One Ambulance Per Minute Diverted in U.S., Study Finds (No Primary Care?)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

By Mike Stobbe
Associated Press
Tuesday, February 7, 2006; Page A08

ATLANTA, Feb. 6 -- An ambulance is diverted to a different hospital every minute, on average, because emergency rooms in the United States are so overcrowded, suggests one of the first national studies of the issue.

The study did not measure how the delays in getting to hospitals affected patients' survival, but the study's lead author said it could not have been for the better.


"Most of the people that arrive by ambulance are older, and they have more serious medical conditions," said Catharine Burt of the National Center for Health Statistics.

"So the fact that they're being delayed . . . whether it's two minutes or five minutes or 15 . . . I can only assume that's going to have some impact," she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601554.html

[rodeodance]

1. says it is the elderly that are most affected. Sad commentary on how we

treat the elderly in our country

[salin]

2. as we raise medicare premiums, make a mess

of programs, esp for the neediest elders, designed to help folks get life-saving medications, cut food distribution programs, prevent increases in heating assistance programs, etc. I Scoff at the GOP's claim that they support a "culture of life."

[area51]

3. This is a direct result...

... of us not having universal healthcare. People can't afford drs., & therefore wait until an illness becomes critical & they need ER care.

It's far past time for the nazi party to stop stealing/wasting our tax dollars & institute univerasl healthcare in this country. A healthy workforce = a more productive workforce, & more people going into entrepreneurship b/c healthcare is no longer an issue.

[Crazy Canuck]

5. the nazi party

As much as I dislike the Republican party, I don't think they have death camps anywhere (ok, maybe some torture camps... I'll concede that.).

[Karenina]

6. Who needs death camps

with all that nasty evidence when simply instituting policies insuring folks will die uncounted will suffice?

[Lars39]

11. FYI, this admin. was wanting to put a crematorium in at Gitmo.

[ninkasi]

13. Not yet

I think that KBR has the contract to build the new detention centers, though, in case of an "immigration emergency" or some unnamed "other" programs. Many of us have our own ideas about what these detention centers will be used for.

[Laughing Mirror]

15. If GITMO is not a death camp I don't know what is

[bleedingheart]

4. oh wait...Healthcare Savings Accounts are on their way!

but wait...will people be able to afford to put money in them...

[lavenderdiva]

9. you have to have medical insurance to even use the Healthcare

savings accounts, I believe. So having them will not in any way, help those who can't even afford insurance in the first place. Like me.

[AnneD]

7. This is not new....

all the cuts in funding for neighbourhood clinics and health insurance/care for the poor has resulted in the poor to use the ER as their clinic. Hospital closures, esp in rural areas have impacted health care. Also the lack of an adequate number of Nurses to provide care is cutting into the total number of beds available. It was once that diversions were on just busy weekends, now it is all too common. It will only get worse as not much is being done to address the problem.

[rainbow4321]

8. Our facility will let people rot in the ER for 12+ hrs

before they go into diversion..cuz w/ diversion comes a loss of $$ that ends up in their competitors pocket. It's going to be a frigging horrible cycle of events...
No primary care=no preventative care=more hospital admissions of REALLY sick people who will be in the hospital a MUCH longer time since they are so very sick. All this leads to a backed up Emergency Room cuz there will be no empty beds, not enough NURSES to care for the patients, etc..
Of course, nowadays, the phrase "not enough nurses" is not in a facility's vocab. They just overload the nurses with an unsafe # of patients.
Who benefit$ from the longer hospital stays?? The hospitals themselves and their "parent company" (HCA, Tenet, etc..).

[barb162]

10. seems as if you should try to drive yourself if you're in any shape

and if you have a car; the whole damn medical system seems to be falling apart quickly. Or maybe call a cab?

[splat@14]

12. When Bush was governor here in Texas,

His reply to Emergency Room problems on the horizon was that he had "visited several hospital ER's and they were doing fine, they had lots of people there, plenty of business"

Out of touch then and now.

[winston61]

14. more awful changes to come

The insurance companies are looking to eliminate employer group health plans. Group plans spread risk and lower costs (premiums paid to insurers). Insurance companies want to get rid of group plans and start selling individual policies to us. Sky high premiums and deductibles, cherry picking only young healthy customers.The Repubs are complicit in the crime, offering tax breaks for premiums. But how many working class and working poor itemize deductions? A tidal wave of profit rolls in and very little care rolls out. As for the poor and sick, the public in the forms of taxes will pay for them. The states and fed keep reducing payments for that and the poor start dieing. But isn't that the goal? As Scrooge said, reduce the surplus population. When those who cannot earn enough to consume what is being offered die off, the states and fed can again lower taxes on those left. One little problem, where you find wealth you also find poverty propping up the lives of wealth. Who mows the yards, cooks the food, wipes the asses of the wealthy young and old? Without the poor wealth also suffers. Poor babies. This just illustrates rule one about greed. Greed is blind to the consequences of itself. It is a cancer that destroys the host body. The final consequence? Collapse of society. Destroy working and middle class populations and the host society will die. Wealth may be last to die, but dead is still dead.
Maybe we do have the government we deserve.

[Robb]

16. As an EMS driver, I should point out

Obviously delays would affect some patients' survival. But the ambulance goal is stabilize and transport, not treat.

Most ambulances carrying patients are not in a hurry, are driving the speed limit, with their lights and sirens off. If you're running code (lights and noises) your patient is probably so messed up they won't make it, anyhow. :shrug: