In Washington, a doctor is summoned from his dinner by a hospital nurse who tells him that one of his patients, a 72-year-old woman suffering from respiratory failure, has exhausted her allotment of Medicare funding. The further cost of her care must come out of the hospital's own pocket, says the nurse. Could he discharge the woman that evening?
In Knoxville, a 70-year-old woman with diabetes, gallstones and signs of congestive heart failure decides after a week in the hospital not to have gallbladder surgery. The hospital insists that she be sent home, despite her frail condition. "It was a mistake,"...
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