Robert, a 61-year-old retired electrician in Cleveland, walked into the emergency department with crushing chest pain, a troponin level off the chart, and a clear command from his cardiologist that he needed immediate cardiac catheterization to prevent a fatal infarction. He refused. Not in a confused, mumbling way, but firmly, with eye contact, telling the … Read more
Robert, a 61-year-old retired electrician in Cleveland, walked into the emergency department with crushing chest pain, a troponin level off the chart, and a clear command from his cardiologist that he needed immediate cardiac catheterization to prevent a fatal infarction. He refused. Not in a confused, mumbling way, but firmly, with eye contact, telling the … Read more
Eleanor Briggs, 78, had lived in her Sarasota condo for forty years before her daughter Marcy noticed the changes. The repeated phone calls. The forgotten stove burner. Then the agitation that turned into screaming at invisible visitors at 3 a.m. After a hospitalization for a UTI revealed advanced dementia complicated by psychotic features, Eleanor’s geriatrician … Read more
Eleanor Briggs, 78, had lived in her Sarasota condo for forty years before her daughter Marcy noticed the changes. The repeated phone calls. The forgotten stove burner. Then the agitation that turned into screaming at invisible visitors at 3 a.m. After a hospitalization for a UTI revealed advanced dementia complicated by psychotic features, Eleanor’s geriatrician … Read more
Renee from Cleveland was three weeks into her psychiatric inpatient stay when she got the first bill in the mail: $87,400 from the hospital, $12,200 from the attending psychiatrist, and another $4,800 from the lab. Her insurance had paid most of it, but her share alone was $14,600 after the out-of-pocket maximum, and she’d already … Read more
Renee from Cleveland was three weeks into her psychiatric inpatient stay when she got the first bill in the mail: $87,400 from the hospital, $12,200 from the attending psychiatrist, and another $4,800 from the lab. Her insurance had paid most of it, but her share alone was $14,600 after the out-of-pocket maximum, and she’d already … Read more
Zach Brown started walking because his car broke down. The 41-year-old high school history teacher in Asheville, North Carolina could not afford a transmission rebuild on a teacher’s salary, so for six weeks in the spring of 2023, he walked the 2.4 miles to school each morning and 2.4 miles back. He had been on … Read more
Zach Brown started walking because his car broke down. The 41-year-old high school history teacher in Asheville, North Carolina could not afford a transmission rebuild on a teacher’s salary, so for six weeks in the spring of 2023, he walked the 2.4 miles to school each morning and 2.4 miles back. He had been on … Read more
Robert, a 58-year-old accountant in Cleveland, was six weeks past his triple bypass surgery and could not understand why he felt worse than before the operation. The surgery had gone well by every cardiac measure. His ejection fraction had improved. But he was waking at three each morning with chest tightness that the cardiology workup … Read more
Robert, a 58-year-old accountant in Cleveland, was six weeks past his triple bypass surgery and could not understand why he felt worse than before the operation. The surgery had gone well by every cardiac measure. His ejection fraction had improved. But he was waking at three each morning with chest tightness that the cardiology workup … Read more