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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Medical Thriller
To the editor: Eric Griffey and Betty Brink’s article on the state of care at John Peter Smith hospital (“Code Red for JPS,” March 5, 2008) made it sound like something out of a Robin Cook novel. But I have to ask — have you been to any hospital lately? I’d say some of the troubles listed are not so unusual and in fact are indicative of current overall healthcare problems (though I hope the solution doesn’t involve making us hardworking citizens pay for the largest tax increase in American history by creating a socialist universal health system). My brother is a doctor, and he sacrificed most of his life in what was primarily a thankless job. Potential solutions to the healthcare system are the same as for any large organization: Cut out many of the middle management bean-counters and minimize government involvement.
I can’t speak for the competence of JPS administration, but if they’re denying free care to “undocumented residents,” I’d say they’re at least doing something right. And — what a polite term for someone who breaks federal law to enter our country. It makes it sound like a simple clerical error.
David Hamre
Fort Worth
To the editor: Thanks a lot for the story last week on JPS. I used to be one of those patients until I got Medicare, and JPS told me I didn’t need their services anymore. So now I have to go to a regular doctor’s office, where I can’t afford the co-pays nine times out of 10.
My friend used to ask me why I didn’t go to JPS when I had severe asthma attacks. Well, by the time I’d been treated at JPS, I would’ve been dead. And I never understood why indigent patients have to pay for parking at a county hospital. I never could afford that, either. Besides, how am I going to run back and forth every hour or so and feed a meter while I’m waiting in the ER with a severe asthma attack? That never made sense to me.
Terri Rimmer
Fort Worth
To the editor: Some say the investigation by Congress of CEOs’ pay is none of the government’s business. That may be true, but Tarrant County commissioners should re-examine the pay of the John Peter Smith hospital CEO. He is one of the highest-paid public hospital administrators in Texas, and yet the hospital he oversees is not up to par.
We spend a lot of the taxpayers’ money on medical care for the poor in our public hospitals, and yet when they get there they aren’t properly treated. All those needing medical care should be able to get it in a public as well as a private hospital.
Jack O. Lewis
Haltom City
All Shook up over Shale
To the editor: Thanks for your article about the blue-collar folks working the Barnett Shale (“Blue-Collar Paradise,” March 12, 2008). Until I read it, my only concerns were the constant noise (especially on what used to be quiet nights) and the fear that one day one of these wells is going to blow sky-high. (Although it’s quiet right now — I think Crowley and Burleson laid down the law that these drills had to shut up from Saturday night until Monday morning. So I can hear the birds for once.)
Your article raised several bothersome new questions. First, are our young men and women returning from the debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan really having a problem finding work? My husband (a Vietnam vet) and I were flabbergasted! We assumed they’d have their choice of jobs because of their “vet” status.
Also, does anyone, including employers, have a moral obligation to advise these young gas-drilling workers about what to do with all the money they’re making? I realize they don’t have to listen, but it seems like someone ought to at least try to give them a heads-up about socking away money for when the boom goes bust. It’s like opening a liquor store for the 21-year-olds without ever educating them about alcoholism.
Most importantly, where the heck are they dumping the water they use in drilling? After reading your article (and starting a John Grisham novel), I couldn’t go to sleep until 3 a.m.!
My husband reminded me that our son, a recent college graduate, had several offers to work for one of these companies, but he said he wanted no part of “raping” the land.
Boy, you brought all kinds of emotions and questions to my retired, settled, and enfeebled brain. So thanks for a sleepless night — and for waking me up. All this going on all around us, and I have just ignored most of it. You have awakened my sleeping rebel. I was so content and oblivious.
Mitzi Johnson
Burleson
Correction
Due to an editing error, a letter published last week incorrectly stated that Bob Watkins at one time managed The Rondels. He did not. He was a partner and later owner of an agency that sometimes booked the band and also worked as The Rondels’ bookkeeper. Fort Worth Weekly regrets the error.
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