My 81 year-old-husband recently fractured his femur in Canyonlands National Park, about 50 miles from Monticello, Utah. He was transported to the small hospital in Monticello, which is approximately 20 miles from the Colorado border. We were shocked to find out that even though we have lived in Durango for 40 plus years, and despite the fact that two of my husband's physicians are located at Mercy Hospital in Durango, Mercy Hospital refused to accept him in their ER that night due to "transportation networking agreements," or non-agreements, among hospitals.
The night nurse made this call at our request after advising us that only once in her recollection has Mercy accepted a patient from them, and this was only after a Mercy physician's direct intervention. The result? A flight to Provo, Utah. And now, at least a $2,000 cost to get him transported safely back to Durango on a stretcher, which has yet to be accomplished. And lest I fail to mention it, this particular hospital does not take his supplementary insurance policy.
This highly unnecessarily costly and resource unfriendly exercise in craziness highlights several problems in our medical care system, and another big problem in the Centura bureaucracy. It also helps to explain how people go broke trying to take care of medical bills despite their best efforts. And be warned, do not get injured across the state border if you expect to get treated at Mercy.
Deborah Williams
Durango
