What Makes Hospitals So Deadly and How Can We Fix It? November's Open Thread. By A Midwestern Doctor (11/24/24)

AMD answers burning questions about:

• What has led to the current high costs and poor outcomes of hospitalization in America?

• What can be done to increase the survival rates in our hospitals?

• How can we protect a loved one that’s hospitalized?

Solutions include:

• Treat people at home if at all possible.

• In the hospital, adjust the dose and the hospitalization length to properly allow each patient to heal rather than adhering to standardized government or insurance edicts.

• Choosing a hospital

  • Choose a hospital and doctors before you need hospitalization.

  • Choose smaller more rural hospitals with individualized care, lower costs, and more compassionate staff over large medical centers.

  • Choose a hospital that is transparent about its services and their costs.

  • Ask the senior resident in your chosen hospital(s) who offers the best care. If necessary, have another doctor make the call because doctors tend to support their own.

• Train doctors and other medical professionals better! Encourage critical thinking over cookie cutter treatments.

• Work with your hospital doctor:

  • Connect emotionally (vs. confrontationally) with the hospital staff so they are more invested in helping the patient and want to collaborate with you in caring for them.

  • Have a caring relative or friend — or a team — be with a hospitalized patient as an advocate 24/7.

• Advocate for better treatments in hospitals, including vitamin C for sepsis, UV blood irradiation and DMSO for a variety of conditions, nutritional supplementation, IV amino acids, and B vitamins.