Society

A Heart Attack And The Numbers

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Heart showing MIPresenting a succinct short story of a heart attack and the billing as experienced by a patient

One afternoon a man sitting at home and reading a news article, stood up to walk to the kitchen. He felt a sudden pain in his chest along with shortness of breath. About an hour later the pain returned and this time began spreading over the top of his chest and into his neck. Concerned, he drove to the emergency department of a local hospital.

The hospital admitted this patient and did not initially find any signs of heart issues from blood labs and ECG tests but the Hospitalist ordered an overnight stay for observation.

Around 1:30 AM a blood test revealed elevated cardiac enzymes, and again at 6:00 AM. A cardiologist ordered the patient into a cath-lab at 8:00 for an angiogram, concerned of a heart attack.

What follows is one of many true testaments to some health care issues in America.

In the Cath-Lab, the cardiologist found the Right Coronary Artery was 90% blocked and other areas will require further treatment at a later date to allow the heart to recover from the procedure. He placed a stent and the procedure was wrapped up in a little over an hour. The patient stayed overnight and was discharged the next day.

Two days after discharge, the patient felt very weak, short of breath, and angina pains. The on-call cardiologist ordered him to the emergency room. After an overnight stay, the cause was determined to be a drug interaction that lowered his blood pressure to a worryingly low level. The physician changed the drug regime.

In a follow up with the cardiologist, a week later, he recommended based on the continuance of the patient’s angina and general lack of energy that the patient should have the second phase of the stenting move to the soonest date available. On that day the patient went to hospital and another angioplasty was performed. Three medicated stents were placed and another coronary artery was ballooned. The hospital discharged the patient the next day.

The quality of care the patient received was excellent and the staff and physicians performed their duties to the highest standard. The patient is making a strong recovery and is feeling much healthier and better. There was no damage detected to the heart. The intervention certainly prevented a catastrophic heart attack from occurring in the future.

Now for the other aspect of this story: The cost

06/19/2014 to 06/21/2014
Inpatient HOSPITAL
   
INITIAL OBSERVATION 231.00
SBSQ HOSPITAL CARE/DAY 168.00
HOSPITAL DISCHARGE DAY 169.00
   
Sub-Total 568.00
   
06/19/2014 to 06/21/2014
Inpatient Hospital
   
Cardiology 45,716.53
EKG/ECG 640.29
Emergency Room 2,760.48
Laboratory 2,367.48
Supplies and Devices 11,247.60
Pharmacy 6,304.32
Radiology 412.26
Room and Board 3,461.09
Observation Room 1,053.20
   
Sub-Total 73,963.25
   
06/22/2014 to 06/23/2014
Outpatient HOSPITAL
   
EKG/ECG 213.43
Emergency Room 2,760.48
Laboratory 1,747.63
Pharmacy 458.67
Radiology 412.26
Observation Room 1,579.80
   
Sub-Total 7,172.27
   
07/14/2014 to 07/15/2014
Inpatient HOSPITAL
   
Cardiology 86,472.79
EKG/ECG 426.86
Laboratory 813.78
Supplies and Devices 56,943.56
Other Imaging Services 1,019.02
Pharmacy 9,827.02
Room and Board 2,633.68
   
Sub-Total 158,136.71
   
Grand Total $239,840.23

The patient spent, in total, seven days in hospital, the cost of which was nearly two hundred and forty thousand dollars. This amount represents 94% of what the patient paid for his house years ago.

When a person wakes up in the morning, they certainly don’t expect to have a mild heart attack or that a month later they will get a bill equal to four and a half years’ income for the median American Household. Yet, it happens quite often in the United States, probably every hour at least.

Fortunately he had health insurance. Of the $239K the hospital, cardiologist, and others billed, the patient was only responsible for $1,824.86. He paid the bill, thankful for this new gift of health and that his insurance indemnified him from the tremendous cost of the procedures.

One certainly cannot stress enough the importance of health insurance, for a healthy life and financial stability. Without insurance or government program most Americans would be bankrupted in receiving treatment as our patient has.

Also, though the treatment was certainly first rate, one has to wonder how seven days of hospitalization and a procedure lasting a little over an hour and the second part three, generated an expense of nearly $240,000.00.

Surely the cost is worthwhile to save a patient’s life. But, what is the cost to society in having a system such as we do presently?

By Darren Smith

Source: Confidential
Photo Credit: J Heuser

The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.

172 thoughts on “A Heart Attack And The Numbers”

    1. Karen – Sheriff Joe says he has lots of tents still and will take some of the overflow from LA. They will actually do their time instead of spending 17 minutes for a 1 week sentence.

