[kingkawn]

A hospital I worked at would only provide dialysis to immigrants if they were in florid kidney failure. So they’d come to the ER dying, get dialysis once, then get released with no follow-up. They’d have to wait til they were back in kidney failure to come back, no preventative care was funded by the fed so they just stuck to that. There is no ethics in the American medical system. Anything claiming to represent it is a scam.

[Symmetry]

It's the law that US hospitals have to provide care regardless of ability to pay in an emergency but not preventative care. Medicaid, which would cover dialysis for most poor people doesn't cover unauthorized immigrants. Your hospital is functioning as the law directs it to. I was going to put "as the law intends" but our system is very much a Frankenstein quilt with many effects that nobody really intends. But politicians know that people would be angry if they heard an immigrant was left outside a hospital to die of kidney failure and they know people would be angry about providing non-emergency medicine for free and they know that not many people will notice we collectively spend more money this way and most of the people who do notice won't see how it makes everybody's medical care more expensive rather than just hurting hopsitcal owners and unauthorized immigrants.

[kingkawn]

None of it is ethical, law or not.

Plus it is massively more expensive to let people continuously loop back into kidney failure.

More expensive and unethical.

[lucianbr]

Well, given recent events... maybe some people vote for "no free lunch out of my tax money", even though they themselves may end up needing the "free lunch" (the federal funded dialisys). Are you sure it's not ethical to deny it to them in this situation?

On a large enough scale, we decide the rules that apply amongst us. How could it be unethical? Who's being unfair to us, martians? God?

We're being unfair to each other... seems fair that we get unfair treatment.

[kingkawn]

Emergent care instead of regular dialysis is vastly more expensive. All of this outrage over no free lunch is more expensive. Idiots.

[sitkack]

They should see the Dialysis King!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep-f7uBd8Gc

[lazyasciiart]

That is the standard for American emergency departments, and they do that because EMTALA requires them to treat anyone enough to keep them from dying, if possible - but that's all.

[kingkawn]

I know, but it is not at all ethical, practical, prudent, or fiscally responsible.