>> You wouldn't want to go to a rural or small community hospital anyway......the quality of the heathcare team from doctors on down is not very good.
What you (and many physicians, unfortunately) don't get is that it is horrible for many people to make the trip to a facility in a city or even a bigger town. Many 80 year olds will tell you, "I'd rather be treated by people I know in our 25-bed hospital than to have to drive into a larger town, any day of the week." Others will say, "I'd rather die than go to a large hospital." That's a fact.
Old people, in particular, need to be able to get treated whenever possible, close to home. My mom, after her CT guided biopsy in a big hospital told me not to ever take her back to one. After that we always went to the small hospital here. I had an oncologist that traveled to four different remote facilities (plus his own office) and delivered chemo. It was a great service as long as he could afford it.
Sometimes you have to. A customer of mine since '93, a fine vascular surgeon, told me in regard to my mom -- "Look, you have to figure the best talent will be found in the bigger towns. But the patient sometimes pays a price for it and you have weight that." It was good advice.
It totally depends on your circumstances. EVERY SINGLE DAY in rural areas people have treatments of all kinds, including chemo, surgeries, childbirth, etc., in rural hospitals. If you're having open heart surgery you want to be somewhere. But there are plenty of simple surgeries and other procedures that are done in small facilities. |
