NEWS: California debates spending on comatose inmates

The medical care of 6 comatose inmates has cost the state of California $1.27 million dollars for medical care in just 6 months. This does not count the cost of security if the prisoner is transfered to an outside facility. The state is now looking at ways to reduce the cost. One inmate who died in January had run up a $851,000 tab. One proposal is allowing prisoners to specify advanced directives and improve family involvement in the decision process.



Texas has a law on the books regarding taking a patient off life support under certain circumstances. That may be worthwhile at looking at. However, I am torn by this. They are in prison, so we have an obligation to take care of them. However, if the inmate is brain dead then perhaps the courts could step in and rule on that. If the family wanted to keep going then they can pay for it at that point. However, one way to save money is the whole guard system. The department will "guard" brain dead inmates at a cost of $1000 plus a day. If it has been medically established that the inmate is indeed brain-dead, its not like he is going to escape.

Thats a story that would tear one to two different sides. If the inmate is on death row they should go ahead and speed up the process to save some tax paying dollars, especially if they have commited a crime against a child, or have murdered someone.
If they are doing time because of something small, then the families should have to pay for medical care.
It's not our fault that these people are in prison, why should we have to take such wonderfull care of them?

The prison system has pretty decent no cost health care. Our system also payed for an inmate to have a heart transplant, and keep paying for his repeat hospitalizations because he keeps spitting out his meds :shk:

our system and justic system is corrupted, why should we paid taxes to keep killers and bad people alive? we are too soft, i said when someone kill someone else that person should die.

Originally posted by ulshadow
our system and justic system is corrupted, why should we paid taxes to keep killers and bad people alive? we are too soft, i said when someone kill someone else that person should die.

I like what Gandalf said (or Tolkien);

"There are people in this world who deserve death yet live, and there are those who deserve life but are dead, can you give it to them Frodo?"

Originally posted by krt1967
If they are doing time because of something small, then the families should have to pay for medical care.
It's not our fault that these people are in prison, why should we have to take such wonderfull care of them?

Is it the family of the criminals fault that he/she is there?

Ya know, considering the cost of medicaid, and medicare, and their projected growth over the next few years...
well, I got a feeling that although they are talking about prisoners now, and comatose patients (those who they are pretty sure they can get a least a respectable number of people behind supporting their decision to end the life)......I don't think it's gonna end there.
there's gonna be alot of hard question that we need to be able to sit down, and think through, and be able to debate, without all the emotional baggage. of course, the government could opt to end alot of their spending sprees and things could go on as usual maybe. But, how likely is that to happen, and well, what's our deficit at now?

Today, it's comatose prisoners.....but well, what will it be tommorrow, or next year.

And, well, I really rather not have the life and death of any one individual to be resting on just what rating that particulat person would rank in the weekly polls. Which, if the case with Terri is any indication, is the direction we are heading to.

I just ran across this article, which really doesn't have much to do with the original topic, outside of the fact that they both are happening in California. But, it does present us with a good idea of just how far you money will take you if you really get sick....something which I think many are finding hard to grasp. If someone think's it is worthy of it's own thread, well, they can create it...if not, well, that's okay also. One thing is for sure, that small malpractice settlement is more than likely gone, unless Florida has much cheaper medical care....

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Patient and Hospital Are in a Test of Wills

www.latimes.com...

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Ever since anyone around here can remember, Sarah Nome has been the quintessential community gadfly, jousting with public officials in Marin County over issues big and small.

Now, at 82, she's in a quixotic fight over her hospital bed.

For more than a year, Nome has pugnaciously refused to budge from her fifth-floor room at Kaiser Permanente's San Rafael Medical Center. In the process, she has racked up $1.3 million in bills.

Kaiser tried to fix the mess by proposing to move her to a nursing facility across San Francisco Bay. No way, she said — too far from friends. But, so far, no Marin County facility has been willing to take her.

