what happened?
i need a doctor right away. room 6.
pulse is 150. b.p. 68 over 34. collapsed playing baseball.
pulse is seventy-eight percent.
i got it. give him this.
yeah, they're here all the time.
i was here when you brought in your son. remember me? i shot straight with you then. i'm shooting straight with you now. i'm telling you, these guys are cool.
we need to prep this man for immediate surgery. he's in boo-koo trouble. doctor?
you are now.
you got an hmo, right? there's your answer. hmo's pay their doctors not to test. their way of keeping costs down. let's say mike needed additional testing, insurance says they won't cover them. the doctor keeps his mouth shut and no one's the wiser. little mike falls through the cracks, and come christmas, the hmo sends the doc a big, fat bonus check. j.q. looks at turner.
you see,here's the problem. over here, you've got your insurance companies who basically want you healthy or dead. that's how they make money. and over here, you've got your medical establishment, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, who don't want you healthy or dead. they want you sick. that's the way they make money.
and the individual is caught in the middle of this gigantic tug-of-war. it's a game. and the end result is, people don't get the treatment they deserve.
i'm telling you, it's not that far from the truth. the shit happens all the time. paramedics bring in some accident victim gasping for his last breath. big boys in accounting find out they can't pay, they send them packing.
there are laws. but there are also ways around the laws. all we have to do is stabilize them. after that, we're off the hook.
that's exactly how it works. maybe not up there on the fifth floor, but down here, if you ain't got no money, you get a band-aid, a foot in the ass, and you're out the door.
she said she'll pray for his boy.
shut up, mitch.
yeah, it's all very noble and brave. but what do you think mike would want? or your wife?
you can have more children, john.
not for nothing, doctor. but if you do this, you're finished.
but.
wait a minute. this gun was empty the whole time?
i don't have a pulse.