Epidural Critic’s Anger Is Misplaced
* So Sheryl Clark is “appalled” [“Epidurals’ Costs Should Not Be Paid,” Letters, June 27] because a class-action lawsuit has been filed in the case of low-income women who were denied epidurals during childbirth.
Seems to me her indignation is misplaced. There would have been no basis for such a lawsuit if certain greedy anesthesiologists (already one of the highest-paying specialties in the medical field) had not demanded hundreds of dollars in cash upfront from these unfortunate women to begin with.
That’s a better example of “a despicable attempt to squeeze more money out.” Would anyone care to hazard a guess how many of these cash transactions were reported on their tax returns?
The procedure itself takes only minutes to perform, and while it is true that the patient has to be monitored afterward, you’re dreaming if you think the doctor hangs around to do this. That duty, and removal of the epidural catheter itself later on, is regularly delegated to an RN.
As for cost containment, health-care workers interpret that to mean avoiding unnecessary waste and conserving supplies, not letting a patient suffer unnecessarily. If the milk of human kindness ever flowed in Sheryl Clark, it has obviously long since curdled to produce such a sour letter.
DOROTHY McEWAN, RN
Port Hueneme
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