My wife and I took my 91-year-old mom to the emergency room yesterday because she had a bad pain in her back and said she now needed 24-hour care.  After ten hours waiting, she was finally admitted. As I heard her continuous, continuous screaming and crying, when her blood pressure went to 220/130, at which point she asked God to help her and that it was time to go, and as she had two morphine shots, other pain relievers, and finally a muscle relaxer, I learned that none of that would allow her to be admitted under Medicare. A C.T. scan showed that in a fall, she had caused an acute fracture in a vertebrae.  She had literally broken her back.  The same bureaucracy was at work when I was told that this alone would also not be accepted as a legitimate cause for a stay at the hospital, according to Medicare.  You see, a broken back, according to the bureaucrats at the government, merits only observation, not admittance, because three days in the hospital might...(Read Full Post)