This may sound weird, but in some cases where there are issues with microcirculation they sometimes use leeches to help, and this has to be done in a controlled environment.
^^ Seems to me that HIPPA was designed to protect patient privacy, and Fallon is entitled to say as much or as little as he wants re this experience – although as a media figure of course some may be particularly interested/want to know more details, especially since he brought it up himself.
Still, no obligation for him to fill in all (or any of) the blanks in any curious minds.
^ And yes, Bellevue is a public hospital, but it is also considered a top hospital for emergency services, and is designated as a destination hospital for medical treatment of Presidents visiting NYC.
@teriwtt, as I mentioned in my post above you, late night TV is not a court room. Why do you need to know the specific details about his treatment, what he did while he was recuperating and the costs?He hasn’t even got the bills yet let alone his insurance payout info. Insurance is never going to pay for a “star treatment” level of care unless that is part of his plan and he has been paying premiums for it.
@JEM I totally agree. Bellevue is where you want to end up if you are in a car crash. I just mean that it’s not the sort of hospital where celebrities get special treatment or which has luxury wards like Lenox Hill. Again, if Fallon was in Bellevue for 10 days, he needed to be.
It wouldn’t be surprising if NBC pays all his bills. Why wouldn’t they want the best for their stars who need to be back to host a show ASAP. Maybe they have additional Lloyd of London coverage on him.
Again @jym626 Bellevue is a public hospital. Maybe NBC has special coverage for Fallon. Even if it does, IMO it’s unlikely Bellevue would let him stay a minute longer than necessary in its ICU. The political cost to the hospital for doing so would be much too high.
Yes, HIPAA was designed to protect patient privacy, and having worked in health care, I appreciate that. But HE opened the conversation, and what I have a problem with is his possibly giving out information about his hospital experience that is misleading, if that’s the case. Since I don’t watch talk shows, I don’t know if he spoke about the experience more times and gave out more information than the one clip I saw. If he had a complication (and that’s all he’d need to say), then it makes sense. I ‘get’ finger injuries - H had one many years ago that required microsurgery, since at the time, he still spent most of his working hours in a lab and had to be able to handle vials with dangerous liquids in them, so he chose surgery (and he was in a cast from his hand up past his elbow for six weeks, so I get it). And I realize that basically re-attaching a finger (the easy way of putting what Fallon had done) is not the same as trying to re-attach a tooth, but the time I spent in ICUs for work (and this was at many different hospitals), you just didn’t see people in there unless their lives were in danger.
I mentioned speaking to a few friends about this; one of them was a nurse; granted, she’s not in an ICU or surgical rotation, but she didn’t understand it either, unless there was some sort of complication, or as jym626 mentioned, it required treatment that be given under very intensive monitoring.
I can’t think of any time where a patient is going to enter major treatment for something when the treating institution doesn’t make a pre-certification call to an insurance company to find out what coverage is provided. That’s why I suggested that perhaps they made that call, and the insurance company said no, they weren’t going to cover it, but they went ahead with the surgery, knowing either they would appeal the decision, or pay out-of-pocket. Which he (and NBC) can obviously afford to do. But for any other average Joe who walks into this hospital with this same injury, will they be provided the same options? If not, then I just think he could have spoken about this very differently on air - be even more general and not give out so much information.
I’ve seen ICUs at several hospitals, as a visitor, and all have had TVs in the room/cubicles.
Yes, every ICU has different rules; I’ve seen some that are pretty lax, and some that still hold to really strict standards. To say ICUs in general allow ‘this’, and don’t allow ‘that’, is incorrect.
Many don’t have strict visiting hours any longer, and if they do, they make exceptions. I’ve seen food brought in from the outside, too. Again, different hospitals have different rules.
I am familiar with Bellevue (though back in the day it was known for its psych unit-- maybe still is). I agree that there would need to be a reason for a continued length of stay to tie up an ICU room, especially in a public hospital. So I suspect there was a reason. I didn’t say anything about his staying longer than he should have, jonri. I don’t know where that is coming from. But, I Still think Fallon will be unlikely to be paying the copay. NBC probably will. JMO. They would likely want him cared for by the best hand surgeon in the area, regardless of which hospital he is affiliated with.
I’ve seen TVs in ICU rooms, FWIW.
And any sane person wants to get out of ICU as soon as possible.
Fallon was obviously trying to express his gratitude for the great care he received at Bellevue. I think he is to be commended for that, not criticized. “Official” Bellevue obviously feels the same way; it’s posted that clip on its home page.
When my insurance company approves a procedure in an emergency situation, I’ve never been told by the doctor “We got approval; if you had different insurance, we wouldn’t do this procedure.” You seem to ASSUME that Fallon was somehow different–he WAS told “If you weren’t Jimmy Fallon, we’d keep you here at Beth Israel and amputate your finger.” Really? You think anyone at a hospital would tell Fallon that, EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE!!!
