Mr. Bierbichler's Brecht suggests a burly younger King Lear whose ailments only partly diminish his still-hearty sexual appetite.
Marlene Homer, the ward whose ailments were depression and "strange thoughts," was taken away in a van, screaming.
Patients whose ailments were not deemed urgent were told to go somewhere else, like a free clinic, or that they could be treated if they paid the co-payment for their insurance or around $150 in cash.
That is when nurses at the Seton Family of Hospitals tagged her as a "frequent flier," a repeat visitor whose ailments — and expenses — might be curbed with more regular care.
In the case of victims like the firefighters, whose ailments did not manifest themselves until days, or even weeks, after the disaster, Feinberg has the authority to decide not just how much compensation they will receive but whether they will get any at all.
One of the bills rejected by Brown would have expanded a state listing of public safety workers whose ailments, including cancer, were presumed to be job-related.
That's because, without changing admission criteria, there's been an increase in ER visits by patients whose ailments require a hospital stay.
"It's just been one thing after another," said the veteran, who now resides in Miami and whose ailments run the gamut from lung disease and sleep apnea to, most recently, terminal breast cancer.
