I did want to say a few, very few things about our experience with the healthcare system in my mother’s case. I won’t expand on them a great deal, I’ll just toss the bullets out.
Every hamburger stand in the country is run better than any hospital.
The nursing staff at all levels was uniformly good and, I thought, professional.
The medical profession has lost its soul.
We haven’t even begun the real healthcare reform that’s needed in this country.
Real healthcare reform could be brought about instantly by implementing Milton Friedman’s suggestion to kill all certification requirements for medical practitioners, drugs and medical devices.
Then we’d all be able to go to Walmart for excellent Chinese medicine at cheap prices.
I learned about nurses when my son was in the neonatal intensive care unit. (NICU.) We never even saw a doctor. But nurses are a group to whom I will always feel indebted and for whom I harbor the tenderest regard.
That’s the same feeling I got when my mom was injured and died.
“The medical profession has lost its soul.”
Perhaps this is the wrong venue, but have there been actions that substantiate this assertion?
I will give only one of dozens of examples over the last couple of weeks, Drew. It took more than a week for my mom’s primary care physician to return any of our many, many phone calls.
Dave –
I think a further probe of this issue is inappropriate at this time.
I must say that your previous post (Lessons) brought tears to my eyes. I’ve been through the issues of resolving property and legal issues with my grandparents, and with my father, who it seems held a place in my life similar to the one your mother had in yours. It simply brings up a lifetime of emotions and memories, and creates a venue for serious reflection.
Best wishes.
Thank you, Drew. I appreciate your delicacy in this matter and I believe I understand your feelings.
There was a lengthy discussion over the Thanksgiving table about how one St. Louis area hospital (I wont name it but it has a Catholic background) was being destroyed by the current overseers. This includes directives from above forbiding small talk or even eye contact with patients – its a conveyer belt for moving “product” (the new term they use for patients) in and out.
The doctors and nurses who cannot stand to act in such a manner to fellow human beings have left in droves….guess who that leaves behind.
When you have healed a bit more, you should discuss some of this. What exists as abstractions for most, become concrete issues once you are in the system as patient or provider. Best wishes to the rest of your family also.
Steve