Your Tax Dollars At Work
It seems lately at work at the ER (nights) that many patients are coming in with high blood levels of alcohol, they get expensive labs and diagnostic tests run on them, and they're uninsured. Most patients smoke cigartettes, have a lifetime habit of doing so, and throw in some recreational drug use, and there you have it: Joe ER Patient.

Then, there's the mental health patient population that is a mainstay of ER nursing. I've seen some truly mentally ill and probably demon posessed folk in my care. No insurance either for them. But many are living on disability because of their mental "illness."

I'm thinking: Are most patients hospitalized because of bad habits? The answer I'm finding out more and more is: yes.