10/29/2008
Paying for nothing
You pay for a car you get a car. You pay for dental treatment, you get dental treatment. You pay for a massage you get a massage. You pay to a hospital to be healed. You die in hospital or your illness did not improve, you still pay. Is this fair?
Why admit to a hospital to be healed but die instead and still need to pay hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands? Did the hospital fulfil its part of the contract, to heal or at least return you alive?
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17 comments:
Hi Redbean, I guess there is no guarantee that you will be healed when you admit yourself to the hospital. Doctors will do their best but you have to trust them for that. It will also depend on the severity of your illness.
ya, got to trust them. but to go in, not healed and paying $70k or $500k to die, that is totally unacceptable.
Are you suggesting that the hospital should give you a discount or even foc if you are not healed or even die from the illness? Sounds rather unfair to me.
Say if you have cancer, no cure, suffering lots of pain. The doctor diagnosed no cure, would that imply that the patient should be left to die at home. Since doctor cannot cure the patient.....
hi tracker and speedwing,
there are cases where cure is a bit of touch and go. i will refer to two specific cases. one reported in the media that because the patient was kept in ICU and then die, the cost came to $600k, if i can remember. another case of a guy complaining of discomfort in urethra or urination problem and went in for test. you don't expect this guy to die. he died and was billed something like $70k.
basically the hospital charged the all the cost incurred to the patient, without batting an eyelid. talking about a discount is distasteful.
but this kind of unbridled commercialism is even worst. i am not going to think of a better compromise. i am not in the profession and neither am i being paid to do such a thing. i just feel that things are not right.
just read glen knights reply in tan kin lian's blog on the fee the would charge for representing one person in the minibond suit. his charge is $80k but if he lost, assuming it takes 4 days, he will charge only $40k.
i think that is very fair.
> you still pay. Is this fair? <
100%, absolutely fair.
No one, not even insurance companies can guarantee LIFE. If anyone or any organisation tells you that they can, they are flat-out lying to you.
The reason is that DEATH is inevitable for all of us. If there is an illness, even a slight one, the odds of dying increase (depending of course on the medical condition).
The stakeholders of the hospital (staff, owners, etc) provide services: health and healing services, with the goal of enhancing and saving human life.
But since we are all going to die, there is no way they can guarantee and outcome. The best they can do is do their best, and judging from the quality of medical care in S'pore — those good folks do a fantastic job.
I will (and have) gladly paid them for their services. Even if I croak.
What the fuck? Are you taking your money with you when you die?
the best profession. come and pay me and i just do my best. whether you are heal or die, still pay, and pay very well indeed.
ya if you dun enjoy the coffee, you dun need to pay
There is no conscience in every profession in this world. Even the secular profession is not untainted. The choice of any profession is all about making the most money out of it, oath or no oath.
Maybe the patient should him/herself how much his/her life is worth.
And in case the estimated cure cost more than his/her life(self asessed), patient should go home, live with the condition.
Or, if tired of living, find a way for a good long.......peaceful sleep.
Better die than sick in SIN, so says Singaporeans.
patriot
My apology for missing the word 'ask' to the first sentence of my previous post.
The Sentence should read 'Maybe patient should ask him/herself....
patriot
the hospital shall give an estimate of the cost involved as well. normally the patient just go in and did not know what they are in fall as far as paying is concerned.
if the hospital were to let the patient know in advance, many will die before being wheeled in.
'If the hospital were to let the patient know in advance, many will die before being wheeled in'
That's the beauty of it. If patients die before being wheeled in, the hospital makes nothing. So, better give a low estimate, wheeled them in, and whack them hard, by arguing that complications crop up that were not foreseen. Aiyoh, every trade has it tricks lah!
It was mis-selling in minibonds, now You are suggesting unforeseen complications.
I read in the news number of times, surgical instruments were found in patients' bodies after operations. Wonder if patients were billed for the removals of the instruments?
patriot
Hi patriot
Removal of instruments is another avenue for whacking. Worth exploring. You know, there are no more morals, ethics and conscience left in this world.
ya, bill the hospital for it plus compensation. it cannot be taken as another unnecessary slip that needs to be corrected by the hospital.
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