$4000 won't even get you half a bed these days.

ad campaign? subby needs to read the article, RTFA!

Interesting case there - how permanent is permanent?

advertising campaign?

Peter Griffin probably filed the lawsuit.

Further Fark: Reported on by a TV station in New Mexico.

Does anyone actually even READ the articles before greenlighting them? Did the subby read the article? I'm pretty sure not.

I'm confused, wouldn't the statue of limitations be long expired?

huszar!

how permanent is permanent?

Until the next stylist appointment.

23 skidoo!

huszar!: Interesting case there - how permanent is permanent?

If it makes someone rich (or gets them re-elected), it's 'permanent'. If it costs a corporation money, it's 'temporary'.

Is this charity insane? $4,000 in 1912 for a permanent bed? I'm sure it sounded like a good idea then... when different people made the promise... and nobody ever thought hospital care could well exceed $4,000/day for a person.

The suit really has no merit and I think it ultimately makes the charity look bad.

FTA: If it had been modestly invested, Swirbalus said, Lippitt's donation could be worth about $1.5 million today.

He says this as if $1.5 million would cover the cost of the more than 35,000 nights in a hospital over the last 96 years.

Advertising campaign... charitable donation. They're almost the same thing.

A couple things bother me about this suit;

1) Carvelli says Rhode Island Hospital honored its commitment until the charity Lippitt chose stopped nominating patients, though she was not clear when that occurred.

Even if it was only 20 years ago when they stopped sending patients (my guess is that it's closer to 50-60), the hospital should have no obligation to keep a bed empty and keep someone from receiving care. If a year goes by and they don't send a patient, the hospital can reasonably assume that they're not going to continue to use the service. If they don't send one for 20+ years, what does that tell you?

2) Swirbalus said Children's Friend does not expect the hospital to set aside a bed that would be available only to the charity's clients. Rather, the charity wants to ensure its clients receive free care in whatever bed they're treated.

So the hospital didn't continue to live up to their end of the agreement, so we're going to take them to court to make them live up to it... except that we don't want to make them live up to their agreement, we want something else instead. Bull. If you want them to live up to the agreement, then you don't get to choose how it's interpreted. You get a bed for your people. If you don't want that, you get nothing. You lose. Good day, sir.

We had something like this in Canada, only all the beds were made free.

Massa Damnata: We had something like this in Canada, only all the beds were made free.

And not just Ms. Lippit donated $4000, but every citizen was compelled by the government to do the same, every single year.

Wonderous.

Free health care isn't free, morans.

Remove all Republicans: Electioneer: I'm confused, wouldn't the statue of limitations be long expired?

What statute of limitations? If I promise to give $1 a year to you forever, as long as I live, I should be obligated to continue doing it. If I stop 50 years from now, that doesn't mean that the obligation is no longer there. Otherwise, long-term promises would be never work if not enforceable (see the Hong-Kong lease for an example).

Your $1 example isn't quite the same. It's more like if I promised to send you an envelope (patients) every year, and you promised to send me back the envelope with $1 (free care) inside. It's kind of tough for you to live up to the agreement if I stop sending you envelopes.

Plus, there's that whole thing where this charity may or may not be the one that agreed to the arrangement...

This is some sort of black hole like effect causes the state with the smallest amount of mass to progress through time more slowly.

FTA "A successor to the charity she selected rediscovered her bequest when it dusted off its archives..."

So someone should sue this charity for mismanagement of it assets. How many years...or decades...was a free bed available and at what value? If any other charity let that kind of money go to waste because they did not even know what their own assets were there would probably be firings at the very least.

Remove all Republicans:
What statute of limitations? If I promise to give $1 a year to you forever, ...

Forever is unenforceable. The charity is being silly.

They were going to close the high school I went to & sell the land to a developer until the grand daughter of the guy who donated the land pointed out the stipulation that it had to be used as a public high school or be returned to the family.

Wow, subby, not only is this old news, you didn't RTFA. Feh.

Remove all Republicans: Electioneer: I'm confused, wouldn't the statue of limitations be long expired?

What statute of limitations? If I promise to give $1 a year to you forever, as long as I live, I should be obligated to continue doing it. If I stop 50 years from now, that doesn't mean that the obligation is no longer there. Otherwise, long-term promises would be never work if not enforceable (see the Hong-Kong lease for an example).

Contract law doesn't let people do whatever they want. There are limits to what we can buy, sell, and agree to do.

We had something like this in Canada, only all the beds were made free.

And also the quality and timeframe of health care is so bad that many choose to drive to another country and pay out of their pocket to get health care that doesn't suck.

Maybe the problem is people stupid enough to think that "Free Healthcare" exists.

BuuZero: ad campaign? subby needs to read the article, RTFA!

Someone else needs to go back to school there, Moran. Engrish Incomprehension FTL.

"Little is known about Lippitt. Court papers say the hospital was raising money at the time by offering permanent free medical beds in exchange for donations of $4,000, and that by 1923 there were 212 such beds."

Remove all Republicans:
Massa Damnata: We had something like this in Canada, only all the beds were made free.

Too bad people here hate the idea of helping others like that. Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, Japan all have the right idea. Just us and the Middle Eastern barbarians throwing stones at women at in the same boat.

Throwing stones at women in a boat? That makes no sense, no wonder you all don't have health insurance.

Xetal: And also the quality and timeframe of health care is so bad that many choose to drive to another country and pay out of their pocket to get health care that doesn't suck.

Maybe the problem is people stupid enough to think that "Free Healthcare" exists.

Idiot. for non-emergency non-life threatening treatment there you're gonna wait. you're saying our system of exhorbitant costs and insanely priced meds is better somehow?

