Recently, I was in the hospital for 3 days.  I am fine now.  The experience was illuminating in more ways than one.

$65 million was awarded to Kaleida Health to help close Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital and move services to Buffalo General Hospital,

My whole experience doesn’t jive with the so-called need to close area hospitals, especially at a tremendous cost to taxpayers.  I waited about 5 hours to be seen in the emergency room at Millard Fillmore Suburban.  It was 2 or 3 more hours before a doctor, who had to be called in from Millard Fillmore Gates, saw me.

I needed to be admitted but there were no beds available, so I spent the night in the Emergency Room.  Late the next morning, a doctor, whom I presume to be one of the heads of the ER, told my nurse to call my doctor and downgrade my condition so I could be placed on a floor that didn’t correspond to what my doctor had ordered.  Beds were needed in the ER.

During my stay, I witnessed patients who were in Suburban while waiting for a bed to open up at Gates Circle.

The whole experience seemed to indicate a shortage of hospital beds.  Yet, we taxpayers are forking over 100’s of millions of dollars to assist the closing of hospitals.  It makes no sense!

State aids Kaleida in closing Millard Gates - Business First of Buffalo: