It seems that no one on the planet has been able to escape the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are FDA authorized testing stations located in North Pole, Alaska. The Daily Post reported an outbreak in Antartica. The COVID-19 Tracker currently reports 330,746,893 worldwide cases. And the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) says of the Omicron variant, “will likely spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus” and “expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.”
When this adventure began, there was grave concern of hospitals being overrun with cases. That did not prove to be the case. And there are multiple reports of hospitals inflating the numbers, reporting cause of death to be COVID when, in fact, it was not the primary cause. Why would the hospitals do that? Answer: Money.
CBS8 in San Diego, California was told the hospital gets $37,000 per COVID death. They also reported a Minnesota state senator said the compensation was higher if the patient was placed on a ventilator.
Does it seem backwards to you that the financial benefit to hospitals increase if the patient dies? Doesn’t that conflict with the patient’s interest to recover? Now that hospitals have become business conglomerates, are the management teams bound with the physicians to the Hippocratic oath to prevent and cure disease whenever possible?
From the beginning, it was reported those with existing conditions are most vulnerable to succumbing to the virus. And the recovery of those patients would require the most work and medical attention. If the government is going to subsidize the hospital, shouldn’t there be a greater financial incentive for the person who recovers than for the person who dies? We have been strongly advised to submit to getting the government supplied vaccine which will help stop the spread and help us return to normal. Some have followed the advice, believing in the medical professionals, only to contract the virus and perish. Shouldn’t the financial benefit be reduced in those cases?
Isn’t the primary purpose of a hospital the treatment of people suffering from sickness and trauma with the aim of healing and recovery? Why then would the government subsidize and award the hospitals for the death of patients? Don’t you think that would risk artificially extending a ‘pandemic?’
Why don’t we reward the hospital for patients that recover from COVID? Do you think that might help end the pandemic? What if we just treated it as a severe season of influenza? What if we could recommend alternative treatments and let people decide when to stay home and when to wear a mask. Wouldn’t that be okay? The states and the countries that have relaxed the mandates report better results in the overall health of their people than those with more severe restrictions. Do you think their mental health statistics might be any better? Just wondering.
Steve McCoy
Lake Tapps
