Frank, Another comment on Emergency Room treatment: My 25 year old daughter got a 2nd medication for a sinus infection. She had an adverse reaction, puffy face, rash, and trouble breathing. Living in downtown Chicago, she went to the nearby Northwestern Univ. ER. Lynn and I met her there for 4 hours. That was Friday night. She had difficulties breathing again Saturday night and another ER trip, and again Sunday night with multiple hours in the ER. 3 ER trips and the bill was $10,000, perhaps less after insurance is involved. Regards, Bob S.
On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 5:16 PM, frank theriault <knarftheria...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Ken Waller <kwal...@peoplepc.com> wrote: > >> Yep. That's why in Detroit we have instances of the citizens of Windsor (you >> know the city south of Detroit) >> coming over to the states for their medical treatments, instead of waiting >> for it in Ca na da. > > I didn't bother telling the list, because it was rather > inconsequential, but about a month ago, I was sitting, got up quickly, > had that "head rush" and (for the first time in my life) fainted. As > I'd heard that every loss of consciousness requires a doctor visit, I > went to the nearest emergency ward. > > Now, I have to admit, I was there a long time. It was one of > Toronto's largest trauma centres (Sunnybrooke, for you locals) at > evening rush hour, and there were several serious automobile collision > victims that needed help more than me. All in all, it was a 10 hour > visit, but I realize that my condition put me at the bottom of the > triage list. > > However, in that ten hours I got great treatment. Before seeing a > doctor, nurses took blood, checked blood pressure/pulse and gave me a > cardiogram. The doctor finally saw me and said that in a way it was > good that I was there for that length of time, because he could give > me ~another~ cardiogram to make sure there was no change (out of an > abundance of caution). There was also a specific blood test that he > wanted to see that the nurses didn't do, so I got a second session of > bloodwork. > > The doctor saw me two or three times, and appeared concerned yet calming. > > After it all, he said that all tests were fine, and that (as he said) > gravity just got the best of me that day. A head rush gone too far, > nothing more. He said that I'd done the right thing by having it > checked and apologized for the long wait (as several nurses did > earlier). > > Can you imagine how much that would have all cost me had I paid for > it? Or if my insurance paid? Would they have authorized all those > duplicate tests? > > And that was at one of Toronto's top hospitals - yes, I got to choose > the hospital I went to, no insurance company to give me a list of > "approved" hospitals. > > So, I'll take the wait to get top treatment with nothing > out-of-pocket, thank you very much. > > BTW, Ken, there are many anecdotal stories (as yours was) of Detroit > citizens crossing the border into Canada to try to get treatment here, > as they have no coverage in the US. "Borrow" a Canadian's card and > hope you don't get caught and charged with fraud - that's how > desperate some uninsured Americans are. > > And, to top it off (on a personal note), my heartbeat came in a 57 > bpm. Not quite Lance's resting heartbeat of 32, but pretty good for > an old guy... > > ;-) > > cheers, > frank > > > -- > "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
