First, there never seems to be a "right" time for virtue. There's always some reason why we should be pragmatic instead. Next it will be the economic downturn, then some other crisis, etc.

Second, given that the hospitals' priority seems to be protecting their own reputations over the health of their employees what makes you think that allowing them to act as they see fit during this crisis is the "pragmatic" approach that will lead to fewer deaths? It's plainly apparent that safety is not at the top of their list, maybe a leadership adjustment will save lives in the long run.

The administrators who were doing the firing don't seem to believe in that maxim.

Either the rules of civil society apply to everyone, or they apply to nobody.

When people with power brazenly disregard those rules, but expect everyone else to keep following them, the correct response is to not sit down and shut up.

We already shut down our entire civilization so that the healthcare status quo could be maintained and bills can keep getting sent to the correct address. How on earth is that pragmatic?

We could open up massive free clinics in every city tomorrow morning. Nothing is stopping us.

>We already shut down our entire civilization so that the healthcare status quo could be maintained and bills can keep getting sent to the correct address.

What a garbage interpretation of what is going on. Jesus Christ, I'm jaded and cynical, but that's just too much.

Saying that we don't want to overwhelm our medical capacity because of the billing, versus the actual reason of human deaths. Too much. That's just too much.

The amount of medical capacity around is very much a function of "status quo" institutions and frameworks. Maybe not billing per se, but plenty of other stuff that's nonetheless quite relevant.

No, the medical capacity is limited by equipment and training. The medical status quo is based around normal, everyday life, where a wide variety of conditions and diseases need to be treated. It’s not an institutional problem that we don’t have the capacity to treat millions of people with pneumonia, as all of that capacity would be wasted during normal times.

Guess who is still considered vital and fighting over every procedure and claim? Medical billers, insurance companies, health companies, the many, many financial and legal people every hospital is employing.

Every cog in that machine is still spinning along, wasting massive amounts of time and resources. ER docs are still on the phone fighting insurance companies, while treating covid patients, right now, today. This is reality.

If you complain about any of this you will be fired by the hospital you work for.

Too much risk things go back to the status quo if we wait. You can still advocate for meaningful change without impacting care. Definitely do not impact care, but do not put yourself in harm's way if not necessary for the sake of management.

If enough medical providers are fired who are desperately needed, the government will step in to replace health system administration.