Yeah, pretty much. Every patient gets every investigation possible and, when they were doing their residency and rotated through ICU (bear in mind we had gone to medical school in the UK and they had worked here for a bit beforehand), saw so many patients who would never have had a hope of getting to ICU in the UK. Tubed, ventilated, all kinds of ionotropic support, with no real hope for ever getting off multi-organ support. They're essentially a shell of a person, propped up by various machines and infusions.
Yet when he'd suggest that perhaps this wasn't the best thing for the patient, they'd roll their eyes and mention how we like killing patients in the UK.
Its such a litigious culture over there that the doctors don't seem to want to make any mistake or big decision. Everyone gets every scan and test and everyone gets admitted, even for minor things.
Also sorry, I should clarify. When I say pay, I mean through their insurance, not out of pocket. My other disclaimer is that he worked in a big city hospital. Whether its different in smaller hospitals in the USA, I don't know.