Why U of L hospital needs to drop the merger plan

The University of Louisville is in the process of attempting to merge with three other hospitals.  The critical detail in this merger is the potential for reproductive services to be curtailed, because the owner-in-chief would be a Roman Catholic facility.  The big C -- in this case, choice as to abortion, sterilization procedures, etc. -- would be regulated and determined by a nonlocal, private, religious-based entity.

The argument in favor of the merger is that more patients can be served.  Times are tough, money is scarce, more beds are required.

This week I've been in search of a doctor.  On Monday, I was looking for a family doctor to check out my right elbow, which I injured either while knocking the pink Christmas tree out of the rafters with a rake (the ladder is too heavy for me to carry) or while building a ceiling-high Christmas tree out of cable wire spools and green duct tape.  The pain has waked me in the night and made lifting a filled coffee cup a lesson in anatomy, based on the directions the pain shoots.   I made a list of nearby family doctors who are accepting new patients and accept my insurance.

Then I crossed off every doctor affiliated with the U of L, with Jewish Hospital, and with St. Mary and Elizabeth, each of which is connected to the merger plan.

The merger debate flows around the question of whether patients without insurance will be able to get the level of reproductive care post-merger that they've had access to pre-merger.

My point is that a merged system is going to face adamant resistance from people like me.  Hell, no, I won't go -- not even if it means waiting an extra week to get health care.  I don't need reproductive health care services, but I'm not taking my medical care needs (and insurance payments) to an entity choosing to limit reproductive health care and then daring to argue it is for the good of the community.

Meanwhile, I'm searching for a doctor.  I had an appointment tomorrow with a Norton family doctor up the street, but his office phoned yesterday and postponed my appointment until next Friday. Could a different doctor see me? Yes, on Wednesday.  Could I be called if there i8s a cancellation.  Yes, but the bored young man on the other end of the phone never paused, and I didn't hear the tap of computer keys proving he'd made note of my request.

I don't see any reason to bother with those folks, especially since I have no prior relationship. However, my elbow awakened me at five a. m. by sending bolts of pain up my forearm. I've seen searching online since then for nearby family practice, urgent care, and/or orthopedic services. Hmm. Norton has an urgent care facility next door to the (useless to me) family care facility.  You'd think somebody might have mentioned that. Four doors further up from them is an orthopedic/sports medicine physician, also affiliated with Norton.  I think I'll call his office first.

If I can't get to Norton this week, I'm headed for the Walgreen's drop-in clinic.  They're low on my list of treatment providers, but after five days anything is better than nothing.

The point is that I'll go to Walgreen's rather than any facility connected to the merger. U of L continues to proclaim the potential benefits, but they're ignoring the loss of potential patients like me.  We are legion; we have insurance; and we know the personal and the medical are political.