Video: The greatest traffic stop ever?
posted at 6:47 pm on March 30, 2012 by Allahpundit
We’re a few days late to this, I know, but it’s perfect Friday material and a nifty sequel to the greatest arrest ever. I’m giving you two versions of the dashboard-cam video, the AP’s edited clip and the PD’s extended director’s cut, but the highlight of this post isn’t the footage, as insane as it is. It’s this must-read WaPo report on what “Batman” does with his time. He’s not fighting crime anymore, but he’s still a hero:
When Batman finally reached the elevator for the slow ride up to the cancer ward, I could see his face already sweating behind the mask. He told me he loses 5 to 6 pounds in water weight when he wears the superhero uniform. He paid $5,000 for it. He spends $25,000 a year of his own money on Batman toys and memorabilia. He signs every book, hat, T-shirt and backpack he hands out — Batman…
Batman began visiting Baltimore area hospitals in 2001, sometimes with his now teenage son Brandon playing Robin. Once other hospitals and charities heard about his car and his cape, Batman was put on superhero speed dial for children’s causes around the region. He visits sick kids at least couple times a month, sometimes more often. He visits schools, too, to talk about bullying. He does not do birthday parties.
“Eventually, it sinks in and you become him,” Batman told me. “It feels like I have a responsibility that’s beyond a normal person. And that responsibility is to be there for the kids, to be strong for them, and to make them smile as much as I can.” He understands that might sound corny, but he doesn’t care…
Batman stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor of Children’s. Spider-Man and Wonder Woman were there too — both professional actors from talent agencies, on the clock. He picked up a little boy and said, “I have a present for you.” He shook hands with a father and handed him a yellow rubber Batman bracelet, saying, “This will bring you good luck.” The father said, “We need good luck.”
Read to the end of the story for the reaction upon seeing the “Batmobile” of a four-year-old whose baby sister has cancer. Said “Batman” to Jalopnik, “I don’t do it to become famous, I do it for the kids. They mean more to me than anything.” It’s only March but this might be the feelgood story of the year.
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Evil.
bernzright777 on January 11, 2013 at 3:21 PM
As somebody who relies on pain killers to function, this is infuriating. The stigma is already so awful that I sometimes feel like loser drug user even though I live in chronic pain. It is mentally exhausting not only to live in pain, but to constantly be on the defensive about it and be treated like a criminal.
Having said that, I LOATH all of the pain killer abusers who make it harder for people like me to get the treatment we need.
Jackalope on January 11, 2013 at 3:24 PM
I hope for their sake this tin god has no children.
Don L on January 11, 2013 at 3:25 PM
“So you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit. The other side of the coin is people are dying and there’s nothing perfect.”
mbs on January 11, 2013 at 3:27 PM
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
- C.S. Lewis
Weight of Glory on January 11, 2013 at 3:28 PM
I fear for folks like you when they face those Obamacare…er…death panels. Somehow a man who cheers the death through starvation of babies fully born had to be on the side of evil. But so are many of his friends, including his Honor, a man without love!
Don L on January 11, 2013 at 3:28 PM
Hear that…?
A broken leg is only three days worth of pain.
The rest is all gravy.
NeoKong on January 11, 2013 at 3:28 PM
loathsome is right
anotherJoe on January 11, 2013 at 3:29 PM
Allah, seriously all you have to do is take one look at the guy and see he has no national political future. Then he opens his mouth…that accent? No way. Those are just the superficial reasons, beyond policy reasons. Obama gets away with being a scold control freak because he has a nice smile, cute kids and doesn’t look mean. Bloomberg looks mean.
txmomof6 on January 11, 2013 at 3:29 PM
Nanny state dictator in full view. I’m sure he is as qualified to make this decision as he is to make nutritional decisions for his subjects.
AZfederalist on January 11, 2013 at 3:30 PM
Mistah T’s forecast: PAIN…!
ted c on January 11, 2013 at 3:30 PM
I want Bloomberg in a creche, in Depends, with NO painkillers.
Schadenfreude on January 11, 2013 at 3:30 PM
transforming NY into singapure… funny.
nathor on January 11, 2013 at 3:31 PM
Well New Yorkers, elections have consequences. You voted for this tool not twice but thrice. Who’s the bigger fool?
