A worker was seriously injured earlier today in an “explosion” at the Columbia med center. The injury happened less than a block away from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, a world-class institution. Yet the man – who was burned on about 70% of his body – was taken 40+ blocks to Harlem Hospital, a quality (public) hospital.
It had nothing to do with insurance but everything to do with money.
Presbyterian Hospital does not have a Level 1 Trauma Center. When the new operating rooms were built here relatively recently, they were placed in a different building, over a block away from the ER. You have to either go outside on the street or meander through hospital hallways and through a skywalk to get from the ER to the OR. That nixes the idea of having a trauma center; you can’t take care of these severely injured patients if the ER/ambulance bay isn’t next to the OR.
I can’t certify the veracity of this claim, but I’ve been told by credible sources that the ORs here at CUMC were built with the stipulation by donors that they wouldn’t be near the ER (another equally believable story is that it is NYC and there’s no space to have the ORs right next to the ER, but the former story is a bit more dramatic).
Level 1 trauma centers lose money. Period. Who is most likely to need a trauma center? MVAs, usually drunk driving accidents — car insurances often don’t pay for drunk drivers. Gunshot victims, stabbings, other violent crimes — these people are likely to be uninsured. Etc. Hospitals lose money on trauma cases.
And so, this morning, a man in critical condition had to travel probably 15+ minutes and 40+ blocks from an amazing hospital to one that could treat him.
Harlem Hospital is an NYC public hospital. What happens if/when these safety-net institutions that are providing a vital service shut down due to lack of funds?
Tags: Columbia University Medical Center, emergency room, New York - Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, trauma center
June 26, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
Before clamoring for more public funding, it might be worth asking why it is that trauma centers lose money in the first place. If we want to live in a society where trauma centers are legally obligated to take in and treat patients who have no means of paying for the services they require, then it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that trauma centers should have some claim to fair public compensation for those services. If trauma centers were compensated fairly for the duties that are legally imposed on them, then there would be no reason for them to lose money.
June 26, 2009 at 9:57 pm |
I’m not clamoring for more public funding. If anything, I was making the same point you made – that we need to flip the incentive towards actually having these centers instead of the way it is now where You’re better off without one.
June 27, 2009 at 6:30 am |
Pinko.