So it has really been a while since I've posted about my frustration with the medical profession so I want to dive in and let everyone here know just how I feel about health care today. There is NO care in health care any more. It is all about the bottom line. We are herded through like cattle to the slaughter. I saw my rheumatologist last week. He told me that my losing a great deal of weight in such a short time isn't good for my body....like I enjoy the nausea and vomitting every day. He also told me the "mass/lump" on my collar bone had gotten bigger since June. All the while I'm thinking to myself I tried to tell them over a year ago it needed to be checked out. The kicker came though when he told me he wasn't in a position to deal with either of those things and I needed to see my primary care physician. Ughh!! So, he drew more labs to check the autoimmune disorder and patted me on the head with instructions to see my other doctor THAT day. I called and she actually was able to work me in. We reexamined what might be causing the nausea and to my surprise she felt it is post nasal drip....ummm that is one helluva diet plan! So, she added some nasal spray and some antihistamine to my medications....I am starting to need a day planner just to keep up with the pills and I'm not even 40 yet!! I tried to tell her that I was really concerned about these headaches I've been having and how the pain tends to be focused on the same side of my head and neck as this mass and basically, I was dismissed. I was told that I have to understand between losing mom and all the other things going on in my life, I'm under a great deal of stress and that can lead to some weird things going on. Okay, I might buy that if I hadn't had this lump for over a year now! So she agreed with the rheumatologist and scheduled me for a biopsy and flow cytometry this week. Yeah! I get to be poked with another set of needles that will carve out pieces of flesh and cells for review. Doesn't that sound like a day at the beach?
So, if I'm finally getting some action (no not THAT kind!) from the doctors why am I so frustrated? Because the truth is, they've stopped listening to their patients. They don't care. We are a chart, a billing code, another steer moving through the line so they can get to what's important to them - the bottom line of their practice. My head hurts. I can't shake this headache that I've had for over a week now and I just want someone to listen to me as a person...not just a patient. Who knows my body better than me? We all know, I really dislike physicians so do you really think I would be subjecting myself to more testing if I didn't think there was something really wrong?
Is it just me or have you had this happen to you as well? Do you feel like you just don't have a voice that people hear? What will it take to change things? Health care reform needs to start right here...with us...the consumer. We need to demand better quality care from our physicians and practitioners. We need to demand a seat at the table when they discuss reform or it will all be for not. We will still be on the outside looking in while someone behind a desk figures out what medications or procedures get approved and what don't. To slightly modify a quote from our past...Give me health care that cares or it will result in my death.
Pandora wishing harmony on those around me!
XoXo
3 comments:
I completely agree that doctors see to care less and less. I have had doctors so busy that they are in the room less than three minutes and never actually look at me. They looked at the chart the whole time and I had something serious I was trying to say, like I can't breath. But, no it was you throats swab was positive for strep, here is some meds, I will be back in a second. He never came back in the room. I would like to blame it all on doctors that only care about the bottom line but I think that is and incomplete answer.
Just like we have placed so many bookeeping demands on teachers that they can't really teach. I think that between the government, lawyers, insurance companies, and the doctors themselves, we have created a system that is all about the paper and not about the people. You are right, patients MUST have a voice in this debate or there will be no Heath in health care. As for care, maybe a good doctor is a rare find...I think maybe I have found one. The next couple of years will tell.
You know, so much of what you said resonated with me. I think that you also touched on a basic problem I have with the whole health care reform debate.
Why push it so hard? I agree with the idea that we desperately need reform. Your posting only illustrates the point. But, as you say, there needs to be room at the table for everyone to have input. Yet there is such a push to get something done NOW! Would it not be better to take the time and do it right, than to speed something through that ultimately does not improve the current situation.
Look, I know how our political dicussions go. I'm not even trying to get into that. It just makes me wonder what else is getting pushed through?
All good points by everyone...
Let me throw another point in the mix, the rich are able to afford the best in the court room and also the best in medical care. I don't see this changing in my life time. Doctors have a license to practice and that is what they do. It is up to ourselves to do the best we can to survive and avoid the health care system.
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