Churning up Work

To churn is to invent new work. An attorney might drag out work on a patent to extract the maximum amount of money for a minimum of blowback from the client. This a very planned and methodical strategy. It is "extraction" taken to extremes.

Churning also includes billing for time or materials on a job. Fort instance a hospital finds it does not have the right blood vessel stent. So, instead it uses two stents* instead of one to make up for the right one that should be in stock if the hospital was run by competent management. A stent might cost $1200. So, because the hospital was behind in stocking supplies the patient has to pay for two stents and the time to install two of them. This happens time and again in contracting, auto repair and the like. It is to the advantage of an ethically questionable business not to stock all the needed materials and products because it adds costs and billable hours to the job.

*www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4721