Funny in a way, almost every time my health care provider stops by she asks if I've fallen recently. Always answer no. But recently I had a fall. It wasn't that bad but it's probably going to be an expensive one in terms of medical costs. After x-raying both hands, both forearms, and both elbows, and checking out a puncture in my thump, the radiologist wanted to know where my doctor was. I said I didn't know, that I was on Home Based Primary Care and that my doctor usually came to my house to see me. She asked 'when will you see her again'? I told her I didn't know. What's his name? Fredette Pursley, I reply. We would rebandage your arm but your doctor has to okay it. You can go now. Got back home just before the lunch City and Amarillo, TX on the way to Colorado. Fredette said the radiologist called her, said she was concerned about the amount of gas in my left arm and it was cimperitive I go to the local emergency room immediately. It could be lethal. So what do you do? We went to Norman's Regional Hospital's emergency room, telling them we were ctold to report due to excessive gas in left arm. All the x-rays were repeated, a CT Scan was done, a blood work-up done. My arms were laid bare to let the wounds air out. Medical students came in, stared at my arm, felt it, squeezed it, their supervisor came in, said students had never seen anything like I had, a real piece of work. Finally, around quarter till five a doctor came in. He said there was no gas in my swollen arm, it was air oer air bubbles trapped under the skin. He said my bloodwork was better than his, and excepr for a bunch of torn skin and a damaged elbow, I was good to go. A nurse would be by shortly to bandage my arms, my left one still black and blue and half again it's normal size. So, the next time my nurse stops by and asks if I have recently fallen, I will say, "Yeah, I have."
That is probably one of the standard ObamaCare questions, along with whether you have had feelings of depression and if you own a gun. I get asked that one all the time, too. I reply, "No, I haven't but Hillary has."
The air under the skin is called Subcutaneous Emphysema and is usually seen in severe trauma. That must have been quite a fall you had! Maybe the Radiologist thought you had Gas Gangrene or something, a very bad type of infection. As to the question, I think it is a quality of care/liability question, especially if you are a high-risk patient.
I fell a week ago, on the carpet in our living room. Had to move a plastic mat that my computer chair sits on and, somehow, I lost my balance and the hold I had on the mat. The mat hit the floor and I tumbled onto the mat and then on the floor. Thank God our living room floor is carpeted. I got up and was fine, except for a small bruise, that has now gone away, on the top of my thumb. Wife was at work when it happened, but I told her what happened when she got home. We both try, and basically, all a person can do is "try" not to fall. A fall can be bad at any age, but falling as a Senior can become pretty bad-to-seriously bad.
@Bill Boggs it amazes me how you can make such a good story out of your mishap. I'm glad all the medical people found nothing seriously wrong from that fall you took...and I do agree that they are probably going to charge Medicare or you "an arm and a leg" for all that medical "help they gave you.
@Ken Anderson I've got Obama Care, gratefully and have never been asked these questions. So sorry about your fall @Bill Boggs. My step dad got the bill from his fall. 20,000 for 5 hours in the ER including scans of coarse. He has supplemental from his county retirement. This is a ridiculously high bill.
I'm good to go. Nurse coming to see me tomorrow, hope to get my bandages professionally changed firstg time since I left ER. They are touchy as is my thumb and elbow. I'm sure the visit tomorrow will make all my problems go away.