Logus on January 11, 2013 at 3:32 PM
Well I for one an glad for Mayor Nietzsche and hope he gets an opportunity to show how stoic he is when he realizes his political career is long past over.
apostic on January 11, 2013 at 3:32 PM
This guy gets more and more scary every time he opens his mouth…maybe he needs some medication..? Big Gulp lovers unite!
d1carter on January 11, 2013 at 3:32 PM
Remember when Obama used to say that maybe surgery wasn’t an answer? Maybe you’d just need a “pain pill?”
NO PAIN PILL FOR YOU!
Libraritarian on January 11, 2013 at 3:32 PM
I can somewhat see the point of this. A lot of people use the ER as either a clinic or bed-seeking or looking for a meal/drugs. It is a reality. However, imho, this is the problem:
Why are there “patient satisfaction” surveys? This is beyond stupid. All that should matter is that there is a verifiable and rational reason for any action. Basing patient care on whether they are “satisfied” rather than whether it is necessary is idiotic.
More emotion based idiocy and now truly sick people who are in pain are going to pay for it.
kim roy on January 11, 2013 at 3:33 PM
Why is this freaking sack of cow manure doing this? It is not the freaking business of the this guy or any other government official to step into the ER.. step in between a car crash victim, a shooting victim or someone who fell 3 floors or whatever… and tell that vicim “So what if you suffer… I’m in power here and I am not going to allow your doctor to give you pain pills!”
Yeah.. forget eating the rich! Forget eating your landlord! That was yesterday. Now it’s time to eat victims of pain! They’re the reason for all the suffering in the world! They don’t deserve pain pills! So what if a piano fell on your freaking head! I don’t want to hear it! You got shot 6 times in a gun free zone in the Utopia of New York? Get a life! It’s just pain! Grow the freak up!
Besides.. we’re the ruling elites! Your just a scmuck! You’re not rich! You’re not a celebrity! Your not a politician! You’re nobody!
We can’t afford to give all our pain pills away to a bunch of whiny nobodies! We need to keep them for ourselves!
I’ll tell you what… if Bloomburg needs pain pills Bloomburg is going to get all the pain pills he wants anytime he wants as much as he wants! Just like all the other freaking elitists out there.. this is for the rest of us. It is not for them!
JellyToast on January 11, 2013 at 3:33 PM
Perhaps Mayor Big Gulp will provide some marijuana (from his personal stash) to blunt the pain caused by his edict…
Gohawgs on January 11, 2013 at 3:33 PM
I forget. Where, again, did Mike Bloomberg graduate medical school and do his residency?
First doctor I’ve heard of who didn’t make sure you used the title.
Mitoch55 on January 11, 2013 at 3:35 PM
This man makes me sick to my stomach! This wanna-be dictator is damanding how/who/what gets done in HIS city?
I feel so sorry for those who work/live in nyc and there is NO way in God’s green earth I would ever visit or give one penny to that little napoleon, EVER!
L
letget on January 11, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Barky, the plastic Sukarno, wants to restrict medical care and give old people blue pills … and then his buddy Bloomberg, the midget Stalin, wants to take those blue pills away – lest the grandchildren get into the medicine cabinet or Grandma dies before eating all of her blue pills and leaves some around the house.
The anti-Western leftists are assaulting civilization from all sides, simultaneously.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 11, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Can Sarah Palin now say, “I told you so.”?
kingsjester on January 11, 2013 at 3:36 PM
This is a huge problem Allah.
lexhamfox on January 11, 2013 at 3:37 PM
…they do so with the approval of their own conscience, and extreme need to feed their ego.
Hard Right on January 11, 2013 at 3:37 PM
The (completely predictable) end result of a misguided, and foolish War on Drugs…
JohnGalt23 on January 11, 2013 at 3:38 PM
Anyone wonder why there isn’t a line of moving trucks leaving New York? I know I never plan to spend my discretionary vacation money there in the foreseeable future.
2nd Ammendment Mother on January 11, 2013 at 3:39 PM
No doubt there will be an ‘exception‘ for the ruling class…
… No doubt.
Seven Percent Solution on January 11, 2013 at 3:40 PM
You can take my painkillers from my spasm-wracked, shivering body.
Archivarix on January 11, 2013 at 3:41 PM
So is irresponsible women killing their babies via abortion, but I don’t see the leftist nanny state intervening in THAT doctor/patient relationship. In fact, the left bends over backward at the detriment to the safety of the patient in abortion clinics to not regulate those clinics.
melle1228 on January 11, 2013 at 3:41 PM
Yes, and? Then train doctors to better detect which patients are faking. Don’t impose a top-down solution that would deny me the right to get painkillers when I need them. Do you also think we should deny everyone the right to own guns because gun violence is also a huge problem?
