Cutting health care costs

If you want an excellent example of why our health care is so expensive, please watch the youtube video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m64cy1MMPg&feature=related

As crazy as this link is, it is completely true.

Reducing health care costs could start in a few simple places:

1-No family member (nor anyone for that matter) should have the ability to revoke a DNR. The only person who should be able to revoke a DNR is the person who make the decision in the first place. We see this all the time: The 91 year old person who has been a DNR for a few years, goes unresponsive (hello...he is dying...!) and the family says, "Oh no, do everything you can!!" When the patient wanted to let nature take its course....So we tube him, put him on gobs of expensive meds, so we can prolong his death until his family deals with their unfinished emotional business.

2-Allow doctors to be doctors. Many end of life decisions should be removed from the control of the family. I know that is a sore subject, but it is true.

3- Change in attitudes: Health care is so expensive because our culture believes it should be a 5-star hotel. People have the attitude that they should get what the want, all of what they want, all the time. The attitude of "You owe me," must change. An attitude currently rampant in many other areas of our culture.

4- Protect doctors. Someone died, because they were very, very sick, yet it has to be someone's fault. This is crap. Bad things happen but it is not always someone's fault. Yes, when health professionals make egregious errors (read cut off the wrong leg), these errors must be dealt with, and yes, some people should lose a license over it. Sometimes it just goes badly and no one made a huge error.
We have to get away from the attitude that every bad thing is someone's fault.
It's not. We also have to end stupid, ludicrous lawsuits.

The changes that need to happen to make health care more financially agreeable will mean less of what everyone refers to now as "customer service." It will be less control for the patient and the patient's family. It's a hospital, we are trying to save lives. Quality of life has to be a major factor in the equation, not unfinished emotional business or worse yet, no one wants to let him die because he is worth a lot of money - this last thing sickens me.

In the words of one of my fellow nurses:

"I can't prolong your life, but I can prolong your death."

True in ways you would be frightened to see....