So, yesterday I was taking care of: a 90 year old incapacitated Vietnamese woman with a stroke, a 54 year old Pakistani woman w/ a stroke who needed total care and rehabilitation, and a 44 year old Afghani woman who was having a pseudo psycho eipisode over some of her life's problems and needed requested constant "pain relief." None spoke English. The families were very helpful, I must say, but these people's problems were chronic and devastating. We also had to communicate several times through translator phones and it was also difficult repeatedly telling things to the families when they would simply ask the same question over and over. They just do not unerstand what docs are telling them.

The one American I had was a 90 year old woman experiencing some vertigo -- she looked 55 and was the most pleasant woman I've ever come across. She was discharged after one overnight stay.

So, there you go -- 75% of the patients I'm caring for are undocomented, uninsured, and in need of exstensive medical care and rehabilitation. Who's paying? We are. I'm surprised my salary as a nurse stays as it is and I wonder how much longer it can be sustained.

I feel that we Americans need a specific Lou Dobbs type "show" or report on what costs are incurred in a daily basis in America's hospitals for indigent patients. We really ought to be informed on where our resources are doing and know why and what happened should they be depleted entirely someday.