Allahpundit on January 11, 2013 at 3:41 PM
His mask has slipped, revealing the fascist underneath.
UltimateBob on January 11, 2013 at 3:42 PM
Don’t feel too sorry for them, they elected the little dictator. Three times.
AZfederalist on January 11, 2013 at 3:43 PM
I didn’t think it possible but, this guy may be an even greater danger to this country than BO.
Dr. Frank Enstine on January 11, 2013 at 3:44 PM
Evidently, the soda-jerk, super-nanny mayor is a warm-up act for the horrors of OBOZOCARE. Will NYC be the first-the-nation to have its citizens murdered by a DEATH PANEL?
TeaPartyNation on January 11, 2013 at 3:45 PM
Does this mean that liberals will also feel the pain of big government?
Who they gonna blame, Bush?
Belle on January 11, 2013 at 3:45 PM
Michael Bloomberg needs a drug to make him taller.
So he can loose the Napoleon complex.
By the way, when we imagine working hard and maybe, one day, becoming wealthy beyond our wildest dreams, is it so that we can spend the rest of our life as the world’s most annoying, nagging busybody, grandmother in pants?
None of your business, nosy ones, but I can guarantee you that’s not what my fantasy is about. Yours?
IndieDogg on January 11, 2013 at 3:45 PM
that looks like regulation you STATIST!
nathor on January 11, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Once government gives itself license to over reach there’s no limit to the intrusion demigods may go to.
Is a half sandwich your ration next?
Speakup on January 11, 2013 at 3:48 PM
I would submit to Hizzoner that his constituents have suffered enough of him already.
What the hell does that even mean?
ghostwalker1 on January 11, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Nowhere does this story say that pain medication won’t be dispensed in an emergency room.
No more that three days worth will be dispensed.
A lost, stolen, or destroyed prescription will not be refilled.
Presumably, after three days, if the medication is needed, a proper prescription would be refilled.
This does not apply to cancer patients or others with chronic pain.
This rule does not apply outside the emergency room.
I hate Bloomberg as much as the next guy, but this regulation makes perfect sense, and this is a non-story.
Mr. Arkadin on January 11, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Preview of what a nationalized healthcare system will look like.
NotCoach on January 11, 2013 at 3:49 PM
May he suffer the most of all.
Bmore on January 11, 2013 at 3:50 PM
I don’t think this is as bad as being reported or interpreted here. Immediate pain relief will be offered. Why encourage an ER to be a script writing mill. These chronic illnesses are better served between your family doctor, you and a good pharmacist that can manage your dosage. 3 day supplies are more than adequate as drugstores deliver.
Btw….still hate da bloom!
can_con on January 11, 2013 at 3:50 PM
So now it’s Bloomburg RN, MD. Very impressive.
NoDonkey on January 11, 2013 at 3:50 PM
Doctors know when most patients are faking. The problem is that doctors like to prescribe lots of drugs – it’s what they do. That’s why medical marijuana was always a total joke and everyone knew that it was just recreational pot with kickbacks to quacks to write prescriptions for no reason (other than some cash). Psychiatrists are particularly guilty of stuffing pills down the mouths of those who aren’t even faking but whom the psychiatrists think it would be cool to drug out of their minds – like little boys who, all of a sudden, are all found to have ADD/ADHD/whatever.
Better to prosecute doctors who are just drug dealers and those who are irresponsible in how they dole out drugs and, worse, those who force strong medications on people who don’t need them. Of course, much of this arose out of the left’s drive to empty the insane asylums and put drugged-out nutcases on the street, with the nutcases being in charge of medicating themselves.
Of course, this all has very little to do with pain killers, which is a whole different area of drug abuse by the doctors as much as the patients. But, I certainly agree with you, putting limits on pain killers, themselves, is no answer. To lefties, though, Cap&Trade is the “market” answer to everything. They love the “Cap” part, particularly.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 11, 2013 at 3:54 PM
What, no super-sizing?
kunegetikos on January 11, 2013 at 3:54 PM
It all sounds so “reasonable”. The next “reasonable” step is to have a bureaucrat stationed in every ER determining who deserves care and who doesn’t. Let’s just skip right to the end and implement Carrousel now.
NotCoach on January 11, 2013 at 3:55 PM
Another endlessly infuriating part of being in pain is when others try to tell you how bad/not so bad it is. How the f**k does anybody besides me know the degree of my suffering? I might not need my pills to make it through the day, but if I want to do extravagant things like grocery shop and cook dinner for my family, I need the pills. I’m not out there mountain biking and skiing, but I have keep house and family.
