Hey, QEII. Your ten dollar per day charge for TV in patients’ rooms is unconscionable. The TVs are there. It doesn’t cost the hospital anything to turn them on. The standard chanels are FREE. How can it cost $10/day to get basic cable in a hospital room when I can get it in my house for $50/month? Why won’t you even give people the option of just getting the FREE local chanels? Do you think it’s ETHICAL to make a profit of 500% off people you are supposed to be caring for? And it’s probably closer to a thousand percent, because we KNOW Eastlink isn’t charging the hospital the residential rate for each individual TV. I have three cable hook-ups in my home, all for one rate. I am sure the hospital gets a similar deal.
My mother has recently had a stroke. She is bedridden. She cannot read, knit, or do much of anything. She can watch TV, except that I can’t afford the $300+ dollars it would cost for the month or so that she’s going to be in there. So she gets to lie in bed and stare at the blank 10 inch screen of the TV that the QEII is too fucking greedy to let her watch.
Bastards.
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2008.
I was in there for 10 days a few months back. A company handles the tv’s, and I’m sorry, but they are money-sucking leeches. $10/ day is ridiculous. But, here’s the awesome part: go wait for a c-section, and the rooms they put you in for the OR waiting time have free cable and vcr. Seriously, wtf are people in the hospital for days supposed to do? And why on earth does the hospital have another company handle the cable service?
Because the hospital is for free health care, not entertainment. If it is free, then they give you what you need to patch you up so you can hobble another day. Television isn’t a right as clean drinking water or ‘education’ it is a privilidge and as such another company handles the money, the same as another company handles the food.
You could buy your mom a little portable TV for less than it would cost to rent it for a month. But I bet if you brought it in there, it wouldn’t work. Probably they block the signal even for the peasant-vision channels. Bastards.
you may not bring your own portable, there is an agreement in place at the hospital disallowing that.my cellular has perfectly good television and radio also for 7 dollars a month. I dont use it but I have it and the video is excellent quality.now, having had a stroke, if she cannot do anything but sit and watch tv, I hope she is in a private room, because television for a sick person lying in a semi or ward with your mom can get pretty annoying in a hurry I would think.btw the rates are put in place assuming that private health insurance will pay for or supplement the use by patients.QE2 emp.
Thanks for the clarification, David. Unfortunately, my mother does not have any private insurance. She is a disabled senior on a fixed pension. I was aware that people with private insurance could get free TV. That notice is posted in the rooms. The only insurance she has is the provincial Pharmacare program, which doesn’t qualify. So the people who can least afford to pay for the service – people on fixed incomes – are excluded from that program. It’s really unfair.Also, you may not be aware that earphones are provided with the TV, so that other patients need not be annoyed.And Gimpy, I understand your point, but in theory, our health care system is about more than “patching you up”. It is supposed to be about well being. Now normally I would not suggest watching TV has anything to do with well being. But when a person is deprived of their normal motor and perception skills, they need something to occupy their minds during the hours when their loved ones cannot be there to keep them company.
It is unfair.It is also unfair that I have to pay $20 a month for my kid to eat LUNCH at school, if not I have to drive to the school and take him out for that hour and then return him when it is 1pm… Um, I remember when I was young the teacher used to eat lunch in the classroom while you eat and then after you are done in like 15mins and then send you out to play… but that is another rant altogeather. Seriously, health care isn’t about well being, it is about makeing sure you are able to work to put back into the system. It’s the catch 22 like if you are on assistance you get free child care, however, the second you get a job more often then less you can’t afford the child care so you are boned….Televisions, like sponge baths are a luxury. It may not seem like such because you are experiencing an extrastential circumstance, but such is stuff. Maybe you could sign her up to rehab and the situation would be different.
As awful as it is being stuck in the hospital, especially for an extended period of time, I dont think it’s the hospital’s responsibility to provide free entertainment to anybody.
mattt (sic), did you miss the part where I said she has had a STROKE and Can Not Read?NMH, I would be quite happy to bring in a little portable TV for her. Even one that uses batteries so it doesn’t cost the hospital the 2 cents per day for electricity. But they won’t allow that.
Hey Miranda,Although I said what I said up there, I think it’s really unfair they wont allow you to bring your own portable tv in to watch, that’s just greedy and there’s no excuse.
Get her a Portable DVD Player, they can’t tell you no on that one, they don’t provide it! I haven’t seen a DVD player in hospital rooms. And cable doesn’t give you the variety or shows you can get on DVD’s. You can also rent DVD’s from the library for free. So the only thing you’re paying for is the player. Also you can use the player at home. Once she’s out, you can hook it up to ur TV using the AV cables that come with it and play DVDs on ur TV. Sorry to hear about your mom. I always worry about my parents like that. Good luck with everything and hope ur mom get well soon:)