Once admired for its skill in treating a population afflicted by both social and physical ills, Grady, a teaching hospital, now faces the prospect of losing its accreditation. Only short-term financial transfusions have kept it from closing its doors, as Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles County did last year. That scenario would flood the region’s other hospitals with uninsured patients and eliminate the training ground for one of every four Georgia doctors. Ms. Vaughn feels the strain when she has to counsel 20 patients in a day, twice as many as she did only five years ago. Or when she has to tell diabetics at risk of blindness that it might take four months to get an eye appointment. “It makes me sad,” she says, “that I’m a Grady baby and we have to go through all of this.” Although the hospital is unique in many ways, the code red at Grady is emblematic of the crippling effect America’s health care crisis has had on public hospitals around the nation. Though Grady is among the most distressed of the country’s 1,300 public hospitals, others have faced similar challenges in recent years, including those in Miami, Memphis and Chicago, said Larry S. Gage, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. There are 300 fewer public hospitals today than 15 years ago, with hospitals having closed in Los Angeles, Washington, St. Louis and Milwaukee, Mr. Gage said.
This article brings to light some of the troubles facing Grady (and similarly funded hospitals) as it tries to pull itself out of the mire. Basically, race, race and race. Also, a little illegal immigration thrown in for good measure. I kind of felt like they glossed over the fact that it has been providing sub-standard care for a lot longer than it's been in a financial crisis. Yes, it would get better with more money, but it sounds from the article like it needs an entire management/logistics overall. Maybe closing would be a good thing, just to give it some time to re-make itself. -janelane, compassionate yet objective |
