Health Care A Treatment Example

TW: Sticking with the where do we draw the line meme relative to health care, Dr. Thompson frames a common medical scenario and ask what do you think?

From Dr. Thompson at Where Is the Outrage blog:
"Let’s look at a very common scenario. As I tell this story, let’s think about overtreatment and undertreatment and let’s think about the delivery of healthcare. Again, is healthcare rights? Or is it a privilege?

The 25-year-old male works as a stock boy at Wal-Mart. He’s never been to the hospital. He does not take any medications. He is healthy. He carries no insurance. While in the warehouse, he turned around quickly and hits his head on a metal pole. He is a little dazed but is not knocked out. He develops a bruise on his forehead. He asked his supervisor if he can go to the doctor. The patient presents to the emergency room complaining of a headache. The ER physician takes a thorough history and physical and only finds a bruise on the patient’s forehead. The ER physician orders a CT scan of his head. This scan is negative for any traumatic injuries. The patient is sent home with instructions to return to work as soon as he is able.

So? What do you think? 30 years ago, a patient with such an injury would not go to the emergency room. 20 years ago, the standard of care would be to examine the patient and if the patient does not have any specific signs of a head injury like nausea or vomiting, blurred vision or decrease in mental status then the patient would be sent home on aspirin or Tylenol. 10 years ago, because of the availability of CT scans and the wealth of information that physicians can get from CT scans almost all head injuries get scanned.

So, what are your thoughts? Is healthcare a right? We have a golden opportunity to fix this system so that it works for every America."
http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/2009/03/15/serious-healthcare-reform-part-1-where-to-start/