VIP Medical Care - by Bertie Bregman, MD

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On December 22, 2022, the New York Times published an investigative article about NYU Medical Center titled, ‘Major Trustee, Please Prioritize’: How NYU’s E.R. Favors the Rich. The article relates how NYU bumps VIPs to the head of the line in the ER with perks such as a special trustee phone line, alerts in the medical record, and even a separate area - room 20 - reserved for critical cases and VIPs. Since reading the article I’ve been thinking a lot about the phenomenon of VIP patients in medicine, and how it differs - or should differ - from VIP treatment in other areas of life. It may be useful to divide VIPs into three categories: Friends and Family, Celebrities, and Benefactors. Friends and Family is a good place to start because it reveals how the concept of VIP is to some degree inseparable from basic human nature. We all operate within a system of concentric social circles, beginning with family at the center, and extending outward to friends, professions, religions, nationalit

© photo by Bertie On December 22, 2022, the New York Times published an investigative article about NYU Medical Center titled, ‘Major Trustee, Please Prioritize’: How NYU’s E.R. Favors the Rich. The article relates how NYU bumps VIPs to the head of the line in the ER with perks such as a special trustee phone line, alerts in the medical record, and even a separate area - room 20 - reserved for critical cases and VIPs. Since reading the article I’ve been thinking a lot about the phenomenon of VIP patients in medicine, and how it differs - or should differ - from VIP treatment in other…

VIP Medical Care - by Bertie Bregman, MD

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