Jackalope on January 11, 2013 at 3:56 PM
How recently were we being told how bad Doctors were because patients weren’t being given enough pain medication? In fact, they have surveys and screens to assess this, which are very nearly push-polls designed to prove the thesis. So now it’s too much?
It doesn’t work that way. Medications (especially narcotics) are tracked from the pharmacy through the ward, to the patient, often in single-dose quantities. It would be difficult and self-destructive to try to hijack and redirect those.
bofh on January 11, 2013 at 3:57 PM
Speaking as someone who is on the other end of this problem and has had to frequently deal with drug-seekers, this makes some sense as strictly an ER policy. Generally, ER trauma patients that are not admitted are referred back to a community MD/clinic for follow-up so the limited amount of narcotics they would get in the ER could easily be supplemented at that visit. The stronger opiates would still be used for those who are admitted or available to people who deal with chronic pain (eg, cancer patients). People with chronic pain don’t normally have their pain managed by ER visits.
Also, most providers already will not write another Rx to replace lost, stolen or destroyed ones (I only do for patients I have a long-term relationship with and rarely even then).
Lastly, AP, there is no “borrowing” meds in the hospital. All narcotics are in a locked container on the unit that requires passwords,etc to access and the contents are counted regularly.
inmypajamas on January 11, 2013 at 3:58 PM
Then you’re arguing that the policy is meaningless. Addicts will simply get the proper prescription on day three, no? The bottom line is that doctors are better positioned to make these calls ad hoc than with a bright-line rule.
Allahpundit on January 11, 2013 at 3:58 PM
I find Bloomberg to be a bloviating fool – who reminds me a lot of Vladimir Putin. When will we see Bloomberg on horseback with his shirt off?
Any day now.
HondaV65 on January 11, 2013 at 3:59 PM
Given that ooster, I’m guessing the answer would be “yes”.
AZfederalist on January 11, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Yes, understood. But again, this boils down to not trusting ER doctors to make the right call. If a patient has a bad injury and the ER doctor knows he’ll need a week’s worth of painkillers, why not let him prescribe it right there? Why force the patient to make another visit somewhere, especially when he’s unwell?
Allahpundit on January 11, 2013 at 4:01 PM
I don’t wish illness on anyone but if he had to go through what people in need of pain meds go through, he might think differently.
SurferDoc on January 11, 2013 at 4:01 PM
No, actualy the doctor would admit them overnight to get whatever medication was necessary, running up more charges. Smooth move, Bloomie!
michaelo on January 11, 2013 at 4:01 PM
Just wait until people like Nanny Bloomberg are running the ENTIRE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM!
What could possibly go wrong?
Mr Galt on January 11, 2013 at 4:01 PM
They can’t find a horse small enough to make him look imposing.
NotCoach on January 11, 2013 at 4:01 PM
This just really, really stings.
Jackalope on January 11, 2013 at 4:03 PM
.
“… said Dr. Ross Wilson, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the city’s public hospitals.”
.
.
… just like your health insurance …
.
.
May all of Bloomberg’s Directives, and this response, be applied to Mayor Bloomberg …
Arbalest on January 11, 2013 at 4:04 PM
My point being an ER is no place for churning out narcotics. ER is short term and too much room for abuse and enabling frequent trips needlessly clogging up ERs
can_con on January 11, 2013 at 4:04 PM
I’m no fan of this cake-eater & hope very much that sooner instead of later he ends up in the “Where-Are-They-Now?” file when his term as NYC’s Nanny-in-Chief is up.
But my gut tells me that indigent poor people using emergenecy rooms for primary care and abusing the prescription system IS a problem in big city hospitals and needs a solution. Its a bad setup for hospitals and its even worse for indigent poor people who need a painkiller addiction like they need a hole in the head.
As usual though, the answer is somewhere well beyond the ham-fisted, tone-deaf, government uber alles approach of Bloomberg and people like him.
Sacramento on January 11, 2013 at 4:05 PM
I’m not advocating drugs on demand for poor addicts. I’m advocating not tying doctors’ hands and letting them judge when to write a longer prescription for someone who really needs it and when to deny a prescription to someone who they strongly suspect of being an addict.
Allahpundit on January 11, 2013 at 4:07 PM
Cleombrotus on January 11, 2013 at 4:09 PM
You’re right about this being a big problem. That is why the HOSPITALS should tighten their policies. The government has no business sticking there collective noses in something that violates doctor/patient privilege.
