Can A Hospital Be Considered A

Is it considered a war crime to bomb hospitals?

Yes it is.The relevant authorities are expected to notify the enemy of the location of their hospitals and/or mark them distinctively, to avoid them being targeted accidentally.Article 18 of the 1949 4th Geneva Convention applies.Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.However, if the hospital is used for warlike purposes, it loses its protected status. In such cases, it becomes a legitimate target. For example, if you station a missile launcher on the roof of a hospital and use it to attack the enemy, it is no longer a war crime to bomb that hospital.The attacker must give the defender advance warning that it is going to attack the hospital, giving the defender time to remove their weapons or troops.Article 19 of the 1949 4th Geneva Convention applies.The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after due warning has been given, naming, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit and after such warning has remained unheeded.(Added)Note that using civilians as a human shield is itself illegal under international law. In the case of a missile launcher emplaced on a hospital roof, it’s not the people bombing the hospital who commit a war crime, it’s the people who put the missile launcher there. They endangered the civilians by making the hospital into a legitimate target.Article 51, section 7 of the First Protocol to the Geneva Convention, 1977, applies.The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations.

Is UNMH in Albuquerque considered an overcrowded hospital?

For me, it is not too crowded, but too big. There is plenty room to sit around waiting for any of their services.I think they have attempted to be all things to all people in our sparsely populated state.I served for two years on a committee of patients established to provide feedback on issues that interfered with good service. We made a number of suggestions in time. None of them were ever carried out, and we never received the slightest bit of feedback on any of them.

Are hospitals in the United States considered businesses or are they owned by the government?

Definitely businesses. There are ‘veteran’ associated hospitals that are entirely Federally supported, and although Obama wished them to be privatized, that’s not going to happen. There are also State Hospitals, that provide care towards the mentally challenged.On the ‘business’ end of things at private hospitals, they invariably are listed as ‘non-profits,’ and therefore escape profit taxes as a corporate entity. Since the majority of their income is derived from ‘semi-fixed’ agreements with large insurance companies, the various devisions in the hospital are run as ‘independent profit (or loss) centers.’ Thus those areas that can ‘gouge,’ are very big on gouging. Emergency departments, and CAT and X-ray departments are known for gouging. An entire hospital can run at a loss, but be carried by the profiteering at the Emergency Room. A patient there will be ‘visited’ upon by sometimes by 5 ‘different’ department specialists, all that will be eventually presenting separate bills.Costs of doing business for both hospitals and practicing doctors varies widely between States. California is the highest, where many doctors need insure themselves (for malpractice) to the tune of 55% of their billing going towards ‘protection’ insurance. At the same time, in Utah, they tend to be self-insured. Has to do with the litigiousness nature of Kalifornia, and the ‘easily led’ jurors that show up in court as ‘peers.’Pharmaceutical prices too are ‘all over the map’ as for gouging. For example, Costco Pharmacy (ostensibly with a 20% mark-up) will sell a drug for $18.- cash, the SAME drug/manufacturer sold at Walgreen’s drugs can go for $62.-.

In the USA, what happens if paramedics/hospital can't identify the injured person they are treating?

In my area there is a procedure for situations like an unidentified patient.First and formost the medical treatment they recieve is exactly the same for patients with an identification. We get alot of John and Jane Does in EMS for varius reasons but its a rare event when that person remaines unidentified. The first thing done is to simply ask them there name. If they are unconcius or comatose we search there clothes or belongings and if that fails , we involve Law Enforcement who have a knack for finding ones identity. They would fingerprint the person, take photos and initiate an investigation by interviewing anyone who might have been with this person prior to there hospitalization. If that fails to produce any information then they turn to the public for help and publish pictures and physical description along with pictures of the clothing or jewelry they might have been wearing. There was one tragic case here in Boston a couple of years ago that still haunts the city. The body of a baby girl about 5 years old washed up on the shoreline wrapped in a plastic bag. The cause of death was quickly determined to be a Homicide and Boston Police convened a team of Detectives who along with the State Police began a major investigation. There where no missing child reports of a child that age. The FBI also got involved and had the contents of the childs stomach analized and it was determined the child most likely lived locally just by the type of food she ate. This was a surprise as surely someone would notice the child missing but no leads came in until a family member who saw reports on TV and suspected who the child might be called police. The police swarmed the residence of the mother and after extsensive questioning admitted the baby was hers and her boyfriend murdered the child in a fit of rage. yet for 7 months she kept quite. My point is the police never for a second let the case go cold, it was personal. Her name was Bella Bond and she became everones daughter here. The people of Boston made her one of there own . But she to was eventually identified and laid to rest. Anyone who is unidentified gets either a John Doe or a Jane Doe followed by a number that is unique to them with the hope that the real name of the person replaces that moniker.

In what ways are hospitals like businesses?

Hospitals aren't like businesses, they ARE businesses. Any functioning business must create a feasible business model before entering the marketplace. Think of a company's business model as the very foundation on which it stands. The main goal of any business is to generate revenue and make a profit from the company's operations by full-filling a need within the market. Hospitals are no different. They must have a workable business model in place. However, due to the nature of healthcare their business models must account for a plethora of healthcare specific challenges (patient care for instance). As a consultant,  I've worked with hospital CEOs/Administrators/Presidents, COOs and CFOs from various institutions. They have an administrative staff for a reason. The ones dedicated to patient care; physicians, surgeons, nurses etc. are experts in medicine. Would you want a cardiac surgeon balancing your budget?  As is the case with all businesses, hospital systems have a management team that must Hospitals are just like any other business in that they are constantly trying to improve their bottom line. The business side of the healthcare is vital to the lifeline of the system, especially in hospitals. Hospital managers need to have top-notch business sense to run the hospital efficiently, and they focus much of their time and attention on issues such as budgeting, hospital public relations and marketing, and billing and collections from insurance companies or other payers affiliated with their network.However, the concerns of hospital managers go beyond business and directly into the delivery of care. Managers must maintain their ethical responsibilities while ensuring that all operations throughout the hospital are running smoothly, from surgery schedules, patient flow, record updates and confidentiality, waste management, and equipment maintenance and set up, to name a few.Just like every other business (from small technology start-ups to major financial institutions to Macy's) every hospital system has it's own business model.