Reflections on the ER Finale

I will hedge this reflection by saying I’m not a pessimist, only a realist!

I wasted away the day yesterday, writing my last big Econ paper. Around 8pm, I called it a day and flipped on the tube. I landed on the series finale of ER and upon recognizing Dr. Carter’s return, figured I could give ER two hours of my life. ER started in, what, 1994? Maybe 1995? Whatever the case, it was during that time in my life when I thought I would become an M.D. I watched ER religiously, trying to follow characters’ movements and diagnoses as if the plot involved real stories from the ER. I fell away from my ER devotion when I went to college in 1997 and haven’t seen it since.

So while I watched the finale, I cultivated a few observations:

First, when did John Stamos join the cast? He’s so pretty.

Second, the Gilmore Girls doctor (long brown hair) kept tucking the little fly-away pieces of hair behind her ears…while scrubbed in for the pregnant mom’s delivery. You can’t wear sterile latex gloves and keep touching your hair. Her hair should have been tied up in a tight bun! And that one nurse with the French manicure? Yeah, that wouldn’t fly either. Dr. Carter stepped in to assist on that same delivery and that’s completely against the law. Physicians must have staff privileges in the hospitals; to assist in any kind of medical fashion would probably land him in a lawsuit and lead to a revoking of his Illinois medical license. If any kind of malpractice or negligence occurred, he’d be broke. Illinois out-of-pocket malpractice compensation amounts are not capped. In other words, any lawsuit award would surely strip our beloved Dr. Carter of the $50-60 mil he had to construct the Carter Center.

Which brings me to my second point: the Carter Center. I love that Dr. Carter would think so highly of the underprivileged in Cook County, Chicago, to provide them with top-rate medical services, diagnostic services, dental coverage, counseling and psychiatric services. First, the Carter Center must have received appropriations, in which the state of Illinois grants the Carter Center a certificate of need. This process often takes six months, as the Board researches the area and whether the community really needs those additional hospital beds and medical services.

Third, in light of the current economic situation, the underprivileged are the last people to receive adequate medical care, especially in Chicago. Hospitals are closing their doors at an alarming rate and even University of Chicago’s hospital closed their ER. Urban hospitals are going bankrupt because of the indigent care concerns. The underprivileged population cannot pay for their medical care, while the baseline costs of medical care increase exponentially. These factors create a vortex that is threatening even the financially-savvy hospitals. Thus, it is completely unreasonable to spend $50-60 mil in capital into an urban hospital center. Dr. Carter’s philanthropy requires a billion-dollar trust fund because it the charitable care the Center provides would never result in a positive bottom line!

I’ll step off my soap box now! Does anyone have the ER seasons on DVD, so I can catch up on the last 11 years?