Mark's Notebook


	Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. - Isaiah 1:18

Ambulances stop delivering patients to emergency room

San Jose Mercury News

Tuesday 30 November 2004, 11:26 am
Keywords: Bicycle Accident , News Articles , Health Topics

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

Ambulances stopped delivering patients to San Jose Medical Center's emergency room Monday and its trauma center was shut down in preparation for the downtown hospital's closing next week.

San Jose Medical Center will still accept walk-in patients to its emergency room until the hospital closes at 5 p.m. Dec. 9. The hospital also will treat some walk-in trauma patients, depending on the severity of their injuries.

But nearly all trauma patients are transported by ambulance, and they will now be taken to the county's other two trauma centers at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto and Valley Medical Center in San Jose. Many services at the hospital already have been shut down; there are about 50 patients in the hospital now, compared to a usual patient population of 110 to 150 during winter months.

The nearest hospital is Regional Medical Center of San Jose, owned by the same company, which is 2 1/2 miles away. Regional has applied to open a trauma center to replace the one that closed at San Jose Medical Center, but approval by county officials could take months.

http://www.mercurynews.com:80/mld/mercurynews/news/10301486.htm

Mark says:

What the newspapers don't report: SJ Medical Center is closing because 30 percent of their patients don't have insurance, yet the hospital is required by law to treat them. So many of the patient bills go unpaid.