General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm a nurse and I've possibly been exposed to Ebola and I think I maybe should be quarantined [View all]calimary
(81,109 posts)the executives and policy makers WILL be the ones hurt, when they see their hospital losing money. That's all they care about anyway. Whoever it was who told the nurse in the ER to just send the guy home and NOT isolate him ABSOLUTELY was on FULL "Penny-wise/Pound-EXTREMELY-foolish" mode. I'd bet whoever it was - thought only of how much more that might cost.
Here's what you have to keep in mind, as a filter, with these people, to understand the deep-down: Just imagine the mentality governing a private hospital (which is - a FOR-PROFIT hospital). The overriding concern, Number-One, Priority-One, would be governed by a single key question: "do you know how much that's gonna COST????"
The bottom line here is always the bottom line. Costs. A private hospital is ALWAYS going to be MOST concerned about profit. MORE profit, LESS spending. CUTTING COSTS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS. And when their profits start dropping - that will hit the folks in the executive suites - to some extent, anyway.
They're not gonna like the "buddy system" guidelines that are being imposed. That means staffing up. If one nurse was sufficient before, IT AIN'T THAT WAY NO MORE!!! And that's not for free. Tough shit. It's gonna COST, whether the damn bean counters like it or not. If Ebola treatment means those nurses are confined and may not be allowed to treat other patients, that means you have to find some more nurses somewhere and bring 'em in to take care of the other patients. You have to add staff to cover all the nurses and doctors who might now be under quarantine because they treated a gravely ill Ebola patient and were at dire risk of direct exposure - so they have to be taken out of action for at least 21 days. And that, too, means you have to hire more. That means adding on the expenses. And more supervision. And more supplies. More equipment. More specialty-protective garb. More safe disposal protocols and mechanisms and supplies and people to take care of that part of it. They're not gonna like that, either. Because that all means extra expenditures - extra COSTS. TOUGH SHIT. They're just gonna have to face it - it's just gonna COST, whether they like it or not. Which will cut into their profits. And that's how they'll be hurt. And in my opinion, that's just too damn bad. I wish there were a way to punish them individually for being myopic cheapskates. People will DIE because of it. One guy already did, as we know. Just so they can keep costs down.
Health services SHOULD NOT BE A FUCKING PROFIT CENTER, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!