Not your hospital room

Today's New York Times has a story about hospitals catering to the ultra-rich which is definitely worth reading, for it raises some very disturbing questions beyond the simple arrogance of the 99.9% and their contempt and disdain for the rest of us.

The article describes how many hospitals have established special wings for the very wealthy with butlers, gourmet menus ("mushroom risotto with heirloom tomatoes", or maybe lobster tails) prepared by dedicated chefs, plush furniture (antique mahogany to contemporary sleek, with polished marble in the bath), sophisticated entertainment systems, fancy linens ... and direct access to the best physicians.

Yet these are the hospitals which also serve the poor, and the ordinary schmucks who think they're "covered" by health insurance. These are the same hospitals where regular patients, the article reports, can be stuck in the emergency room for three days, or lie in pain on a gurney for two days without even a bed pan.

It isn't the elitism or even the financial cost of this that is most bothersome, but the opportunity costs. To the extent that hospitals pamper the ultra-rich, they are de-emphasizing their care for the rest of us, whether they admit it or not. Resources which could and should be going to improve the care for the entire patient load are being siphoned off to pamper the very wealthy, and preserve their "splendid isolation" from the "common people."

Two lines in this story really stand out: New York-Presbyterian statement that it "is dedicated to providing a single standard of high quality care to all of our patients” when they obviously aren't (haven't we long known that the patient's state of mind matters a lot?), and the one ultra-rich patient's comments that she feels “perfectly at home here — totally private, totally catered,” with “a primary-care physician who also acts as ringmaster for all [her] other doctors," so she sees "no people in training — only the best of the best.” The converse is perfectly true: everybody else gets a lesser level of care.

Is it any wonder that 99% of us are finally starting to resist the tenth of one percent?