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and well, it's really an interesting story, she was evicted I guess from her nice little hospital bed and relocated to one of the nursing homes that she really didn't want to go to.....since it was too far from home.....

when the health care system and benefits of food and shelter are better for criminals than they are for a majority of your population, then obviously there is a biig problem with the system.

I didn't even get health insurance until 3 years ago. Every little (or big) hospital visit was paid over time by taking money from my meager paychecks and paying it to the hospitals. Very tough getting by right out of high school, trying to work full time and get a degree, pay bills, etc.

The next best benefits are under California's entitlement system. You can even get those nasty gang tattoos removed for free-so there's no reason not to "express" yourself in all sorts of ink because you know you can get them removed when you want.

This system of forced redistribution of wealth, to "the poor" (who, on my street, are buying new wide screen plasma TV's with their tax returns) to "criminals", and to companies to fund "research", has got to stop sometime.

I think we should make a new law, a taxpayer shouldn't have to help pay for others to have those luxuries that they themselves can't afford....
thus well, I don't what the number is....40 million americans???....that can't afford healthcare shouldn't have to be pitching in for the poor, or for the mayor, or the legislator, or for the clerk down at the dmv to have it....the same with retirement..if we have no money left over at the end of the week, and even ran up a little in the credit card debt just to make ends meet, well, why should we have to pay for super generous retirement benefits for those who we hire to represent us in our government....let's see the corporations work with this policy in place....give their employees a more extravagant lifestyle the their ceos.....

Yeah, right-dream on...next you'll be expecting, I don't know..government to actuallty represent the people...or honesty from politicos.

Originally posted by dawnstar
I think we should make a new law, a taxpayer shouldn't have to help pay for others to have those luxuries that they themselves can't afford....
thus well, I don't what the number is....40 million americans???....that can't afford healthcare shouldn't have to be pitching in for the poor, or for the mayor, or the legislator, or for the clerk down at the dmv to have it....the same with retirement..if we have no money left over at the end of the week, and even ran up a little in the credit card debt just to make ends meet, well, why should we have to pay for super generous retirement benefits for those who we hire to represent us in our government....let's see the corporations work with this policy in place....give their employees a more extravagant lifestyle the their ceos.....

Originally posted by thematrix
Is it the family of the criminals fault that he/she is there?

No they are not and nor should they be required to pick up the tab for thier care. However, if the family makes the decision to prolong futile medical care then they have made that choice and should be financialy responsable for it. I do not limit this view to the prison system either. We keep hundereds of thousands of brain dead kids alive because thier parents cannot let go or they are hoping for some sort of miracle. It is thier right to do so, but if they chose that path they should be responable for the cost as well.

i would have to wonder why the prison systom pays for medical bills if everyone not in prison has to. i guess thats another reason to commit a crime free food free lodgeing full health care, free acess to higher learning cool

personaly i never have understood why the states dosn't have healthcare payed. here they cut back some services like chyropractic and physio theropy. all thats doing is moveing the cost from the government to insurance companies. which in turn will drive up the cost of insurance. but thats for another thread i guess.

anyway seriously why do criminals get treated so well? what have they done to deserve such luxuries? they committed crimes for crying out load. i wish i could get a free higher education, free food, free rent and better benifets than someone who trys to obey the laws. are they trying to prevent crime or increase it? it's no wonder so many reoffend shortly after being released. jail sounds like a good deal to me.

mabe it is time to make criminals to realy work for their keep. open up prison factories have the inmates do real work 5 days a week for 8 hours a day. what they produce can be used then to pay for their keep. as for security just have them strip then get x-rayed to make sure they don't smuggle anything back into their cells. if they still want to take courses they can do it in their spare time they would still have plenty left. and yes they should get some token pay after takeing into account the cost of their keep includeing the gaurd force. if they want they can pay for things like their education and health care. mabe they would try to stay out after that. no longer would they get a free ride.

it does sound a bit harsh but after all why shouldnt they be work for what they receive?