Strangers in the Middle of a City: The John and Jane Does of L.A. Medical Center | Hacker News Reader

Strangers in the Middle of a City: The John and Jane Does of L.A. Medical Center

latimes.com

41 pointsdangle118 comments

The hospitals usually bear the brunt of the costs and they are then distributed as higher costs to the paying patients.

Yes, if we want to live in a society where hospitals don’t throw people out to die on the street because they’re not carrying an insurance card, then someone has to pay for it.

I think the suggestion is that there are better ways to choose who bears the cost than "a random selection of the sick people who walked through the door at roughly the same time", and also ways to house unwell but stable people at lower expense and with greater quality of life for them.

this is a false dichotomy

Is it false? A care center either takes in anonymous people with no money off the street or it doesn’t. The problem outlined in the article is precisely that LA General does do this, while “Skilled nursing facilities, group homes and rehabilitation centers won’t take people who don’t have anyone to pay for them.”

Couldn’t the DA’s office help “facilitate” identification by having an officer ask the patient to ID themselves, “cite” them for not identifying themselves, allowing a fingerprint read, and then deciding to “not file” or drop the case? This seems like something that’s in the best interest of the patient and the hospital.

What right do police have to ask random people to ID themselves in America?

Some states have stop and identify laws.

These are unquestionably unconstitutional but that's never fixed because the DA will never pursue charges.

Without charges nobody can force the issue because nobody has standing.

Ahh I’ve seen bodycam videos from these stop and ID states where the suspect refusing to identify becomes an additional charge. Didn’t realize that CA wasn’t one (but TIL!)

California did have one but it was struct down by the Supreme Court in Kolender v. Lawson.

The same right random, unidentified deadbeats ought to have to hoist their unpaid medical bills on the rest of civilized society.

Imagine that... other people paying for your medical bills through things like taxes. What a terrible thing that would be!

This approach would likely be struck down as an unconstitutional pretext search violating the 4th Amendment and HIPAA patient protections.

Most people don't have fingerprints on file, do they? I've been fingerprinted when I was working in a childcare setting and had to get a background check, but it's not like everyone in the US has been fingerprinted.

Disclosing criminal justice data to third parties without a law enforcement purpose is a felony. Likewise, the hospital sharing your protected health information with the police is a civil liability and perhaps a criminal violation for the hospital employee.

This is one of the reasons why people are very upset with the Palantir stuff at the federal level, joining IRS and Social Security data with other information. The data is basically all FTI and SS information now (which is secret/protected) and many uses of it are crimes.

I consulted on a criminal case years ago where local government people were criminally charged for aggregating child support (Tax data) and police data, and using it inappropriately.

This is the most horrifyingly dystopian thing I've ever read. Why are you advocating for a police state where sick patients in hospital beds are harassed by police and charged with crimes for existing?

I'd rather die a "John Doe" than live in an authoritarian police state where it's a crime to not give ID to police.

i'd rather die standing on my diabetes ridden toes than live kneeling hooked up to insulin with the G-man's finger on the pump

Kyle. My suggestion - stick to web development. I don’t think public policy ideation is your strong suit. But like others have mentioned, maybe you have the elements for a good dystopian sci-fi novel.

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