I now understand why health care costs so much.

When we made the August trip to the brand new Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavillion in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it was obscenely apparent to me that health care costs wouldn't have to be nearly so high if we weren't paying for all the fancy asthetics.... Though I didn't dare photograph the lobby of the cancer center (I didn't want to disrespect those patients whom are uneasy with their appearance due to chemo or radiation or whatnot) so I refrained chronicling the really elaborate waiting and lobby area with it's blonde wood, and exquisite reed, leave, and bamboo embedded textured glass partition walls, in all their backlit glory. Beautiful, yes. Absolutely beautiful. Necessary? No. Probably being paid for by inflation of our medical costs? I wouldn't doubt it for one second.

I did manage to get some nice shots of the examination room, where everything from the lighting to the sink, soap dispensers and climate control are all sensor controlled. Doc touches nothing in the room except the patient, basically.

Very pretty, but we'd rather have a less-pretty building and a smaller oncology bill.