No Insurance: Two Patients Dead

Something happened last week that reminded me of an incident that occurred earlier this year, when a 59-year-old woman, who had been my patient for years, called complaining of chest pain. She wanted to drive to my office. Fearing that her heart was causing the chest pain, I told her to call the paramedics immediately or find someone to take her to the nearest emergency room.

She objected, saying that she had no insurance and no money. I told her that I was worried that she could be having a heart attack and didn’t want her driving 45 minutes to my office. I assured her that because of the emergency nature of her illness, they couldn’t refuse her treatment.

She did not do as I suggested. Hours later, she died in a paramedic ambulance, which her neighbors called when her pain became unbearable. What happened last week was similar.

A 57-year-old man who I’d never seen before came to my office with his wife. He complained that he awoke that morning with sore elbows, wrists and chest pain. He decided it was arthritis and wanted something for it and maybe a chest X-ray.

After a brief examination, I told him that I wanted him to go to the nearest hospital emergency room, as I thought it could be his heart. He objected, telling me that he had no insurance. I suggested that he have an electrocardiogram and a blood test.

He refused, stating that he was certain it was arthritis. No amount of persuasion could convince him otherwise. He said it was his bones that hurt, not his heart. Besides, he had no family history of heart disease. As he left my office, I told him to go to the emergency room if the pain didn’t ease.

Three hours later, I received a call from the police. The paramedics had been called to his home and found him dead. I told the officer that I suspected a cardiac death, that I had wanted him to go to the hospital, but he refused because he had no medical insurance.

There are 44.5 million people in this country without medical insurance. In Canada, everyone has medical coverage. Nobody need be afraid to seek medical care because they have no insurance. My two dead patients prove that everyone should be covered by medical insurance. That would require a national health program, health care for all.

Opponents to a national health plan say that in Canada, patients must wait on a list before getting some procedures done. Our uninsured people don’t even have the privilege of being on a list. In Canada, total expenditures on medical care are less that in the U.S., but their national health statistics are better than ours.

It’s time to get rid of our wasteful, for-profit medical insurance system and get a single, national health plan for all.

Dr. Melvin H. Kirschner practices in Van Nuys.