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In Reply to: Re: Thought-provoking quotation posted by another poster on October 01, 2003 at 21:35:12:
Yes, we have great hospitals in the US. And yes, it's true that legally, they cannot turn away individuals presenting with an emergency.
In REALITY, the emergency rooms of privately funded hospitals dump uninsured and underinsured individuals with psychiatric crises (e.g., psychotic, suicidal, homicidal)onto publically-funded providers and/or the street EVERY DAY. I can speak to this with assurance re: psychiatric care because I've worked in the system for years and currently have responsibility for analyzing the utilization data.
The practice of dumping psychiatric patients is against the law, but the way the system works, only a patient can file a complaint with the legal rights commission. It's easy to get away with dumping a homeless, psychotic person, btw, because they don't have a clue about how to advocate for their legeal right to emergency care.
