"What kind of ER is that?"

The lack of specialty care is becoming a growing problem. Blame malpractice and declining reimbursement:

At any given time in a Tucson ER, there will be no neurosurgeon to stop your bleeding brain, no plastic surgeon to fix your flailed flesh, no orthopedic surgeon to handle your complex fracture, no gastroenterologist to stem your internal hemorrhage, no hand surgeon to save your mangled fingers . . .

. . . It took a perfect storm of complex factors “” falling insurance reimbursement, rising malpractice rates, too many uninsured patients, fear of lawsuits, changing lifestyle choices “” to create this crisis, to destroy what was once seen as a civic duty to treat emergency patients. These factors have led to the overall doctor shortage plaguing Arizona “” a shortage especially acute among specialty surgeons.

(via a reader tip)

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