Dirty Business

To the Editor:
Recently a neighbor and good friend suffered a harsh fall in his frozen yard, necessitating surgery. This old Marine crawled across the street in freezing weather and on ice covered surfaces to get to my home for help. He insisted on no ambulance and mostly on his own, we got him to the hospital.
Surgery was performed the next morning and he now has three pins in his lower leg. After several weeks of what for him was near incarceration, we returned to the surgeon for follow up and a hopeful return home. That did not happen.
While the attending staff in our medical facilities is to be commended for their dedication and hard work, the administrators are a sorry lot. Decisions are mostly finance-based and the well being of the patient takes a back seat to insurance qualifications.
The surgeon visit was on March 16. I returned my excited friend to the rehabilitation facility only to see his elation shattered. He was told a team would decide his fate, even though his surgeon said he was ready to go home and in fact removed the splint and replaced it with a walking boot. We were advised the meeting would take place the following day, Saint Patrick’s Day. We made plans to take him to a local American Legion, who were to provide him with a walker. Though I am in my sixth month of sobriety, as a veteran and an Irishman, I looked forward to being there with my friend while he had a few beers with the boys.
Instead, he contacted me to say I could not pick him up until Saturday, four more days of incarceration. Now I’m sure they will tell you it was for his welfare but I will tell you that is a lie. In taking him to the surgeon, I was left completely on my own. We got him up and dressed, into a wheelchair and into my big old SUV, all unassisted. It was very much the same at the surgeon’s and again back to his bed.
I am 70 years old and about 30 or 40 pounds lighter than my friend. His welfare was not measured here because if there were any economic implications, they would have been negative to this institution. Rehabilitations rather than extended hospital stays are a less expensive option for insurance providers. The minimal benefit in this case was far outweighed by the angst caused to my senior citizen friend.
By this letter I expect nothing more than to simply get it off my chest. Just maybe someone involved, might have a slight hint of guilt. Every additional day extracted from the insurance provider was also taken from this man’s happiness. I’m trying to figure out which is the dirtiest piece of business, politics or the medical field. They only thing I have observed of the two, lawyers are all over both.