Study: Uninsured Trauma Victims Face Sky-High Death Rate

(Nov. 16) -- It's federal law: All seriously injured emergency and trauma patients must be given equal lifesaving care, whether or not they can pay for it. But that's not happening, according to a new report. The study, conducted by Children's Hospital Boston research fellow Dr. Heather Rosen and colleagues from three other hospitals, found that uninsured trauma victims ages 18 to 30 are dying at an annual rate 89 percent higher than insured victims with identically severe injuries.

As the health reform tornado continues to swirl on Capitol Hill, the data could provide fresh ammunition for those pushing for expanded health insurance coverage.

The study, published today in the Archives of Surgery, examines the survival rates for patients brought to about 900 U.S. trauma centers between 2002 and 2006, analyzing some 690,000 patients who had suffered penetrating trauma -- such as wounds inflicted by a gun or knife -- or blunt trauma from vehicle crashes and falls. Earlier research found 18,000 extra deaths a year among uninsured victims of such injuries. Rosen and the other researchers chose to focus on the 18-to-30-year-old subset because they had fewer existing conditions -- comorbidity -- that muddy the evaluation of the cause of death.

More at: http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/16/trauma-victims-face-far-worse-odds-when-uninsured-study-says/

I retired from medicine after 26 years trying to help the indigent (almost exclusively). Hospitals sent me indigent patients selectively, knowing I would treat them as aggressively as any others, but also complained about it due to costs. Sick, sick, sick.

Thanks for sharing. 89%? It should be criminal.

Good luck proving it, though. :/