American health care: "The complete absence of common sense"

Panda on so-called “frequent-fliers”:

Mary is not unique. She is just a very visible symbol of a society that is ridiculously risk averse and consequently ridiculoulsy over-doctored. In a perfect world, someone would meet her at the door and say, “No. You are not getting drugs here.” If she departed chastened from our door and died”¦oh, let’s just say from a perforated bowel”¦ a reasonable jury, assuming the case ever went to trial, would decide that it was a darn shame but understandable given her pattern of abusing emergency services.

Of course this would never happen. In the real world we are cautious to the point of foolishness, at least if we equate foolishness with a cavalier disregard for money.