Tweet
...
Most of you probably know that I'm going through a residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country. I've got a year left. I really, really like it there, the hospital is wonderful.
They're raising money to build a new hospital--as is every hospital in the country, it seems. Nationwide Insurance, of "Life Comes At You Fast" and "Nationwide Is On Your Side"--the biggest employer in the city outside of Ohio State University--just donated $50 million to the cause. Good on 'em, that money is going to do a lot of good.
However, as a result, the hospital will be renamed Nationwide Children's Hospital as of January. Needless to say, this raises some significant ethical issues. Naming any hospital after an insurance company would be problematic, but a pediatric hospital? I find that... chilling. The functioning of the hospital won't change; all kids will still be treated regardless of insurance or ability to pay. Nevertheless, it feels sleazy, and it sets a precedent for future concessions in return for "donations."
There already exists in the public a (healthy) distrust of doctors and the health care system in general; something like this will only have a chilling effect.
This will almost certainly effect the residency training programs as well; when I was interviewing for a residency, I never would have interviewed at a hospital named after an insurance company, and I certainly don't think that is a rare position to take. Several of the medical students I saw today around the hospital expressed similar thoughts. If this had happened ~6 months ago, I'd have been looking for another residency program to finish my third year; now, it is too late. And, on my diploma and CV and every other goddamn thing, it won't say Columbus Children's Hospital, it will say Nationwide Children's Hospital.
And it doesn't end there. It was also announced that the NICU will become the Memorial Tourament NICU (PGA golf event). Doctors, golf, unavoidable I suppose. And, the lobby will be the Limited Too & Justice Lobby, named for a pair of the tweeny-bopper trendoid clothing stores owned by the family that dominates the Board of Trustees. Wonderful.
But the kicker, the one that just twists the knife, and I absolutely positively am not bull****ting you: the Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center and Emergency Department. There are so, so many levels on which this is wrong. First, the obvious: the catalogs featuring rich, white, emaciated, barely-pubescent teens, erring on the nude side of semi-nude. Plus, our patient population tends to be the exact opposite of "rich" and "white."
I am so ****ing angry, I just don't know what to do with myself. This whole thing was announced as a fait accompli earlier in the week. There's nothing we can do, but I can't just bend over and take it up the ass either. And it's not like we can unionize and have a strike--there are children's lives at stake.
Goddammit, I'm just so frustrated.
Most of you probably know that I'm going through a residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country. I've got a year left. I really, really like it there, the hospital is wonderful.
They're raising money to build a new hospital--as is every hospital in the country, it seems. Nationwide Insurance, of "Life Comes At You Fast" and "Nationwide Is On Your Side"--the biggest employer in the city outside of Ohio State University--just donated $50 million to the cause. Good on 'em, that money is going to do a lot of good.
However, as a result, the hospital will be renamed Nationwide Children's Hospital as of January. Needless to say, this raises some significant ethical issues. Naming any hospital after an insurance company would be problematic, but a pediatric hospital? I find that... chilling. The functioning of the hospital won't change; all kids will still be treated regardless of insurance or ability to pay. Nevertheless, it feels sleazy, and it sets a precedent for future concessions in return for "donations."
There already exists in the public a (healthy) distrust of doctors and the health care system in general; something like this will only have a chilling effect.
This will almost certainly effect the residency training programs as well; when I was interviewing for a residency, I never would have interviewed at a hospital named after an insurance company, and I certainly don't think that is a rare position to take. Several of the medical students I saw today around the hospital expressed similar thoughts. If this had happened ~6 months ago, I'd have been looking for another residency program to finish my third year; now, it is too late. And, on my diploma and CV and every other goddamn thing, it won't say Columbus Children's Hospital, it will say Nationwide Children's Hospital.
And it doesn't end there. It was also announced that the NICU will become the Memorial Tourament NICU (PGA golf event). Doctors, golf, unavoidable I suppose. And, the lobby will be the Limited Too & Justice Lobby, named for a pair of the tweeny-bopper trendoid clothing stores owned by the family that dominates the Board of Trustees. Wonderful.
But the kicker, the one that just twists the knife, and I absolutely positively am not bull****ting you: the Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center and Emergency Department. There are so, so many levels on which this is wrong. First, the obvious: the catalogs featuring rich, white, emaciated, barely-pubescent teens, erring on the nude side of semi-nude. Plus, our patient population tends to be the exact opposite of "rich" and "white."
I am so ****ing angry, I just don't know what to do with myself. This whole thing was announced as a fait accompli earlier in the week. There's nothing we can do, but I can't just bend over and take it up the ass either. And it's not like we can unionize and have a strike--there are children's lives at stake.
Goddammit, I'm just so frustrated.
Comment