A Case Study in Cruelty

A Michigan woman hurt her shoulder and suffered weeks of agonizing pain that made it impossible for her to sleep. But because she had no health insurance and did not qualify for Medicaid, she was unable to afford the extortionate costs of scans and treatment at her local ER. So, in desperation, she decided to shoot herself in the same shoulder assuming the local hospital would treat her for her wound and take care of the existing shoulder injury along the way.

Unfortunately surgeons at Lakeland Hospital treated only the bullet wound and carefully avoided the 'preexisting condition' that was not covered by the hospital's legal requirement to treat emergency injuries before sending her home.

Now Kathy Myers faces an unpayable bill for her emergency surgery and a possible prosecution for shooting herself (yes, really).

If any of the above just makes you go "so?" or doesn't even shake your comfort level with American healthcare, you are the number one reason I despise and pity 'conservatives'. Sure, this woman took a nutty path when she opted to shoot herself rather than just screw her credit and tell the hospital to go f*ck themselves (as we ourselves have been forced to)... but even so.