Dying For Health Care Footage

DYING FOR HEALTH CARE
This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA.	Tape Master:	11430
	Catalog #:	491200
	Clip Number:	491200-1
	Orginal Film:	61-4159
	Timecode:
	Location:	Washington General Hospital
	Year Shot:	1987 (Actual Year)
	Audio:	Yes
	Color:	Yes
	Headings:	HEALTH AND MEDICINE: Insurance
	Description:	01.14.53-Young woman having blood drawn for a test. D.C. Health Commissioner says that one young woman's case is unacceptable, but it is up to her to know her rights and to demand them. Shots of people in Emergency Room waiting room. Young woman describes waiting in an emergency room for 10 hours, a result of being unable to get non-emergency treatment appointments. Patient is wheeled into ER by paramedics. D.C. General director describes prioritizing cases. Shot of doctors performing CPR on an emergency patient. Shot of nurse treating a man for a cut. Hospital Director describes the informal "Code Brown" designation which is for uninsured people who can only go to the emergency room. [given that racial minorities are disproportionately likely to be uninsured, this is a rather sick nomenclature decision!!!] Description of a woman's case-she is pregnant and uninsured. The woman describes a miscarriage that she suffered before, the problems with the quality of care that the poor get. She says she was booted off of Medicaid because she got a part-time job, which of course didn't give her health insurance. Says that she was forced to come to the emergency room several times during a pregnancy because she couldn't get to see other doctors, tearfully describes her past miscarriage and fears for this pregnancy. 01.20.50-Shot of Emergency Room Doctors and nurses working, Healthcare advocate says that many people don't use municipal public health clinic because most people don't even know they exist. A young woman says she doesn't know about clinics. Public health administrator discusses getting the clinics publicized and making them available. Discussion of the problems with Community Health Clinics, which make them unattractive to poor and uninsured. Public Health Commissioner says the Public Health Clinics provide good care. Shots of extremely tiny premature babies in incubators tended by nurses. Shot of pregnant woman entering a Public Health Clinic. 01.25.00-Host says that the poor are getting screwed by hospitals, as budgets of private hospitals reduce their budgets for treating the uninsured. Shots of Healthcare Advocate in a shelter where she works to get homeless people health care, talking with a patient, describing the horrible runaround that the poor get from hospitals. A young woman describes being rushed to a hospital by her mother despite being uninsured, where she was told to wait. Shot of patient in wheelchair being taken out of ambulance and wheeled into emergency room. Hospital Financial administrator says that hospitals have to make distinctions between emergencies and cases where treatment can be delayed. Shot of a patient haggling with the desk nurse over his insurance status and credit. Hospital financial officer says that uninsured patients must impress hospitals the same way that they would show Sears or Montgomery Ward that the are good credit risks. Young woman says that one hospital inevitably told her to go to D.C. General because she couldn't pay. Public Health Administrator says that it must be remembered that private hospitals absorbed $100 million in bad debt in the past year. 01.28.30-Young woman tells her story of being removed from the hospital after getting X-Rays and taken to D.C. General in an ambulance to wait longer. V.O.-transfers to D.C. General are tripling over the past 5 years. D.C. General administrator says that the ER is adequately staffed to cope with this increase. ER Doctor says that there aren't enough physicians in the ER to cope with a busy night, he's seen 20 patients in six hours. Young woman sitting in hospital room, describes staying in the waiting room of the ER with pain from ovarian problems for hours before being told that she would have to accept an appointment for the outpatient clinic at a month and a half later. She is tearful in describing this episode. 01.32.00-Hospital Financial Administrator says that his father died in an emergency room after a brain hemorrhage, so he knows how people feel in emergency rooms. Shots of nurses checking a patient. Shot of woman waiting in an emergency room. Host says that the healthcare system is a failure for poor and working people, dehumanizing, and callous. Many people don't realize that they are sick until it's a crisis. Asks whether Health Care shouldn't be considered a right of every American. Shot of young woman entering the operating room, another woman waiting in the E.R. 01.35.15-Closing credits/WETA credit/ 01.36.37--OUT