Thread by @chrisjacobsHC

THREAD: If you think #SinglePayer wouldn't have a harmful effect on American health care, listen to some of these stories from @IHSgov, about how bad doctors harmed Native patients.

Follow/RT for more info... 1/

@IHSgov All of these stories are summarized from @cdweaver's excellent piece in Friday's @WSJ: 2/ wsj.com/articles/the-u…

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ A doctor with five medical malpractice settlements in five years—and was rejected by a Nevada licensing board—found work for @IHSgov. While there, he gashed a patient’s bile duct, causing four liters of digestive fluid to leak into her abdomen, sending her into septic shock. 3/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ This was a doctor who had previously left a sponge inside a patient's breast, among other injuries. Why did @IHSgov think him competent to work in their facilities??? 4/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ An OB with five malpractice settlements, and sanctions from the CA medical board after a patient bled to death following a caesarean, also found work @IHSgov. A year after his hire, a baby died in the womb because the doctor failed to treat his mother’s high blood pressure. 5/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ An @IHSgov review of this OB's case found that the doctor’s history “forshadow[ed] the tragic events that transpired in October 2017.” Then why did they hire him in the first place??? 6/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ The OB himself told @WSJ that “I just did not address patients’ primary medical needs in a satisfactory way.” Translation: @IHSgov hired someone who ADMITTED THEMSELVES they weren't treating patients correctly... 7/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ It goes on: A surgeon sued for malpractice 11 times in 8 years took an @IHSgov job in New Mexico. While there, he “allegedly cut a tube connecting a patient’s liver to his stomach and punctured the man’s intestines during a 2008 gallbladder surgery;” the patient later died. 8/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Another physician disciplined in both Florida and New York for prescribing pain pills for her boyfriend—up to 1,350 oxycodone pills in a single day—was hired by @IHSgov because she had a “clean” medical license in Pennsylvania, with tragic consequences... 9/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ While working for @IHSgov, this physician with a history of overprescribing narcotics sent a patient complaining of dizziness home with a diagnosis of pinkeye. Days later, the patient suffered a stroke that has left him confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak. 10/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ .@IHSgov settled the subsequent malpractice case for $1 million of YOUR tax dollars, because “hospital officials said in interviews that the doctor’s background made the case hard to defend.” If his background was so bad, why did @IHSgov hire her to begin with? 11/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Another surgeon with nearly a dozen malpractice suits, and a suspension for sexually abusing a patient, also got hired by @IHSgov. The feds later paid a judgment exceeding $600,000 “over a colostomy the doctor performed that spilled fecal matter under a patient’s skin..." 12/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Another OB with at least seven reports in the National Practitioner Data Bank, including sanctions over a potential sexual relationship with a patient, also got work @IHSgov. Again, tragedy resulted... 13/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ This OB “struggled to deliver a baby” @IHSgov facility; the baby developed an irregular heartbeat and died. The feds paid a $900,000 malpractice claim, because “a medical board reprimand later said [the doctor] should have resorted to a [caesarean] section ‘hours earlier.’” 14/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Finally, a surgeon who lost his medical license in Illinois for “gross negligence” got another chance @IHSgov. “Two months after he arrived as the [IHS] hospital’s chief of surgery, he allegedly punctured a patient’s intestines during a surgery.” 15/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ As a result of this @IHSgov surgeon's negligence, his patient needed a dozen surgeries and four months in the hospital to recover; she smartly chose to do so outside @IHSgov. 16/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Why all these @IHSgov horror stories? Much of it comes down to money. The Indian Health Service doesn't pay well, so it has to take the people it can get. Therein lies the real problem with government-run health care... 17/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Also, because the feds (meaning taxpayers like you and me) pay @IHSgov liability claims, doctors don't have to purchase malpractice insurance. That means doctors who can't get malpractice insurance -- due to a history of claims, negligence, etc. -- flock to the IHS... 18/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ As one former hiring manager told @cdweaver in @WSJ: “You get three candidates who come through and they all seem not great. But what you do is choose the lesser of three evils.”

THAT's government-run health care for you in a nutshell. 19/

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ If you have a @WSJ subscription, I encourage you to read the full @cdweaver article. It's a chilling preview of government-run health care: Poor pay, poor quality, poor outcomes -- and vulnerable patients suffering... 20/ wsj.com/articles/the-u…

@IHSgov @cdweaver @WSJ Perhaps @ewarren should spend less time taking DNA tests to join her "Indian brethren" and more time fixing @IHSgov. While she's at it, she come up with an alternative to #SinglePayer, so no American has to face what these @IHSgov patients did. END wsj.com/articles/the-u…