Over a period of fifteen years I traveled to many rural American hospitals. Some of them were a long drive from a large airport. Others had a connecting flight aboard a twin-prop plane to a small regional airport.
In the years since then, some of those hospitals have closed. The crisis in rural healthcare continues to worsen.
Some hospitals here in greater Boston have closed, but for a very different reason. There were too many of them. Competitive pressures are ongoing, with Massachusetts General Hospital pursuing what some see as aggressive expansion plans.
Every six months I drive into downtown Boston for an appointment with an eye specialist. In late 1999, after suffering a spontaneous retinal detachment, I was left for blind by an incompetent eye surgeon in Worcester. I was referred to him by a optometrist in a neighboring town, who delayed seeing me after doubting my claim of a detached retina.
My sight was saved by a specialist at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear infirmary, who I found only because my boss’ wife worked there. Based on my own experience, the closer you get to Boston the better the medical care is.
P.S. This ad happened to pop up on Facebook. An ad for the place where my botched eye surgery was done.
