Thursday, May 29, 2008

Jail or Pregnancy

An interesting issue came up with two patients I saw today. One was a G4P3 (fourth pregnancy) woman in her mid-20s who had biliary colic and is undergoing surgical removal of her gallbladder. I discovered that it's lucky she's pregnant because her insurance covers this procedure (cholecystectomy) for gravid patients but not for nonpregnant patients.

The second patient has a benign tumor of the heart (an atrial myxoma) which needs to be surgically removed. The cardiac surgeon requires her to have her dentition fixed first. The problem is she has no dental insurance. It was then brought up that the easiest way to get dental insurance is to go to jail (commit the most minor crime that will get you in jail) and have the government foot the bill.

Our society baffles me sometimes.

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