OCR Text |
Show The Salt I Late Tribune, Sundae April 17. 177 . Those Spiraling Medical Costs: Just How Much Is One Life Worth? made no attempt to dm Ih i"Ut r Administrator E Wayne Ghn-tupl- u cil ;iiiH ..n 3'ioiint auditor la nurset c arefullv reviewed the halt ho this reporter 4t initial glance, the lioodiuali lull I' There are si vt n simple even ilear-cu- t basic c harges emergency sen u e. $1 r room. $87, electrocardiogram X ray, $84. central supplies, si '2, drugs. $20(1 70; lab. $.175 Wide the patient auditor double-checke- d the pharmacy and lab both seemed high for so charges short a stay Christopher told me how difficult it is to run a ts7 hod hospital with .5MI staff doctors and 7so fulltime workers to ov erseo Editor's Note: "The hospital bill read Sl.tl4.ld (for . . . and me dav't routine patient died." Medical writer Bard Lindeman who in 1475 was fired as of ftie care) editor-in-chi- American Medcal Association's (former) consumer magazine. Today's Health, for refusing to scrap a reveaiii9 senes of articles on medicine in America now tackles the explosive issues fast turning localized trouble spots into a national catastrophe. In this first of a senes, he uses the experience of average people to illuminate some dark shadows of the medical nightmare: from skyrocketing hospital costs to the double bind of malpractice insurance. He probes grave, gray areas, from "unnecessary" test measures to decision on who shall live. And he looks to patients as partners in remedying care a no stabilizing costs. two-pa- He was mailed tht generalized I, nl lie knows only how he feels, i unity , hitter, thwarted, even c heated tins lake the case of another patient sick" at heart, Only 16 and literally she was, in truth, about to (he Balky alve Cllilt.liood rheumatic fever had left her with a balky mitral valve in her heart's left chamber Now she was pregnant and very young lives were threatened Surgeons hail given her all artificial initial valve when sin- was o But no one had said, "Better not g( t pregnant - FKUMl Monthly Since Jan 1. l17(i. there has been a jkt cent increase in all phar-maeuticals, he said, "and our malpractice insurance now runs $40 ooo a month lAMA estimates the aveiage payment per doctor for malpractice and insurance runs more than every time a patient makes an olfice visit, he pays $1 24 for malpractice -8 jht cent of the total cost) Hoc's this mean then that a lot of "defensive medicine is practiced in his hospital Its considerable." the administrator admits, adding. "The we're all hospitals and the doctors concerned." When the lab and drug charges were uuhv lduahzed. there proved to lie 1.1 of the former, also, eight medications had Ixx-prescribed Hr Jeffrey Chance, a internist, was young, obviously impatient with the subject of defensiv e medic me "There was zero ier cent defensive medicine in this c ase," he said sharply "She w as a sick old lady w ho w as dying 1 tric'd to prevent that death 1 tried to keep her going "She was frail and dehydrated. 1 had to do those tests. They were all offensiv e They told us something about her condition None Found Fault Liter showed the Goodman bill to several other doctors None found any fault with the aggressive prescribing by the young internist However, there were several quibblesMrs Goodman was given the hospital's routine venereal disease test (customarily, $9. Mrs Goodman was charged $18). She also was charged $5(1 for two bacteria cultures; $51 for four sensitiv dies. 828 for two blood counts and $21 because seven lab tests were marked "stat" meaning "rush " 2 The woman was charged $16 for a dietary supplement, which is mixed with orange juice As the doctor said, she needed fluids Bill Goodman doesnt know any of Part I: llow Mush Is One Life Worth? Bani landc-mat her death. Mrs Helen Goodman was M and practically anonymous to tier 'home town of North Miami Beaeh. f la Bv Vet her quiet, 1 death little-notice- speaks loudly to the majority of Americans who are burdened, confused health-- i and angry oer mind-bogglin- art pines For it cost the luckless Mrs. Goodman $1,014 20 to die A sufferer of Parkinsons disease, for which there is only limited therapy and no cure, she was hospitalized less than 24 hours. This situation is neither unique nor oon uncommon. Mmost daily, we mencans read that according to government projections, we will spend $i32 billion for medical and