  4. Karen Fox is not the most unbiased either. 12 percent of the time, the system oks an immigrant who should have been deported taken from the article you linked

  5. Lee:

    About the slap on the wrist . . . Again, funny you should ask. CA jails have become over crowded. So they are releasing prisoners, including violent prisoners. The scandal has been going on for a while now. Every time one of these guys murders or rapes someone, when he was supposed to be serving time, it’s all over the local news. In one city alone, car theft went up over 400% after this . . . wait for it . . . Liberal policy’s unintended consequences.

    It’s called the prison realignment program. In the below case, a “non-violent” felon released early raped and tortured a 16 year old girl, and may have murdered 3 others recently.

    Now, how do you explain that to the parents, when this animal should have been behind bars serving his sentence?

    http://www.kfiam640.com/articles/local-news-465708/earlyrelease-felon-charged-with-kidnapping-rape-12268715/

  6. Karen that is not a liberal policy. it is a part of the bill of the rights, the right to congregate. I am not sure what the definition (legal) where you are is of loitering but they may not be falling uder that definition. (just a quick thght on000
    Seems if you don’t like it it is automatically a “liberal” policy.

  7. Lee – what info are you looking for?

    What is difficult is that the mainstream media is Liberal. So if you’re looking for some data that shows a Liberal policy has gone awry, good luck finding it anywhere except for on a conservative news site. However, those sites do name or provide most sources.

    For example, my original link was to Fox News, but it contained a report from the IG of the Department of Homeland Security.

  8. Hi Karen as I said it says that but the rest that follows seems to invalidate the idea of the prohibition.
    Forged documents I would assume do appear to be genuine. I guess it is an either check all or check none. I imagine that choosing to only check when you want to could become a form of profiling/discrimination.

    1. leejcaroll – Arizona requires employers to use e-Verify to check the employees have valid ID. If they pass e-Verify and the employee is still illegal, the blame is not on the employer.

  9. Lee – the illegal street corner gatherings are very common here in CA. I’ve tried pulling into the corner to go to one of the businesses, but the illegals will actually jump into my truck bed, or try to enter my vehicle. I have a small child, so this is frightening, even though they are just (aggressively) looking for work. The local businesses complained, and tried to have them removed for loitering, but that was deemed by the city to be “discriminatory.” The illegal aliens are legally allowed to gather in droves on the corner they chose, even though it drove customers away from the legal businesses.

    But that’s the Liberal policy.

    What I have learned is that most Liberal policies are high in ideals, but low in foresight or follow through. Consequences come as a complete surprise, but have zero effect on future policy.

  10. Paul looked too quickly didn’t notice the link
    Fines don’t seem sufficient and already half ofwhatever time he may get is halfway house. so you can plead to what was it (closed the link) 78 counts and still potentially get away with a light sentence. Hopefully the judge will realize a light sentence is an inducement for others to continue the practice

    1. leejcaroll – Danny had lost 900 workers in a series of coordinated raids between the Sheriff’s Department and ICE. This was stage two of the raids. They did a second set of raids a few months later and caught some of the same illegals. There are several Danny’s Car Wash (they are very good) and the nailed a couple of the managers who rolled over on Danny.

  11. Hi Lee:

    “For example, the law prohibits employers from hiring only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents unless required to do so by law, regulation or government contract;”

    It says right there that it prohibits from hiring only lawful permanent residents unless required to do so. IF required to do so, then they can only require documents after an offer is made. If the document appears to be genuine on its face, they cannot question it. What does that mean? Don’t forged documents appear genuine on their face?

  12. Karen, I tried to find out where that info came from but google came up with only right wing sites like breitbart. I don’t know what random queries mean or where the info came from that was cited in the article you posted link to. (and washingtontimes definitely considered a bias right wing paper)

  13. Paul did they just get a slap on the wrist or enough of a punishment that it is a deterrent.?
    (I have a friend lives in the hamptons in MYC. She tells me every morning she sees ‘illegals” waiting on corners to get picked up for their jobs or are waiting to get picked as a day laborer.

  14. Karen I am reading that cite and am not reading it the way you have.

    “Because of potential claims of illegal discrimination, employment eligibility verification should be conducted after an offer to hire has been made. Applicants may be informed of these requirements in the pre-employment setting by adding the following statement on the employment application:
    “In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.”

    “the law prohibits employers from hiring only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents unless required to do so by law, regulation or government contract; it also prohibits employers from preferring to hire temporary visa holders or undocumented workers over qualified U.S. citizens or other protected individuals, such as refugees or individuals granted asylum.”

    This first statement seems to read that you can;t ask but then everything after that seems to read that you must.
    Employers should not ask whether or not a job applicant is a United States citizen before making an offer of employment. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 12986 (IRCA) makes it illegal for employers to discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.

  15. Of course we can expel illegal aliens. They do so every single day in every nation around the globe, except for us. If Mexico finds an illegal alien in its country, it sends them to jail and deports them immediately. The idea that it’s “impossible” to do is a fallacy that has been propagated by Liberals.

    And, Lee, the feds often do give benefits to illegal aliens. They either slip through the cracks (12% of the time, see below) or they engage in identity theft. All they have to do is get a valid SSN and they’re in. The system is overwhelmed.

    And, think about it, what happens when any effort is made to require photo ID, or to check the immigration status? Sound familiar? Kind of like Voter ID laws, right? After voter ID laws passed, African Americans turned out to vote in record #s. And yet still the urban legend persists that these laws prevent people from voting. ID is required to cash a check or a paycheck, and that’s normal, but require it to vote and suddenly it’s discrimination.

    I live in CA, and Liberals here declare that it is discriminatory not to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/18/audit-feds-immigration-check-system-fails-12-perce/

  16. Lee – but I do not excuse either private citizens or companies who employ illegal aliens because it’s cheapest to do so. I just lump them in the same boat. The family who hires a cheap illegal alien for a nanny is just as bad as the company that hires illegal aliens. They both do so for the same reason.

  17. Lee:

    “Why is it rude or unreasonable or impossible Karen to require employers to follow the rules and not hire illegal immigrants?”

    Actually, it’s funny that you ask. You can thank another Liberal anti-discrimination policy for that one. It is against the law to hire only citizens or legal residents, unless required by law to do so. For those that are required to verify citizenship, per an I-9, forged documents do nicely. The employer is not allowed to question them or ask for additional documents if they appear genuine on their face.

    Now, as for those companies who knowingly and deliberately hire illegal aliens, they do it to save money, and they should be punished. This is also true of homeowners who go with illegal aliens who are unlicensed, unbonded, and uninsured for their remodel jobs, simply because they offer the best price.

    Obviously, anything that makes it easier to live here illegally provides more of an inducement for others to come here illegally. This includes drivers licenses for illegal aliens, requiring English to be spoken fluently in the work place deemed discriminatory, and any pushback against employers having to hire legal residents or citizens. If they posted a sign that anyone found to be here illegally would be reported to ICE, right at the top of job postings, then that would discourage people from trying to jump in front of the line and break the law in coming here.

    I used to work with scientists who were here legally on work visas. It was such a pain. They had to return to their home country periodically, for months, to renew the visa. They had to be vaccinated and get a health screening. It was such a long process to become a citizen, and they were educated, productive, law-abiding people. They complained bitterly that anyone who happened to live close to the US just walked right across and didn’t have to go through all that trouble. And they got free services when they got here. All they had to do was steal a SSN.

    http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/inquiries_citizenship.cfm

  19. Just to clarify. I did not say, nor was I implying that I support, endorse or otherwise encourage the entry of undocumented aliens into the US. But it is a fantasy to imagine they’d are going to be deported by anyone, Republican or Democrat. It’s akin to insisting that abstinence-only sex education works, when it clearly never will. We don’t need to “roll over”, we need to recognize reality for what it is and come up with a plan to deal with it. Since deportation is NOT EVER going to happen, maybe we can start thinking about real solutions…my one and only point.

    As far as profitable hospital go, in most larger cities, that is, cities with several hospitals, one hospital usually ends up being designated as the “dumping ground” for uninsured patients, sometimes explicitly, sometimes not. Some cities/municipalities will generate an uncompensated care fund to support these hospitals, but those funds are often raided or eliminated in hard times, and the hospitals are stuck with the costs. If you look at the maps where the profitable hospitals are located, it’s usually in more affluent neighborhoods, away from those pesky poor and homeless people.

  20. As if rising health care costs aren’t bad enough, rising water cost, and by extension, rising food costs may become an even larger issue.

    Maybe there’s a silver lining in the high cost of food, forcing people to start eating low-cost staples, making people healthy again, in the process bankrupting not just the greed in the healthcare industry, but also processed food corporations, restaurants and fast-food outlets. Hallelujah!

    With a nation now overrun with hooligans who openly sanction looting of taxpayers, the future of every American is now uncertain, no matter how prepared some of us believe we are. Where legal immigration was once needed to help America thrive, now illegal immigration is needed to help destroy America.

    Naturalnews.com
    Water costs have skyrocketed 1,000% in areas of California that grow much of the nation’s food. This will soon translate into huge increases in food prices at the grocery store:

    http://www.naturalnews.com/046304_water_costs_extreme_drought_food_prices.html

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