Women seeking biopsies at Los Angeles-area hospitals are experiencing wait times as long as several months, due in large part to an increase in the number of private physician's offices refusing to see uninsured patients, the Los Angeles Times reports.
For example, according to the newspaper, after Doramay Bailey's annual mammogram in September 2009 uncovered a lump in her left breast, she was forced to wait until this past February for a biopsy at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. There, she was told she had stage four cancer and roughly three years to live.
One doctor who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity estimated breast biopsy wait times at Harbor-UCLA run around two months. County officials estimated the waits would range from "one-to-four-weeks."
Carol Meyer, a chief network officer with the county's Department of Health Services, tried to explain to the Times the current state of affairs in Los Angeles.
"More and more people are not doing these things on uninsured patients and that leaves more on our doorstep," Meyer said. "We know that there's more demand than we have staff and capacity for....[Private doctors] determine what patients they get to see. They don't have a never-ending stream of patients in need."
To learn more:
- read this Los Angeles Times article