health care. In just 10 years, the costs have jumped 16 6 per cent, and no rational person thinks the trend is about to not even under a new change president. But these are meaningless numbers to most working men and women, William little people. menca's Goodman, a retired Missouri businessman, is a member of tins giant clique and cares deeply What he knows aliout is the bill he got from Parkw ay General Hospital for his wife's last hours alive People Robbed one "For days stay in a hospital. he declares, that's robbing the people. What Goodman, a former insurance man. means is that Medicare pays all but $104 of the bill. Thus consumers across the country pick up a piece of these and similar charges. So. it behooves us to look more closely at Mrs. Goodmans last medical bill Parkway General, an investor-owne- d hospital in North Miami Beach, has n board-certifie- d hat brings added heart strain 7 ours may not hold up " So. she was admitted as an emergency case to Jackson Memorial Hospital m Miami, Fla An obstetrician pcrfoi med a Cesarean, saving the unlxim infant (a girl) But the mother went into cardiac arrest 1 Each year, 665.0(10 Americans die of similar heart attacks But the young mother w as luc ky It w as a weekday . it was mid morning, she was in a county hospital with a university affiliation (Juiekly . the chiefs of six medical services (all of them professors of medicine at the University of Miami) stood iround her bed ill tin intensive- - ,n 10 cc sl.p so th.it the M D p.i'iiiit s the pain ill. the hospital all know how oin-n- soon !t These could servo to gu.dt dot lot' r, t mJ. !: cine esj-l- 2- - Dr on manors of i"-- t and families sicknesses vnl identical with limits p. insvver would help and ethic '. law wind up paying widely differing hills Is it time to the big question ' Wlu-1some loin times as much as otheis Tit off the turn respirator quietly reason' Certain staif M D s ai on. many f 1 think that, from or elst the.-allfts he suggc-'ts- . spemllhi our basic health c are dec lsions huv e to deleii'ivt easily practicing be societal decisions." says I)r Brian tin dii me M Biles, advise. 10 Sen Eiiwaid Partner Kennedy's health subcommittee He The Michigan mtemist is eagei to sec explains that os per c cut of all decision' dealing with exist are made by the the patient as a more active p .rtnei in icmedying his own care und cost' providers doctors and hospital people thereof' let the patient take his own Cleai ly as Dr Biles point' out. the meals in an all pui pose i.tfetciia In need lor refoi m is at hand oifeis Imagine what a surgeon might But is there no practical common learn if his recent gallbladder case sense way to hold down costs now w ei e to 'it down and bine h w ith him' " of the before they reach 25 per cent The patient is not a "helpless gross notional product . . before a Di nimiv ." maintains l National Health Comnii' Bates His woids are echoed in Madi slon is created to set dollar limits on the where the university hospi son (i terminal, aged patient receiving hie shown tln-- lan save lip to t" t.ils have " support technology merely bv per cent on loom rates feisty Internist allowing patients to get themselves to V lln Xiay room ot cafeteria Further fei'ty internist from L.ui'in Mich . thinks there is Admittedly, Dr some patients . te encouraged to Richard Bates has no magic bullet or ' make lip" then own rooms, obvioiislv a wonder drug to cut costs He does cutting hack oil every hospital s No bai bs. whu h he files expense laltol have sharp-tippe- d We've at his brothers m medicine Dr Bates also easts a eye on somehow got to spend money as what he calls "too many diagnostic Wets it were coming from our own poc tests, as well d- - some of the new as index'd it does, in the form of taxes. 