Managed care companies emerged to solve the problem of excessive and spiraling healthcare costs, promising to assure wider access to diagnostic tests and treatment at reasonable rates. Physicians are to blame. An emergency physician described the following incident in our local newspaper. He was attempting to establish phone contact with another doctor, who had been assigned to authorize and provide ongoing care for an emergency room patient. Presumably his caseload and contractual pressures were just too burdensome to care for one more patient.
Nurses are to blame.
Now even nurses are being blamed for contributing to the problems in healthcare. Barely distinguishable in rank and appearance from other hospital caregivers, their credentials and educational preparedness are confusing, and they are viewed as being so overworked that they are prone to making errors. Recently, St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange, CA terminated two experienced nurses for their part in an unfortunate error, in which a newborn baby was sent home with the wrong parents. In the course of the investigation, at least five other incidents were discovered where the wrong infant was brought to a mother during her hospitalization. There were clear indications that broader system failures existed.