Death and Money

Well, this is quite a tragic story. I’m using my blog to vent about several points and just express my OPINION. I repeat: OPINION. God bless America and free speech, right?

Thanks for being patient; if you’re actually reading this, again I have no visitors. Don’t let the double-digits on that counter to the left fool you, that’s all me, looking at my counter….

Anyway:

1. They say there’s a nursing shortage. I think it could be true for a lot of places. Nurses really get a crash-course in Nursing. Two short years and you’re expected to know a ton of things. Hospitals become desperate for nurses (because there’s a shortage) and hire new grads who haven’t been on the Floor that long. Four-year nurses (BSNs) usually go straight from clinicals to the desk, doing less patient care than the 2-year RNs. What I’m trying to say is, yes there may be a shortage. But did anyone think that some nurses just aren’t prepared enough for what they end up doing?

1a. This goes back to my thoughts on how rude and disrespectful we are to each other. This “I’ll be rude to get my way, that always works” attitude carries over into situations where we’re sick and need help and someone is there for us who puts in 12 hours a day to take care of us, no matter how much we refuse to appreciate it. I bet a lot of nurses get tired and jaded of this mistreatment and continuity of not feeling appreciated. We’re human, we need to be reassured. I bet there’s nurses who say, “I’ve had it. Why do I even bother? I’m going to do something else.. Maybe where I don't have to deal with people at all..” etc. and leave patient care or nursing altogether.

1b. The hospital I work at is crawling with nursing students all the time. There are 2 schools that use us for clinicals. These girls are SO young. It makes you wonder if they really want to do this, or heard they could make $30-$40 an hour and quickly hopped on board the Nursing Wagon. I wonder if a lot of these shiny young girls get to be RNs somewhere, really get that real-world experience VERY quickly, and promptly leave that field? I know, 21 or 35, they have to start somewhere, but I digress.


2. And now, my biggest, and first point after reading this story. I know situations like this happen all the time; where families are paid big money by hospitals and special funds set up as some sort of settlement. WTF is that? Isn’t going to the media and letting everyone know what happened to you enough damage? Isn’t blowing the whistle and scaring everyone enough?


If something happened to my family member where the hospital made a mistake and my family member lived through it but has emotional and/or physical distress, yes, money might help. Maybe said family member can’t work or their quality of life is compromised or something by the memories and scars they might carry. Money would help keep up with the cost of living, but it won’t make things perfect again and it won’t keep that hospital or any hospital from having that situation happen again. But money may give that person a somewhat "normal" life after a hospital/healthcare accident/negligence.


If something happened to my family member and the family member died, then I don’t think a million-dollar settlement is ideal at all. In fact, it seems incredibly selfish on the part of the family who was wronged, especially if the incident has been publicly reported.


Money will not bring the lost family member back. It won’t keep their memory alive (unless the money is donated or scholarship created in victim's name). I can see possibly the hospital paying for autopsies, burials/funeral costs, etc. Possibly money to be set aside for the victim's children. But not millions of dollars. That’s just absurd.


Even broadcasting the tragedy can be viewed as frivolous. It’s not like some Doctor is going to be reading the story someday and say, “Golly, maybe I should be more careful when I do my open heart surgeries.” Not gonna happen. The stories are shoved in our faces so we can be scared, to discredit hospitals (a lot of them actually very good), and cause negative opinions to form of people/healthcare providers who have nothing to do with the situation.


But we’ll continue to hear and read these stories. We’ll continue to let hospitals pay millions of dollars for something that doesn't really prove anything, making a hospital stay seem like a lottery. Meanwhile, the healthcare system continues to have money issues, nursing shortages get shorter, and people stop trusting the one place they should trust with their lives.