Lex Hinkley is a 27-year-old nurse based mostly in San Diego, California — and their frustration with American healthcare not too long ago made waves once they posted a passionate TikTok rant that completely sums up every thing that is mistaken with our system.
She begins the video by saying, “It’s nearly unimaginable to be a moral healthcare employee on this extraordinarily unethical healthcare system. The quantity of occasions I’ve needed to discharge sufferers again to conditions the place I knew they weren’t going to have the ability to handle themselves, however I had no different choices, is actually too onerous to even give a quantity to. If my profession as a healthcare employee has carried out something to my worldview or life, it has merely radicalized me additional than anybody might consider.”
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Then, they share a extremely upsetting story that completely illustrates how for-profit healthcare places cash over sufferers’ lives and dignity. “I’ve seen various ranges of this occur at each single hospital I’ve labored at. I have been a nurse for 4 years. I’ve labored in seven states. It’s taking place all over the place and when you suppose your hospital is totally different, you are fucking mistaken. Just lately, as of December, hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky, got here below fireplace for leaving sufferers exterior on fucking sidewalks.”
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“They do that in entrance of shelters. They’ll drop sufferers off in entrance of shelters similar to this, however typically they do not even take them to the shelter. They actually depart them proper exterior the hospital. This particular affected person was left on this situation in 36 diploma climate.” When the native information outlet WAVE was alerted, they staked out the hospital and noticed a number of extra sufferers being left exterior with no sources.
One affected person’s mom informed WAVE, “I believed ‘They’ve dumped my son…’ My rubbish I’ve to place out to the curb, that’s how they dumped my son. Like rubbish.” It is completely heartbreaking.
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When a stabilized emergency room affected person who wants extra care is basically kicked to the curb like this, it is referred to as affected person dumping. This follow shouldn’t be remoted to the Kentucky hospital Lex talked about. In only a fast Google Information search, I discovered information studies about affected person dumping in San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Colorado Springs, all throughout the final 12 months.
Sufferers who’re uninsured, low-income, or experiencing homelessness are on the highest danger of being affected person dumped.
Subsequent, Lex connects the dots between incidents of affected person dumping and the gutting of the American social security internet. “If you defund social applications, all of it results in the ER. If you defund senior care, once you defund psychiatric care, once you defund shelters, whether or not it is homeless shelters or ladies’s shelters.”
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“If you defund the security nets that our society wants to stop individuals from starting a disaster, a downward spiral, they find yourself within the ER and easily put, ER staff and hospital staff are already at their fucking wit’s finish. We can not act as a catch all for each single situation in society, and but, we’re right here we’re doing it. And on the very fucking similar time, treating individuals like literal fucking rubbish ought to by no means fucking occur.”
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Lastly, Lex urges our nation to start out placing a refund into social providers. “The one strategy to repair conditions as unethical and disgusting as this from taking place is to fund options. We have to fund correct security nets for our society. On this nation, when you lose your job, you lose your medical health insurance, you probably lose all your earnings, which implies you are not going to have the ability to pay hire. Properly, then what occurs when you get sick? Do you see what I am saying? We do not have security nets for our poor on this nation. We now have a greased chute, and on the very backside of that greased chute of poverty is a visit to your native emergency room as a result of every thing results in the ER after which we’ve got nowhere to position individuals.”
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“There are answers for these issues, however they value cash. They value cash. And we as a society have stated that we’re A-okay with 400 individuals having 70% of the nation’s wealth whereas our neighborhood members get handled like this.”
And that is only a pattern of what they needed to say. You possibly can watch the total video right here:
@travelingnurse / Through tiktok.com