Healthcare and Baby Sitting

Today an odd occurrence happened at the hospital.  I overheard a couple of my fellow residents discussing a fire that had occurred in front of the hospital. 


It turns out that the fire was from a car that had exploded and was being taken care of by the fire department. 


It is not a normal occurrence for us to have flaming cars in our parking lot, and I had to ask what happened.


Curious as I was little did I expect that the cause of the fire would be Baby Sitting.


That is right BABY SITTING.


So, who or what caused the fire?


Turns out that after careful review the security team identified a woman who poured gasoline on her own car and set the car ablaze.  Why would anyone set their own care on fire? 


Once again, the answer is Baby Sitting.


You see apparently the woman that essentially blew up her car was the mother of a patient that most, if not all of us had dealt with at some point in the last year.  This mother was infamous for doing everything in her power to delay the discharge of her daughter from the hospital.  This was yet another one of her clever plans to delay discharge by stating she didn't have any means of transportation to take her daughter home.


Why would anyone want their child to stay at the hospital.  Well this wonderful use of health care dollars is essential a very expensive baby sitting service.


The patient has a chronic condition that warrants admission to the hospital at the drop of a hat for good reason, but every time the patient is admitted her mom leaves her there in the care of the nurses and residents and heads out on the town for a good time.


The last encounter I had with this patient, she delayed discharge by stating her power had been turned off.   After confirming with the power company that her power had never been disconnected, we promptly discharge the patient home.  Little did we know mom had a date later that night and would fight tooth and nail to keep us from sending her home.


I cannot blame her for wanting a little reprieve from the difficult life that she has been dealt in caring for a chronically ill child, but I would appreciate a little responsibly and concern for her daughter's health and well being. 


I continue to keep that little girl in my prayers and hope each day that her mother may find her sense and take responsibility for her daughter's health.


As the health care community continues to battle the rising cost of health care, I am constantly reminded that there will always be those few that raise the bill for the rest of us.