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Money talks?

To the Journal editor:

I have always looked at hospitals as a place of caring, a place to get relief of pain, a place to start on the road of healing without regard as to whether I could pay for it or not.

I think those thoughts were pretty universally held — until now. The dollar signs are beginning to take over.

A few years ago, I read an article written by an investigative reporter. He had seen where a corporation had purchased three hospitals in western Pennsylvania and converted them from non-profit to profit. He decided to visit these hospitals and find out how they were doing. In each case he received a firm no. Financial information was strictly off limits. About to give up on his quest, he struck it lucky. He happened to talk with an emergency room physician who said: “I must admit 16 percent of the patients I see in the E.R. If I don’t, I’m out of here.”

By admitting that number the hospital was always close to full and always showed a profit. Admitting people that didn’t need to be didn’t bother the corporation one bit. As long as the dollars kept rolling in, so what!

There are other ways of making a profit obviously. The nurses at Marquette General are experiencing that method right now. They are seeing the failures in medical care and are describing them clearly. Unfortunately they are up against a huge adversary: the balance sheet.

At present, I am 97 years of age and have spent the greater part of those years in the practice of medicine. One of these days, I will be dead.

A will that would have included a non-profit Marquette General Hospital no longer exists.

I won’t be sending 10 cents to the gang in Tennessee.

Thomas J. Mudge, MD

Marquette

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