'Somehow, now and fan technology he admonishes del tests never eliminate the oldei Dr Bates reminds is that almost all tests." lie observes "They only suppleexpenditures flow from a doctor's ment them " orders "Tht- - bin k starts with u- NEXT : ho Is Boss Of our Body ? every He suggests that all charges fCoDrrght I9r Fieio Enterpr seb ir be included oil the lab test and X ray unit Then after fast but elaborate testing. Hnovh;,ng B dnoki cardiovascular surgeon, performed an open heart He worked four hours, removing the mitral (one of four valves m the heart' and implanted a new artifui.il n prosthesis, made of pigskin Healthy Today Both mother and child are healthy today Total cost to tho patient's Florida Medicaid account $21 772 There is no argument with either or the conclusion Nor can there U- anv challenge to medicine's responsibility to go all out to save a young, unwed, indigent mother and her unborn child Rut suppose the patient had leen woman Mrs Goodman an 83 year-olwith incurable Parkinsons disease' Or, perhaps, secondary cancer of the liver Or some other chronic illness w hich. perhaps, required the family to "sell the- - farm" or dig deeply into "our and little poke" to pay for die care w ith no hope of a cure Doctor to whom this demanding et of questions hut vc r appropriate w as put at first recoiled Then, they all These are not our answered alike decisions Society must give us the death questions " answers to life-vtin-fact-s - -- s ommiUt-c-- Ik-- t s unit ll I' Ih ing spent I -- t 1 hc-i- d c 20-3- 5 will cale Special Committees Moreover, these medical scientists predict that with technology moving at its present pace (some say the artificial heart and implantable artificial livers will be certainties before 19901 there . unit-liabl- majc-steria- I 1 ss"S - 1 Z v Fftwirmy V ' 4'' - 1 puG'-'- - , i, , 9 - , .3 ITlhiirnfflh ffimir dDDH V. FffiSlSCDllllg "Wm SUN., MON., TUE OjeqoDGg Klngjlhiffiir fA SHOP AT HOME We 355-462- eer 1 NYLON pcit II nimto'sst Watch your money grow with Murray First Thrift and Loan. can earn 6 how bnrvg our to your home day or evnirQ It a to chooae the right carpet and Mo color rtght in your own horn obligation o coat tor thia aervice CALL TODAY Mgj you (6.16 effective annual yield) on your passbook savings account by joining thousands of others who have become good friends with Murray First Thrift. At Murray First your savings account earns higher interest on passbook accounts. HI-L- 0 A beautiful hi Iq pattr-ro VXT , Nylon u t Combines pood fashion and torn war rvq Quality at an attrartim tud I pne Choici of decorator coorx Rate 6 convenient locations. Each of our 6 branch offices has been speciall con structed for Murray First Thrift. They're spacious. And elegant. We designed them so that you'll feel comfortable whenever you visit us. Drop-bthe office nearest you and meet our branch manager. You'll discover why so many of our customers have become such good friends and return again and again. Average Annual Yield Account Main Office 35 South Main. Salt L ike Lit Granger Office 2000 West 3500 South Orem Office 420 State Street. Ph. 225 9234 1 NYLON SHAG rich eith drtSh Class ft s durable drndabh and troube tree fktuMu decorator colors A ij denit-sha- toveiv rn any decor SHAG iSSST k." ur Ths shaver tousled for wa .nq shao tarns its soft rhythm of liQht and dark shad in een after r , of y ar Strrkm color a trons to choov trori P 10 g m a V f accounts with t ofriW'L.nd(i uunt utiu u flitir f Jr U nirtu'U your account. Over 20 years of financial stability. I S' r D f'lO" id and kOV jj service. friendly weve become Hi 0 r mSL 0 $ 679 SO. STATE ST. SALT LAKE CITY T- 355-462- 1 a no Ghs r Visit one of our 6 conveniently located branches today. nuion plush p t H Utaared Arnseiv ' ioot act pn( r prprTa' ana lU'ir'ous Ms S'umGne evo s c 'tiapvraeaad 6 awrabH tr ,,, J xjp Ci, Af nud! Y iid is tf e tua! intrW d jwsit rr d ail Pdf nuKjs fDmun in thr dr We'll help you develop a savings plan to meet your needs and still insure you the highest possible yield on NYLON PLUSH ROOM-SI2- l d jf.$ ' ( II IHTCTf - 99 Murray Office . Your savings account is protected to $10,000. Murray First Thrift and Loan Co. protects thrift certificates and thrift passbook certificates up o $ 10.000. So your money is safe. And, that's the way it should be. A rjuiif s p ! j j d tjj f(j d rnd m n im j , u ill ,11 inly ( UfpOU llfMl fl Oldh. pMVdti f t.f1 ' Ih b'rtU of (ltd1! f;f If f(l HISnunM rj ( Ll . and one of Utah's largest Although grown to and most respected financial institutions ($37. 000,000 in total assets), wt intend to earn our customers continued respect. Every day. So. we offer a new customer tlx same servi e we olfer an old friend. When you visit us to open or add to your savings account, we think you'll fu the different e. 5899 South Stale Street Trolley Square Office 647 Easl 500 South Bountiful Office 298 West 500 South i , hf tj u in IN UK ft t , g: ""UlTlf MURRAY FIRST THRIFT & LOAN CO. Phone 521-654- 3 for all offices. |