Politics As Usual

Thank you Sheryl! I had the same experience.
We pay so much for medical insurance you would think we could use it.

I was very scared, I could not look at the drain tubes.

My sister... She is my angel forever. God bless her.

She stayed with me through it all. She gave me strength when I was weak.

How horrific! Insurance carriers are animals...not that's an insult to animals for they have more compassion.
It's OK to own all the prime property and buildings, but insurance companies show one loss and they want to screw everyone, regardless of a year end profit!

I went through exactly the same thing when I had my breast removed. I was in surgery at 6:30am and home at 6PM. The drains were horrible, and I was alone. They NEVER asked me, before I left, if I was doing home alone.
Two nights later I was in the emergency room with Pericarditis, an infection of the heart.It seems they were in such a rush to get me out they never did a blood test. I was in ICU for a week.
it is a shame that we, as women, are treated this way.

Becky - Did you even read the article?

Deep Release:

I did.

I was thanking Sheryl for her work in Washington.

we're all just meat for the machine of state capitalism

Yes and hospitals are afraid you will die there so they send you home so your death won't be on their watch! Then they also only have to pay 2 nurses to take care of the 30 patients they have.....
America it is the best???

wow my heart aches with pain and my eyes full of tears how can this happened in america.....boy ,what a nightmare for this ladies....god bless them for being so strong and also tell their stories.....why,why this is happening..... how can they send a woman home after an operation like that....for all woman going through something like this please fight for your rights and keep telling your stories.to help so many others ,,,,,i cant believe this is happening in america....

A 12-hour hospital stay for a mastectomy? That's the same length of time my dog had to stay at the vet to have his teeth cleaned...

As a medical professional, I can assure you that drains should not be managed by inexperienced lay persons. It is a touchy situation and a source of infection.

I might add that men who have minor prostate surgery, through the urethra, are permitted to have a day's stay in the hospital, while women who have had major mastectomies are sent home. It is sexism and greed.

I had a bilateral mastectomy with bilateral oophorectomy (ovaries removed) and the hospital was ready to discharge me the next morning. I was still on a morphine pump and alternating pressure leg wraps and they were ready to send me home! The only reason I was able to stay another night was because I refused to go home that day. There was no thought about the fact that I was going home to small children (5 and 17 months at the time). I also insisted that my husband should be changing my dressings. Again I refused and demanded a referral for home health care. The drains are a mess and I dealt with them myself for a couple of weeks. By the way I had DOUBLE insurance. I think nygrump may have the correct idea.

New York Times health columnist Jane Brody described the hospital trying to send her home after double knee surgery. She was immobile, on morphine, using a bedpan, and her house had five flights of stairs. She got an extra night when she developed "chest pain". The extra day in the hospital doesn't even cost as much as they say. 90% of the total cost is the first day: surgery suite, recovery, ICU staff, etc. The rest of the time it's just room and the occasional nurse or orderly. Oh, yes, the cuisine.

These are stories of ATROCITIES commited in an America unknown to the outside world - even as our citizens turn blind eyes to them.

Can anyone tell me why the word 'socialized' raises such terror in the hearts and minds of Americans? Would Socialized Medicine really diminish our Capitalism? Can't we continue to believe in Capitalism AND, as a society, allow for the compassionate caring of individuals? In Italy, France, Japan (if you don't care for Canada's system, there are others), quality of health care is very high and yet these countries provide Socialized Medicine for its people, and visitors, with option to private physicians when desirable.

It is time to demand health care for everyone...and to stop the Atrocities perpetuated on our population. Demand health care that Congressmen receive!

"The extra day in the hospital doesn't even cost as much as they say. 90% of the total cost is the first day: surgery suite, recovery, ICU staff, etc. The rest of the time it's just room and the occasional nurse or orderly."

That's a good observation. Especially since it means that if a hospital kicks out patient A, who'd stay a second day, to make room for patient B, whos on her/his first day, they stand to make 90% more profit.

Phyllis, thank you for saying it. And yes, WHEN will the rest of America wake up? As Michael Moore says, we have "socialized" police and fire departments. Imagine if those were based on ability to pay! This is supposed to be a gov't of and by the people -- health care should be a right that we as a society guarantee. It is OBSCENE that we let insurance companies run our system for PROFIT, when they are completely unnecessary.

Let me get this straight all you people would rather be in a hospital bed alone over night in a environment filled with germs and the likelihood that your roommate would be a demented old women who screams all night. I've had the pleasure of being a guest in the hospital 13 times in the last two years. I've fought with my insurance company to let me do therapy at home but they wouldn't. Home is where most healthy people need to recoup with an adequate support system. There are problems with the system but none of you have clue to the solution.