since 2010, 81 rural hospitals in the u.s. have closed. an additional 673 are at risk of closing.

almost 30 million people in the u.s. don't live within an hour of a hospital that provides trauma care. as a result, the death rate is twice as high in those areas.

at the time of this writing, if you buy a paper cup that's typically used to hold medication on amazon, it will cost you about 2 cents per cup. if that same cup is 'given' to you in a hospital, it will cost as much as $12.

and that's just a paper cup.

in u.s. hospitals, surgical technologists, otherwise known as 'scrub techs', only have to have a high school diploma. many states don't even require any sort of certification.

the ecu - 'eternal care unit' - is better known as the morgue.

emergency room staff refer to motorcycles as 'donorcycles', because the patients are usually young and in good health, with no traumatic organ injuries other than to their heads.

'pillow therapy' is a hospital term for the urge to smother an annoying patient with a pillow.

more than 6,000 people check into american emergency rooms each year with pillow-related injuries.