Bleed Out

I really don't care what his intentions were in filming this documentary. If you have EVER in any way had to deal with the horrors of disappointmenting healthcare, you will connect with this piece.

A riveting, jarring, oftentimes nihilistic view, of a healthcare system fraught with moral turpitude. It is downright dirty, and hard to believe --- we are seeing how the inner workings, of the American healthcare industry, fail the American people...at every level. It should be labelled 'Horror' documentary. Because if you're not scared by the end of it...you're spineless.

I do not think it is a coincidence that for profit hospitals, medical providers, emergency service providers, plus the insurance companies and medical equipment and pharmaceutical providers are all making sure they can protect their "take" from each patient and seeking to reduce any possibility of their being accountable for bad outcomes.

All together the money from their special interest groups have swayed Federal government policies and then State policies. The Citizen's United decision in the 90's just opened the door further for money to overrule public opinion.

The state of Wisconsin is one of many that is pro-business which means corporations come first generally.

The medical device Da Vinci used for surgeries is another latest example of special interests overruling public opinion. The device can be awesome in the hands of surgeons and people trained to use it. Even the manufacturer recommends people be trained on it and there is a 5 tier training program. Yet, 70% of the doctors using it are not trained on it and the number of medical errors created using it are up to 30%. When asked who is responsible for the doctors being trained no one wants to take responsibility. Not the doctors, not the hospitals, not the State, not the Federal government, not the insurance companies, no one. Who ends up paying? Taxpayers when the patients can no longer pay for the damage it caused or their deaths.

Amazing that some hospitals that are not focused on a for profit model are rarely having these issues is it not and have a higher percentage of positive outcomes.

Spoiler follows:



On a side note, one reviewer made a comment about it being one sided which is why I only give it a 8 but they also implied something suspicious was going on 8 days before her 2nd surgery for the failed hip replacement. Maybe they missed the part about her being in overwhelming pain and her personal doctor stating it was unexplained and her family demanding they do something about it which was the reason why she was still there 8 days before the 2nd hip surgery that really screwed her over. It was later found the 1st hip replacement had broken inside of her.

If you know Steve Burrows, like I do, you'd get what self sacrifice looks like. Of course, as viewers of his film, anyone is entitled to imagine alternate motivations for the making of Bleed Out - as a few cynical reviewers have posited. Some suggest he made the film and let the lawsuit linger to somehow benefit his own life? My goodness, no. I've known Steve for over a decade...first as a comedy director who shot several commercials for me, and now as a close friend who resurfaced after 10 years of taking care of his mother. Shooting this film was never his goal... In fact, the moment he left LA for Wisconsin he gave up working as a director - meaning, he was without an income, facing mounting medical bills on behalf of his mother, and putting his career and life on hold indefinitely - the entire time he took care of Judy because that was the only choice in his mind. Nearly half of his professional life disappeared as he did the only thing he knew how to do...love his mom, and use his skills to document her unacceptable medical "care". Before Bleed Out, Steve wrote, acted and directed the silliest - dare I say sophomoric - work you can imagine. Google Glass Nickel Pizza for a laugh. Or track down his feature film Chump Change - the cameos from legendary comedic actors alone are worth it. That's the Steve I know. Always upbeat. Always grateful for his success (I watched him shake every hand of his crew after a shoot once, look them in the eye, and say thank you before he would even think of wrapping for the night). Steve is pure positivity. Even in the face of the most harrowing events in his personal life. Watch his film and take it at face value. There is nothing other than what you see. He had no other agenda. Once you accept that, you'll understand how heartbreaking - and heartwarming - his experience has been.

This film takes-on the healthcare industry's profit methods and lays it out for everyone to judge for themselves just how macabre, horrifying, cruel and inhumane it has become; a grotesque distortion of what the Hippocratic Oath guarantees.