Bleeding the Patient: The Consequences of Corporate Health Care

Centuries ago, doctors practiced phlebotomy: By applying incisions and leeches to their patients, doctors acted on the misguided belief that illnesses could be cured by bleeding them away. Some patients lost so much blood that it killed them. Today, we wonder how they got it so wrong.

One day, our grandchildren will look back on the damage wrought by corporate health care with an equal sense of bewilderment. They will learn that, early in the 21 century: 45% of all bankruptcies involve a medical reason or large medical debt; 47% of those denied authorization for emergency room care by their HMOs had unstable vital signs or other high risk indicators; Death rates and patient expenses are higher at for-profit hospitals than at nonprofit facilities; That doctors are actually paid money to withhold medical services; That in a solid economy, infant mortality rates for African Americans are more than twice as those of whites; And perhaps most baffling is the continued existence of a corporate system when 77% of Americans believe the "government should provide quality medical coverage to all adults..."

With extraordinary detail that is both readable and fascinating, Bleeding the Patient is a compelling argument in favor of a national health care program; a program that could cover everyone and provide better care for less than what we spend today.