I am in the same situation as Jackalope. While I deplore the fact that I need pain killers to function, the fact is that I do need them. Why should the rest of us suffer because some idiots abuse pain killers? What’s next? Will they take away our cars because some people drink and drive?
bandutski on January 11, 2013 at 4:11 PM
AP, why are doctors gate keepers to these drugs? Why do people have to go crying to them, hand out to get pain pills?
It’s the same argument that exists with other drugs — the people who want to abuse them will, regardless of whether they’re legal or not. I never take pain pills (they make me physically sick), but I don’t care if someone else does — I don’t see how it makes a difference if they want to use them because their back hurts or because theyre looking for a cheap high (and a lot of times, I think its a mix of the two — you cant tell me someone who pops 2 oxy’s a day because of a bad back just to function isnt an addict)
Timin203 on January 11, 2013 at 4:11 PM
I don’t even understand how people are so good at abusing these drugs, since I have a somewhat difficult time acquiring them. My doctors are very thorough, and I have to get MRIs all the time. They definitely make me prove I’m legit. I’m always asking myself “how do these abusers get there hands on 10 pills a day?!”
Jackalope on January 11, 2013 at 4:17 PM
Are you suggesting a free for all on narcotics? You do realize there is professional knowledge that goes to understanding of dosage levels,interaction risks, side effects, efficacy?
Are drugs (health care) a right?
can_con on January 11, 2013 at 4:21 PM
Unfortunately, I’ve learned the hard way in dealing with liberal elitist nanny statists in my own family, that leftists are about as lacking in compassion as you can get.
It’s all about control and imposing their will upon everyone around them. They always know best. You should only live your life the way they demand/insist/regulate.
That’s why BloomingMad thinks he knows better than dieticians, doctors and any trained expert in any other field. He will always know more and think he has the right to impose his personal will on everyone around him.
All elitists are the same. They are only happy when controlling.
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Opinionator on January 11, 2013 at 4:21 PM
Make this bastard live absolutely by his own rules and would-be rules.
LegendHasIt on January 11, 2013 at 4:23 PM
Wow, New York City could become one hell of a lucrative black market for pain killers with massive amounts of people not just looking to buy them for personal use, but for hoarding purposes and private resale. Violence inside and outside the city would skyrocket.
Daemonocracy on January 11, 2013 at 4:23 PM
Mayor Bloomberg?
There is a wall for that.
tom daschle concerned on January 11, 2013 at 4:26 PM
Seriously, is there any solid argument for why ER doctors can’t decide this for themselves on a case-by-case basis?
Allahpundit on January 11, 2013 at 4:28 PM
Same argument as there is for banning 32 oz sodas … because the midget Stalin says so, and he knows everything better than anyone. New York deserves it, though. THey voted the twerp back in for an extended third term.
I lived in Manhattan for years (and loved it) but I would never go back there, not even for a visit.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 11, 2013 at 4:30 PM
No, there isn’t. This is definitely about expanding government control in health care–inserting bureaucracy in between patient and doctor.
Jackalope on January 11, 2013 at 4:31 PM
AH, you are delusional.
RE: Lord knows he has the bank to do it, as well as a political brand carefully engineered to make soft-headed centrists and media types swoon.
He’s a JEW. That pretty much ends it.
riddick on January 11, 2013 at 4:33 PM
It’s not as hard as you would think to get pain killers. According to my doctor, what people will do is sell some of their pills. If you get 60 pills a month, they will take 10 of these and sell them. Multiply that by 10 people and now someone is selling 100 pills a month for an average price of ten dollars a pill.
bandutski on January 11, 2013 at 4:33 PM
What’s next for KIng Bloomberg to control? Bye, bye hotdog stands.
Oh, LegendHasit, Kings never abide by their own rules.
Look at the Chosen One. His children will always attend schools with armed guards. And he just signed into law armed protection for himself for life.
Ah, the hypocrisy of liberalism.
Belle on January 11, 2013 at 4:34 PM
Then they will be back in three days or hospital surfing to get their three days worth of pills.
You answered your own question in your post:
It’s a lot easier and apparently okay to make the patient “satisfied”, which in this case would be giving them what they want.
And yes, a doctor could say no, but depending on how many bad reviews they run the risk of getting caught/crushed in the wheels of bureaucracy. That’s not a lot of fun either going through a number of performance reviews and having to research each complaint or “negative satisfaction surveys” in order to make your case that you had a good reason to say no and “dissatisfy” that patient.
