Here an excerpt from "US Medicine That Europe Envies":
* 5:45 a.m.: 911 call.In my experience as a practicing physician, that's pretty typical for American health care.
* 5:50 a.m.: EMTs arrive.
* 6 a.m.: Arrive at emergency room.
* 6:07 a.m.: Wife in emergency room bed.
* 6:20 a.m.: Initial physician consultation.
* 11 a.m.: CT scan. (One machine out of service, hence the long wait.)
* 1 p.m.: Surgery prep.
* 2 p.m.: Surgery.
* 3:30 p.m.: Recovery room.
* 5 p.m.: Admitted to empty room.
* 9:30 a.m. (the following day): Released.
Pitts then noted:
I used Facebook to let my friends and family know about my wife's condition.(Read the full text of "US Medicine That Europe Envies".)
The Americans were all appropriately sympathetic.
The Europeans -- who suffer under socialized medicine -- were mostly amazed.
Amazed that we didn't wait hours for an emergency-room bed.
Amazed that we saw a doctor in less than five or eight hours.
Amazed that we weren't told to go home and come back at a later date -- because her white-blood-cell count was only slightly elevated and the appendix wasn't in danger of bursting.
And not amazed but astounded that the surgery was done immediately. That there was actually a room available and that it was vacant -- at a large urban hospital -- they couldn't even fathom.
Here is one verbatim comment from a continental comrade:"I waited three days in London to see a GP and 20 hours at ER for an 'exploratory op.' It burst and I nearly died (to say nothing of the two life-threatening incidents whilst I was being 'cared' for). But hey! The public option is better... right?"
If you develop appendicitis next year, will this kind of high-quality care still be there for you under ObamaCare?
