Privatization Always Kills: UL Hospital "Unsafe"

Shame on everyone who ever fell for the scam that public services should be "run like a business." A business does not serve the public. A business rakes in profit for its owner(s.) Public services - like hospitals and universities - do not rake in profits. Its owners are the taxpaying public to which the public entity provides services.

The two are not the same and cannot work together. This is fucking obvious, people, and always has been.

Privatization is an unholy partnership between anti-government conservatives and greedhead corporations sucking up tax dollars for bad service.

From the Herald:

A leading University of Louisville surgeon says staffing cuts at U of L Hospital since a private company took over its management have made it unsafe, and that the hospital has "never been worse" in his 34 years at the facility.

In an email to the university's top health officials, Dr. J. David Richardson, vice chair of surgery and the current president of the American College of Surgeons, says the hospital is facing "major" safety issues, reported The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/1PiCGFg).

The hospital is poorly staffed at night, resulting in emergency room crowding, Richardson said. The Intensive Care Unit, he said, is understaffed as well.

Furthermore, Richardson said it's "virtually impossible" to do clinic research in the hospital. One approved study was canceled last week because of inadequate nurse staffing, resulting in a "major embarrassment" for the hospital, he said.

The only solution, according to Richardson, is to cut ties with the company that took over hospital management in 2013 and laid off several employees shortly thereafter.

"They are destroying the hospital," Richardson said of KentuckyOne Health.

Talking Points Memo has started a new investigative series on privatization.  Part One is on how the scam got started.