So here we are – having to make up stupid rules to put band aids on the even stupider issue.
kim roy on January 11, 2013 at 4:35 PM
It’s not unknown that many Gay men (Bloomberg) are cruel people.
jake-the-goose on January 11, 2013 at 4:36 PM
Destroy Bloomberg.
rayra on January 11, 2013 at 4:37 PM
Only because he feels so loved and appreciated by everyone whose life he has touched.
riddick on January 11, 2013 at 4:38 PM
Those fools in that city elected this dolt, now let them deal with him . . . will they fight it or will they just be good little sheep?
rplat on January 11, 2013 at 4:38 PM
Sweet, my comment disappeared. In short: No, health care isnt a right. But yes, people should be able to use or abuse whatever they want to.
Timin203 on January 11, 2013 at 4:40 PM
It isn’t that drug addicts are gaming the system, or that ER patients shouldn’t be perscribed too many opiates, but that a MAYOR of a city should be permitted to interfere between a doctor and his patient to determine how much medication should be allowed.
A MAYOR for pete’s sake, not a city ‘medical board’ or a ‘physicians panel’ but a politician.
I’m starting to feel like Alice.
srdem65 on January 11, 2013 at 4:42 PM
It’s often surprising how many fools dwell on HA, incl. from the so-called right.
Kudos to AP, the oft derided “RINO”, for standing up to you all.
Schadenfreude on January 11, 2013 at 4:42 PM
I’ve been jumping up and down trying to say that exact same thing for the longest time. I live under socialized medicine and am a chronic pain sufferer, and they treat you like you don’t matter.
pabo on January 11, 2013 at 4:43 PM
I deal extensively with the medical profession and to my knowledge, no doctor has ever been fired or even disciplined for bad reviews from patients unless it involved malpractice. Mistakes are made in the ER more from over work than anything else. Most of the ER staff put in 60+ hours a week. If you could eliminate the non emergency visits (people usually without insurance), then you would see a dramatic increases in care and a big decrease in mistakes.
bandutski on January 11, 2013 at 4:45 PM
Well, when we say we’re against big government, we just mean the things big government does that we disagree with. If it’s something we want to see changed, then we’re all for big government.
/hot air “conservatives” / santorum voters
Timin203 on January 11, 2013 at 4:45 PM
It’s not people without insurance clogging up the ER. It’s people with Medicaid, who can’t / won’t find a primary care physician that are clogging up the ER.
People with insurance and people without insurance don’t want to pay the ludicrously high co-pay / full bills for visiting the ER. People with medicaid pay nothing to visit the ER, so why not?
Timin203 on January 11, 2013 at 4:46 PM
Physicians and RNs are best able to identify those trying to game the system and those who truly need the drugs. Why a mayor sticks his nose into the issue is beyond me. First he came for the soft drinks, then baby formula and now narcotic pain killers with guns in his sites. What is next for this tyrant?
bopbottle on January 11, 2013 at 4:49 PM
I don’t know the big hysteria about doctors pushing pills. I have a chronic condition that should allow me to very easily get pain pills. EVERY doctor I have ever been to not only documented every dose they gave me, but why. The federal restrictions on passing pills is already in effect.
And working in a healthcare setting, I know that addicts are repeat flyers. Doctors become aware real quick who they are and avoid giving them pills.
melle1228 on January 11, 2013 at 4:54 PM
Why the Fluke are you still in NYC, Allah?
OhioCoastie on January 11, 2013 at 4:55 PM
With all due respect, you’re completely wrong. The VAST majority of people who visit the ER do not have Medicaid. As far as paying the full bills for visiting the ER, they usually bill the patient knowing full well that they will never even attempt to make any kind of restitution.
bandutski on January 11, 2013 at 4:58 PM
AP, my advice to you is get the hell out of NYC while you still can. Why would you want to live in such a tyranny?
Besides, when the government goes into default over our debt and the welfare checks become worthless you will be living in the middle (literally) of “Escape From New York”.
wildcat72 on January 11, 2013 at 4:59 PM
Baahh! Baah!
That’s your answer.
What happens to the huge cities when the government cheese stops being trucked in and handed out every day? Which is going to happen, we’re borrowing more than 1/3rd of every dollar being spent to the tune of over a TRILLION a year. How much longer can that continue? A few years. AT MOST.
All I can say is you don’t want to be living in one at the time to find out. The sheep will turn into wolves and YOU will be their dinner…
wildcat72 on January 11, 2013 at 5:02 PM
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