By RICHARD E. RALSTON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICANS FOR FREE CHOICE IN MEDICINE, NEWPORT BEACH
"Before I developed a detailed interest in government management of health care, I was unwillingly introduced to the subject when I was badly injured in a head-on collision in a taxi headed to LaGuardia Airport in New York City in 1993. To my everlasting regret, the ambulance took me to a hospital run by New York City.
"The hospital was undoubtedly understaffed and overwhelmed. But that situation was made much worse by a nursing staff of indifferent, time-serving union thugs. Over the next eight days and nights, I did encounter two or three hardworking nurses trying to help patients as much as they could, but they were a tiny minority.
"I waited outside the emergency room for some hours until someone complained about the large pool of blood accumulating beneath my gurney. I required many hours of surgery to repair blood vessels, then tissue, then skin. Afterward I complained of pain in my hip, and the surgeon asked the nurse to bring a painkiller for my IV. After 30 minutes he asked the nurse about it, and she said she could not "push it in" (to the IV bag). The surgeon responded, "Then tell me that, don't just walk away." The head of the ER later explained that the current union agreement did not permit nurses to inject other medications into IV bags.
"I was allowed to rest on a bed outside the ER until I could leave for the airport. I was not able to walk the next morning, and new x-rays showed a broken hip, so I was admitted. At about 7 a.m., I requested access to a phone from a nurse, as no one in my family knew where I was. She walked away. Many more requests made to any nurse walking by produced the same result.
"Finally, more than 10 hours later, the head nurse came by and told me I could get a phone by my bed for $25, but the office for that would not open until the following morning. I somehow made it on one leg to a straight-back chair and used my good leg to push into the hallway. Another patient saw my predicament and found a wheelchair I could use. I found a pay phone outside the ward and made a call. A nurse tried to stop me, saying, "You can't do that." I told her to mind her own business.
"As I rolled back to my bed, the secretary in the ward office asked me if I would like a lawyer. That sounded like a good idea. Five minutes later a phone was installed next to my bed, and an attorney was on the line. I am glad he had a scout in the hospital.
"The next morning a patient trying to make it to the men's room had an accident. The result stayed in the middle of the already-filthy floor all day. The nurses refused to clean it up. So did the janitors, because their union contract said they could not handle anything from a human body.
"These were only a few highlights of my stay.
"Today I am suspicious when a union for nurses tirelessly advocates complete government control of all medical care. Why do nurses' unions fight so hard to destroy private insurance? Because they want to place one union noose around the neck of all health care in the country. That requires the destruction of the rights of insurance company investors, employees and policy-holders. And for that they would have to establish a spoils system with politicians they can control. In California, they already have that, with the help of union leaders for teachers, prison guards and others. Any medical system they impose will primarily serve that spoils system, not doctors or their patients.
"I am sure many others have had more horrific experiences, and I am much better now. But what lingers most from my misery at that time was my realization and fear that Hillary Clinton was trying to create a national medical system that would perform like hospitals run by New York City. I now fear that President Barack Obama is trying to do the same thing. We must not let that happen."
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Do we really want this for the whole country?
I think not. I know I for sure don't.
Thanks, Rich