miles113009

On the homepage

Sunday's paper

Olympic moms get all-around gold

Out There

Gardens

Her garden became his inspiration

Scanners

Full-body scanners headed for MSP

Home | Opinion Exchange | Commentary

Steven Miles: HCMC: A hospital for all of Minnesota

Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune

Joe Harris, a certified hyperbaric technician, monitored the operation of Hennepin County Medical Center’s hyperbaric chamber earlier this year.

As state funding cuts approach, let's take a moment to consider everything that's at stake.

By STEVEN MILES

Last update: November 30, 2009 - 10:57 AM

Print this story

Follow Opinion Exchange on Twitter

More from Commentary

As the song goes, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." In March, the Hennepin County Medical Center will lose one of its financial pillars as Minnesota -- a state whose health rank is falling -- makes cuts to health programs for the needy.

HCMC is not a county hospital. It is bigger than that. It could be called the Greater Minnesota Physician Factory.

Two thirds of "The County's" graduating doctors (and nurses, pharmacists and 50 other flavors of medicalists) remain to work in Minnesota. If you think Roseau or Mora will lure docs from North Carolina or Florida: Fugghedaboutit.

Or HCMC could be called Minnesota's Safety Net Hospital.

There are three burn units in Minnesota; one is at County. Winter is coming. Does anyone down in Wabasha want to play musical beds after suffering a gas heater fire?

That farmer who sliced his leg open with a chain saw down by Granite Falls? He got gas gangrene. I saw him for a moment before he was shut into the hyperbaric chamber for high pressure oxygen therapy. He has his leg. Don't hold your breath waiting for a hospital in Mankato to build such a chamber.

This winter, some kid will run his snowmobile into a rock halfway to Duluth. If he needs a Level One trauma center where a team of surgeons can simultaneously give life support, decompress the brain, and repair bones and lacerated organs, he is coming south.

In fact, 3,000 people with severe trauma are admitted to HCMC each year. A third are sent by other hospitals that could not or would not provide that care. I have seen this symphony at work. If, God forbid, I ever have a car wreck, get it right the first time: Take me to The County. The intensive-care units at HCMC have a death rate that is half the national rate.

Need a kidney? There is a shortage. HCMC is one of the top hospitals in the United States in getting kidneys from eligible donors. Of course, you could fly to Peru and buy one there.

About 125,000 people call the Poison Center down at The County every year. Sometimes, even a good doc needs a fast clue on what to do for someone who has drunk some Phthalophos. (Some what?) Maybe the Taxpayers League could set up a Twitter service.

Speaking of taxes: As a percent of operating budget, tax support to HCMC is a tenth of that going to San Francisco General Hospital or to the county hospital districts in Dallas or Houston.

Three decades ago, I trained at Hennepin County Medical Center. Although I have moved on, I still know that HCMC is Minnesota's greatest hospital. It does the best and the most with the least for all of us. Cutting its funding is harmful to our health.

Steven Miles is a Minneapolis physician.

Recent Commentary stories

Google roundup: Hear, hear, for standing up against evil - November 30, 2009

Google roundup: Hear, hear, for standing up against evil - Google may not win its fight against the Chinese government, but bless it for trying. More

Comment on this story | Read all 26 comments | Hide reader comments

About Opinion Exchange

Opinion Exchange is produced by the Editorial Department, which is dedicated to hosting the discussion on a range of issues of interest to Star Tribune readers online and in print. In its new format, it's our hope that Opinion Exhange will create a more dynamic dialogue between Star Tribune readers and the Editorial Board. Many individual posts will be written and signed by members of the Editorial Board and will reflect their own opinions. Daily editorials will continue to represent the institutional voice of the newspaper and be researched and written by the Editorial Department, which is independent of the newsroom.

Subscribe to RSS|Learn more about RSS