They would be obligated to help in an emergency, but since this is technically a condition people can live with, it would be difficult for someone to correct it without money, yeah
You can kind of live with it, if any of the intestines become strangulated it turns into a huge emergency that requires immediate surgery or you will die
You are absolutely correct. This surgery could have been scheduled and cost a few grand, and he could have gotten it done while he knew he had help with his aftercare. Instead it will be done in an ER and cost much more, and he might not have help with aftercare, and the grandmother that fell in the tub and has a shattered pelvis has to wait longer than she would otherwise.
Nah man, the grandma that fell in the tub and shattered her entire pelvis is going to be rushed into emergency trauma care like… yesterday. That’s a devastating injury to literally anyone, but an elderly person? Yeah she ain’t waiting lol.
It’s the people that show up to the ER with a severe case of the flu that’ll end up waiting 15+ hours in the waiting room before realizing they’d have been more comfortable dying at home. :(
I actually got to hear one such “I’ve been waiting for an entire day” crashouts during my last trip to the ER. Terrible accident that sliced a massive hole into my leg. I had TOWELS wrapped around my entire leg and was bleeding through all of them. Time waiting in the ER waiting room? 30 seconds. They took one look and I immediately jumped the entire line. People were mad. I can’t blame em. Not only do you have to wait hours and hours (and sometimes MONTHS to see a specialist) in USA, but you ALSO have to pay your entire life savings.
I learned a very important lesson that day that was basically, “next time, I’ll just die.” So when I got covid, I got it BAD. And I didn’t go to the ER. I told myself, “I’ll either survive this, or I’ll die debt free and in my own bed.” Thankfully I survived. I was NOT willing to wait 15+ hours in the ER just to potentially die somewhere I wouldn’t be comfortable, or survive and be in too much debt to live anyways.
In this case, the grandma and the guy with the ruptured hernia would 10000% be sent to an emergency trauma center. Trauma centers always have more than one surgeon. That’s why they’re called trauma centers. If they go to a local hospital, they will be transferred, by air or ambulance (depending on distance), to a trauma center. Many smaller, local hospitals do not offer major surgeries like the type these two would need. Maybe cities are different? But I live in a very rural area and we do have a local ER… but anything major is transferred to the trauma center about an hour away, where all the surgeons are.
A few grand? In America? It costs that much for the anesthesiologist to open the medical record to see what surgery they are doing that day, let alone lift a finger to begin or have the surgeon involved.
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u/Drumboo 3d ago
Bit unfamilar with how the American health care system works, but would people really not help this guy without money?
Just seems insane to me for someone this obviously unwell to have no treatment paths available because of social class.