Plundering the Federal Galleon

This is a rather poetic description of modern medicine from a post, yesterday, at MDOD.  





"I am an Emergency Physician and I work in an Emergency Department that sits astride the major trade routes trafficking in the elderly and whose supporting hospital was strategically placed to command this trade and its rich plunder; bountiful cargoes of stable but chronic disease, vague complaints, and loneliness that fill our coffers with splendid treasures to rival the hordes of ancient kings. Or I dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into futile care. How I plunder the federal galleon like a modern-day freebooter, raking in the Medicare doubloons to extend the futile quasi-life of the living dead for whom death would be merciful!"