You SPECULATE --with no factual basis whatsoever- BOTH that Fallon got special treatment AND he was told he was getting special treatment. Based on those assumptions you criticize him for telling too much about his experience.
Again, I think Fallon is to be applauded for naming all his doctors and thanking them on air. Your criticism of him falls in the “No good deed goes unpunished” column.
Not sure emergency procedures all require precert, though I do recall calling in to the insurance company notification of DS’s hospitalization and pending emergency surgery when he broke his femur. In this case it’s possible Fallon’s surgical procedure might have been considered “experimental” under the insurance company’s dumb guidelines (don’t get me started) and many Drs and facilities might not have done this particular procedure and opted instead for the covered procedure so they didn’t risk having to write off an expensive surgery, but since this was jimmy Fallon, they knew they’d get paid if insurance denied as non covered for whatever their reasoning. Just a thought. To add, having been through a family member losing a part of a finger, I know the risk that the surgery will fail as the circulation, being at the capillary level in some cases, doesn’t resolve and the finger dies.
Yep, if “thought” equals “speculation.” Still, why criticize Fallon? Yep, if I engage in pure speculation, I too, for the purposes of arguing for argument’s sake, can SPECULATE that an insurance company might say the procedure was too experimental. I can even SPECULATE they knew they’d get paid because it was Jimmy Fallon, so they went ahead with the surgery.
Where I get lost in “Lalaland” though is the part where the team who does the surgery says to Jimmy Fallon “If you weren’t Jimmy Fallon we wouldn’t do this” so if you ever publicly thank us, make it clear to “the little people” that we wouldn’t do the same for them."
Despite that warning “Evil Jimmy Fallon” thanks the doctors on air…without giving the warning that “little people” might not get the same level of care. Because, of course, if no such warning were given, the “little people” might never have thought that Jimmy Fallon was given special treatment if @teriwtt and @jym626 hadn’t warned them.
Again…as someone who lives in NYC, I actually believe that Bellevue would have tried to save anyone’s finger. Oh sure, Bellevue wants to get paid. Still, as a PUBLIC hospital, as far as I know, Bellevue gives everyone the same care without regard to how much the patient’s insurance company will pay. Even if I’m wrong, I don’t see why Jimmy Fallon should be criticized for thanking the Bellevue staff because they saved his finger. And I ESPECIALLY don’t think he should be criticized for failing to say “I’m rich and a celebrity, so it’s possible you wouldn’t get the same great treatment at a PUBLIC hospital if you’re not.”
My friend was in ICU for a few weeks and they had small tvs in the cubicles. She was unconscious, on a ventilator most of the time and unable to watch!
Of course anyone conscious can watch tv on his or her phone these days.
I am not criticizing anyone, jonri. Just sharing some thoughts from the healthcare perspective and personal experience. I grew up in NY so am plenty familiar. Please dial it back a bit. No need to YELL. Good day.
Re read your last post jonri and still have no idea what you are ranting on about or what pushed your buttons. You are attributing comments to me that I never said or even thought. No clue who criticized Fallon ( I adore him), Bellevue or any of the medical team. Was not me. I think they did a great job. Chill. I am going to go enjoy a peach sangria. Care to join me?
@jym626 ,
I see this as a criticism of many “Drs and facilities.” So your statement that
is just not credible to me.
And, yes, someone near and dear to me works in an emergency room at a public hospital (though not Bellevue) , and, believe it or not, what insurance that person has doesn’t have any impact on the treatment (s)he gives the patient–well, with one exception…whether (s)he prescribes a drug that might work better than the generic version.
I don’t like the fact that a simple and seemingly sincere on air “thank you” from Jimmy Fallon to the doctors and nurses who treated him results in him being criticized on CC by a lot of people who speculate not only that he got special treatment but he was told he got special treatment and therefore should not have given his public praise without giving a caveat amounting to “I am a celebrity. If you aren’t, your results may vary.”
You know what this reminds me of? A long time ago, Ted Turner gave away a LOT of money to various UN charities. Immediately, he was attacked for not giving the $ to US charities. If he hadn’t given away a cent, he wouldn’t have been criticized. Turner got more criticism for giving the $ to UN charities like UNESCO than he got praise for giving the money away.
Same sort of thinking seems to have motivated this thread.
Well you are entitled to your incorrect assumptions and accusations about credibility. I am in healthcare and was just sharing/expalining some thoughts and possibilities. No criticism at all. That is entirely in your head.You went completely off the deep end with your fallacious assumptions and accusations. No mas. Good day.
Evil Jimmy Fallon and little people?? Huh? Feels like we in the Emerald City and being chased by the wicked witch.