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July 2, 2015
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| In this society, the cost of health insurance increased, and the government ordered each hospital to reduce the number of patients. If the hospitals didn't reduce the number of patients, the government would cut their subsidies. This particular hospital was a model hospital for the government and its new policy c He injured his arm. He was a carpenter. He cut his arm while he was using an electric saw and came to this hospital. At the counter he showed his health insurance card. Next to him was a guy in his 20s in a wheelchair who was talking to another female clerk, complaining about something and showing her some papers. A young female clerk returned his insurance card to him and instructed him to fill out a questionnaire. She pointed at a table in the corner, and gave him a clipboard. It was thick. He looked at the corner and was a little bit surprised because there were so many people crowding around that area. He went to one of the tables and picked up a pencil and stood by the nearest wall and
'Is this your first time to come to this hospital?' He circled 'Yes.' And proceeded to the next question which was led by an arrow from his answer 'Yes.' It read: 'Why did you choose this hospital?' There were four choices: 1 Recommendation from acquaintances or alike 2 Reading websites about this hospital or alike 3 Just passed by or alike 4 Others He simply knew about this hospital because it opened relatively recently and he lived nearby, so he circled No.3 and proceeded to the question an arrow showed, it read: 'When you entered this hospital what impression did you have?' 1 Clean & Safe 2 Reliable 3 Common 4 Others He circled No.3, and proceeded accordingly. He answered another couple of questions and the next question read: 'What do you expect most from this hospital?' 1 Quick treatment 2 Precise treatment 3 Gentle treatment 4 Others By this time he started to feel irritated. His arm ached. He wanted to get treatment as quickly as possible. He circled No.1 thinking it was irony for this situation. Next to him, he heard an old couple complaining that they already struggled for one hour to fill out the form, and had no idea when it would end. The husband urged his wife to give up this form now and go home. Surprisingly, the wife agreed and they left. He followed an arrow from No.1 and it reached the next question. He was taken aback, it read: 'What would you like to do most when your injury/sickness gets better?' 1 Sports 2 Travel 3 Eating favorite food 4 Others As a trial, he followed 'Sports'. The question was 'What type of sports do you want to do? You should choose one of the three preferable answers.' And after that there were more than 50 choices, like 'baseball', 'soccer', 'tennis', 'swimming', 'yoga', c He got angry, "What is this? Who has the right to steal our precious time with this ridiculous questionnaire?" He went to the counter. The same female clerk at the counter saw his furious face but didn't show a reaction, and smiled at him, "Is something wrong, sir?" He lost his momentum because her smile was so innocent. When he was looking for words, a woman with an infant came to the counter. The infant's face was red and she was sweating a lot. The female clerk handed the mother the same form as his and pointed to the table corner. He felt his blood starting to re-boil. He grabbed the form from the clerk's hand and turned to the people at the table corner, and shouted, "Hey!" The people turned and looked up at him. He said, "Can you bear to see this poor mother with her sick daughter to fill out this form?" People at the writing corner looked nervous, thinking about how they should react to this situation. The clerk at the counter pushed an emergency button under the table and soon some guards came in a rush. They faced him. Suddenly the young man in the wheelchair who had been next to him at the counter at the beginning moved between him and the guards and cursed the guards. One of the guards pushed the wheelchair, and the young guy fell out and hit the floor hard. It made people awake from their nervousness. An injured old woman started to swing her crutches at the guards. A middle-aged guy took his bandage from his arms, and blood started to ooze out, and he aimed it at the guards preventing them from approaching closer. A young woman threw-up in the direction of the guards. Patients started to throw their clipboards at the guards c One of the doctors came to the mother and daughter, and took the baby and told the mother to follow him to his treatment room, saying this was ridiculous and he should have been against this. Other doctors came and followed suit. After the incident, some of the doctors complained about the problem and it became a big issue. The government eventually gave up this policy. But even now, some hospitals have been making their patients wait unreasonably long. |
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*alike :in a similar way (C)
*be taken aback :to be very surprised or shocked (C)
*crutch :a stick that you put under your arm to help you walk if you have injured your leg or foot (C)
*bandage :a long piece of soft cloth that you tie around a would or injury (C)