Everybody does it

The case study ‘Cross subsidy in public hospitals’ (1) refers to an everyday practice. We have regularly called for more than one lumbar puncture needle, more than a few disposable needles, and more than one endotracheal tube, so that we can use these on ‘poor’ patients. I had not thought about the implications of such practices as the writer has expressed them. I am trying to hold together a system which is falling apart, while serving my patients. I should challenge the system. Instead, what I am doing is bailing it out.