-law was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The surgeries, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation more than maxed out his lifetime benefit on his employer plan. Luckily, he could be added to my mother-in-law's plan that had no maximum assigned. If he didn't have this second plan, he would've gone into bankruptcy and lost everything he owned. We need a single-payer plan now.

[davsand]

5. Yes! Single Payer NOW needs to be our battle cry.

I just wonder if anyone will hear us above the din.


Laura

[ultraist]

6. Yes, they can.

That law was made to protect the bottom line of big corp insurance companies, who cannot legally refuse to pay as well as not draining the Medicaid system.

I think it's more to protect the bottom line of private insurance corps than anything. They used the poor black woman as a test case because they knew it would not be opposed. Next, it will be someone on private insurance.