I am baffeled by this story. There are an increasing number of burn centers closing in America's hospital which may lead our nation being unable to handle widepsread burn casualties. The number of burn centers in the U.S. has dropped from 132 in 2004 to 127, and burn beds have fallen from 1,897 to 1,820, according to American Burn Association records compiled from voluntary reporting by hospitals. Mississippi, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and New Hampshire have no burn centers at all! (Don't get burned there :)!!! Sorry poor humor, I am just a little outraged that there is a place in America that would be unequipped to handle a catastophy like 2nd and 3rd degree burns. "People ought to be pretty frightened by this," said Dr. Barbara Latenser, burn center director at the University of Iowa Hospitals. "Some people who live out West, they are 800 miles from a burn center."
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
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The fact is that U.S. burn centers are pricing themselves right out of business. It often costs anywhere from $500,000 to $1,000,000 to treat 2d & 3d degree burns covering from 40% to over 80% of total body surface. In fact in a number of other countries (at least 17, probably more), a newer non-surgical approach utilizing the drug heparin is now being used. The U.S. centers are resisting that very stiffly.
Thank you so much for the response and those facts are very interesting and really shed a different light on the subject.
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