PROFITS BEFORE PATIENTS

By Matt Stone QHCusa.org 2012

Herbert (2994, para.1, 3) cite a story line on “The doctors at Karin Smith's health maintenance organization kept telling her she was fine. She knew that wasn't true. She was sick and getting sicker. Frustrated and frightened, she went to an independent physician. The news couldn't have been worse. Ms. Smith had advanced cervical cancer. If she had been properly diagnosed when she first sought help, at age 22, her chances of survival would have been 95 percent or better. Now she is 28 and doctors say it is unlikely she will see 30.” (para.1). The prescriptive or narrow concern is medical errors over a 3 year period by human error, "Even though her medical records were fully documented with the classic physical characteristics and symptoms of cervical cancer, no doctor or medical practitioner associated with my H.M.O. or its lab ever made the correct diagnosis. There were 4 misread tests and only the 5 test of the error was captured" (para.3).

The word themes in this article depict the issue and conclusion as a whirlwind of blame for who was linked to this tragic medical error. The prescriptive or narrow concern is the human error theme and trickle down effect of a blame theme within the health system. For instance, the tilted, In America; Profits before Patients theorizes that there is a “world that pulsates to the impersonal and incessantly driving rhythms of corporate greed and thus, patients are not important in this world. They are little more than data entries in elaborate schemes to cut costs and bolster profits as radically as possible” (para.5). Although, this may be true if we were looking at raw data on paper form or a screen by linking the patients names to data, but what about the protocols for quality and access to care and cost factors associated to human error because of overworked hours and fatigue? In addition to, there were "very few" standards for screening Pap smears at the laboratory. The conclusion was finger pointing and results of a $6.3 million fine, no single person was held accountable and there were no mention of efforts to restructure the very few standards for screening  pap smears at the laboratory. At the end, a life was lost and a family member because of human error and not the cause as the title suggest, In America; Profits before patients.

Reference:

Herbert, H (2994). In America; Profits before patients. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/opinion/in-america-profits-before-patients.html?ref=columnists