Ask Lemmy

Just a heads up, I work in Germany. There's a couple different interests involved. Most patients don't want to stay in the hospital for longer than needed (for various reasons, e.g. loved ones at home or less people around in general..), even if they can afford it financially. Then there's the hospital that can only bill the insurance for a certain amount per diagnosis. Also every free bed means another patient we can take care of that might need treatment more than the one we could discharge if only he had a caretaker at home. So by helping patients organize treatments and care after they are discharged we help the patients directly but also the hospital financially and future patients indirectly. The sad part is that it takes a lot of effort to find a caretaker, organize treatments etc. So much so that many relatives or friends of patients aren't able to do it and hand it off to the professionals. It would be these relatives and friends rioting if all of a sudden this burden would be back on them and the still sick patient. So to sum it up I might feel like a bandaid because our system has made it so hard for the laypeople to do what should be more easy.