After review more local (like in RI not NM) news coverage of the story The charity isn't suing, the editor of the Providence Journal (the states' largest newspaper) is doing the suing. Can you say self aggrandizement? Sell papers! I knew you could.

IndyGemini


Yes, approx. 10% of tax revenue is spend on health care in the country. This is not far off the mark of other countries who have provided healthcare as a priority -

* France 9.7%.
* Germany 10.9%.
* Denmark 8.8%.
* Sweden 9.2%.

As far as wait times are concerned, while we do suffer from wait time to certain extent, the amount of hype that is place on such wait times is inappropriate. Here is a study on the subject Link (new window)

Even if we do have longer wait times, however, there is a large proportion of Canadians who retain the belief that access to basic necessities of life should not be determined by an individual's affluence in that society. I believe that such an attitude says something complementary of those who hold it. If for every citizen of my country to have equal access I must myself wait longer for service, I am happy to wait no matter the consequence. The consequences of putting myself first are too costly.


On a personal level, when I go to the hospital, there is no thought of who is going to pay for it. There is also no though about whether the insurance company I have paid will pay my bills. This cannot be said of privatized systems.

castufari: FREE BUDDY!

He is free!! He's doing local radio now.

Play FREEBED!

Submitter is a fabricator, and a liar.

"It just seems illogical to me that a quote-unquote ’permanent free bed,’ which by its very name suggests that it is to last forever, can somehow not last forever," said Mark Swirbalus, a lawyer for the organization. "This is the greatest case of false advertising I've seen since I sued the movie The Never Ending Story."

IndyGemini

it took a bit for me to get some info on the cost of healthcare in the states....here is the link if you want Link (new window)

(from the page) I don't know the accuracy of the source.

"Facts on the Cost of Health Care

Introduction

By several measures, health care spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history.

In 2007, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent - two times the rate of inflation.1 Total spending was $2.3 TRILLION in 2007, or $7600 per person.1 Total health care spending represented 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4.2 TRILLION in 2016, or 20 percent of GDP.1

In 2007, employer health insurance premiums increased by 6.1 percent - two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,100. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,400.2"

IndyGemini: Actually, that's $2120. You, on the other hand, were compelled by the government to give $2724.

Linky
OECD Link (pdf)

Yes, if you're in the US, you spend more on taxes than everyone else in the world except Norway and Luxembourg. Except your government manages to waste most of it, then run up a deficit by throwing cash at Blackwater.

Taxes on health care, that is.

huszar!: Interesting case there - how permanent is permanent?

After our sun uses its hydrogen core and it has expanded to envelop the orbits of Earth, and I believe Mars, there will still be one free children's bed in the location where Rhode Island would've been. Same goes for when the rapidly expanding universe stretches itself too thin.

Rob Simpson: Yes, if you're in the US, you spend more on taxes than everyone else in the world except Norway and Luxembourg. Except your government manages to waste most of it, then run up a deficit by throwing cash at Blackwater.

Okay - Now I have the Doobie Brothers in my head...

serpent_sky: Is this charity insane? $4,000 in 1912 for a permanent bed? I'm sure it sounded like a good idea then... when different people made the promise... and nobody ever thought hospital care could well exceed $4,000/day for a person.

The suit really has no merit and I think it ultimately makes the charity look bad.

Except for the part about how it would be worth $1.5 million today if it had been invested.

Rob Simpson

Actually, that's $2120. You, on the other hand, were compelled by the government to give $2724.


So...I guess what that means is that if an American individual pays the average healthcare premium, then combined with the taxes that individual pays for health care the american individual pays $7124 for health care.

/and then the insurance company that individual pays does everything they can to avoid paying out.
//USA, where being ripped off at every turn is preferable to having a social conscience

Wait, what? Did subby even READ the article?

Ow My Balls: Now I have the Doobie Brothers in my head...

Mississippi moon won't you keep on shinin on me

serpent_sky: Is this charity insane? $4,000 in 1912 for a permanent bed? I'm sure it sounded like a good idea then... when different people made the promise... and nobody ever thought hospital care could well exceed $4,000/day for a person.

A deal's a deal. Permanent means permanent. It doesn't mean "permanent until we want it to stop". Because that's not permanent, that's temporary.

The suit really has no merit and I think it ultimately makes the charity look bad.

LOL E-LAWYER!

Hey Phoenix Wright, I need to sue my old job for non-payment, will you take the case?

EmmaLou: Except for the part about how it would be worth $1.5 million today if it had been invested.

How can you honestly expect wealthy establishments to not only keep up with inflation but make proper investments? I mean honestly!

Pfft, can you imagine a hospital's trustees putting the donation in equities for future growth, so that it doubled in value every 7.2 - 10 years averaging a 7.2% to 10% in aggressive equities growth a year? Honestly, why would a hospital want anywhere from 7 million (at 7.2) to 98 million dollars (at 10) today?

Ludicrous. Wealthy institutions should not have to pay attention to the markets, and should instead just be able to charge exorbitant fees (even to the indigent) in the here and now.

Personal responsibility, people. It is your personal responsibility to pay for other's lack of foresight.

There was a good piece on healthcare around the world on PBS yesterday? that showed other countries like the US, and talked about how they went from one system to another, talked about the role of insurance companies and profits.

The not so fun part is when the people interviewed got to answer the one constant question.. how many people have gone bankrupt?

it went from none to "it would be shameful for the country"

One of the large reasons that the health care was cheaper is because paperwork was down to 2-4%.

The only way I can see it working in the US, will be state by state, with the feds fully supporting whatever the states want to do.

"I'll TAKE the case!"