Rant #1,613: Let's Go To the Hospital!

I have a friend who just had major abdominal surgery, and from what I have been told by his significant other, the surgery was a success.

I am happy about that, and I hope that my friend's odyssey of bad health has now ended.

From what I have heard, he was released from the hospital yesterday, and he is resting at home comfortably.

That is great, it really is, but why was he, and millions of others, rushed out of the hospital after surgery like it seems just about everybody is nowadays?

He actually was, if I remember correctly, supposed to get out of the hospital a day earlier--mere hours after this major surgery--but smarter heads prevailed, and he stayed in longer.

Look, I understand that hospital stays cost money, and insurance companies end up paying huge amounts of money to keep their insured healthy.

But to rush people out of the hospital mere hours after major surgery is beyond me.

Aren't you really pushing the envelope a bit? What happens if there is a complication?

Happily, I believe my friend is strong enough--inwardly and outwardly--to survive what he went through now that he is at home, but I am sure that this is not always the case.

I have been relatively lucky, only having to go under the knife once in my life.

It is now going on several years that I had gall bladder surgery--not considered major surgery anymore, but surgery nonetheless.

I was in terrible pain, was rushed to the hospital, and after finally finding out what was wrong with me, I went under the knife the evening of the day that I was admitted.

The surgery was done--not without complication, as I actually woke up in the middle of the surgery and decided I had had enough, and had to be held down by male nurses so that the procedure could be completed (so much for the anesthesiologist)--and I was literally on my way after lunch the very next morning, mere hours after I was operated on.

I remember that I got home, feeling pretty weak but pain free, and the very next day, I received a call from my insurance company, questioning me as to why I spent so much time in the hospital for a mere gall bladder operation.

Mind you, my wife took me to the hospital early that morning, I was admitted after passing out from the pain while in the waiting room about three or four hours later, I had surgery after 10 p.m. that very day, and was let out of the hospital at about noon time the next day--that was spending so much time in the hospital?

After telling my insurance company, in as polite a way as possible, to go shove it, it made me wonder--we are paying a lot of money for our health insurance, so why shouldn't we be able to use it to the fullest extent when we need it?

I don't get it, but I guess that I really do.

Hospital beds are real estate as much as buildings and plots of land are real estate. Hospitals and insurance companies understand that you have to have that bed for a certain period of time, but once they feel that time is over, it is time to get the person out so somebody else can use that valuable real estate for a short period of time, then it is their turn to move out for someone else, and so on, and so on, and so on.

My father in law is in the hospital on a long-term basis, and heaven knows what his "piece of real estate" is costing each day.

Sure, this is a very elementary way to look at it, but I personally believe that the swiftness people are being moved out of the hospital-- in particular after major surgery--is putting the public at great risk.

I don't have any statistics in front of me, but I wonder how many people have to be put back into the hospital after surgery because they were moved out too quickly?

It is something to ponder. We aren't getting any younger, we are living to riper old ages, and we are going to need our hospitals more than any generation before us.

Rush in, rush out ... will this lead to rushing back, and how much does this all cost, anyway?

Well, all I can say is good luck to my friend, he still has a long road to go, but he is going to be fine, even if he is recuperating mainly at home during a period where he might be better off in the hospital.

I wish him the best.

I will speak to you again on Monday.