First Do No Harm

As I’ve become balder and more grey, I have come to think about the health system as much as the delivery of acute care.  This is another advantage of FOAMed.  It allows you to broaden your horizons and still stay in touch with the latest in your chosen specialty.  I would like to share a story that has brought me out of the blogging wilderness. Last week, I looked over the fence and noticed my neighbour had her arm in a cast.  She told me she had fallen over playing tennis and fractured her wrist.  She had been seen by her GP first, then sent up to a local private emergency department.  This would have cost her a few hundred dollars which, as a regular middle class family,  would have been affordable. She told me she was due to see an orthopaedic surgeon in a couple of days.  I knew him and passed on to her my confidence in him to sort things out. A few days later, my distressed neighbour knocked on my door asking for help.  She had seen the orthopaedic surgeon and had been given a quote for the operation.  She would be out of pocket nearly $4000.  This didn’t include the anaesthetist’s fee.  This was despite her having full private health insurance. For those not in Australia, we have basically two hospital health systems. The first is the public system which is fully government funded and free to everyone. The second is the private system, which is partially funded by the government through Medicare and also funded by the private health insure...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Administration Emergency Medicine Featured Health expenses First Do No Harm out of pocket private insurance public health Source Type: blogs