Today’s healthcare system makes me sick;

I get heartburn over the way we are treated!

Until recently, I visited my medical practitioner about once a year unless something really bad was going on. I always put them off regarding exams, unless I felt the need, because you know like I know, if they look hard enough they can find something they think needs treatment. I agree to blood work once a year, that’s it. But they still want to look more. They seem to want to peek in every hole in your body; in your ears, up your nose, down your throat and so on even if all you came to see them for was an ingrown toenail. They want to weigh you, take your temperature and blood pressure always looking for that symptom. Hmm… Maybe you need a vaccination, no? Well no matter what it always leads too: “So what seems to be the problem today?” and that’s when the heartburn starts. Because you see the real problem is, most of the time when I am being poked and prodded, weighed and investigated by the over weight nurse in the colorful smock top, (in other words, being prepped to see my doctor) I am there at their request, not mine so why would they ask me what the problem is when they demanded my visit?

98,000 good reasons for not going to the doctor:

By now you should understand I don’t like visiting my local medical clinic and for that I have good reason. Here is a profession, the medical profession, that is made up of doctors, nurses and hospitals and they are responsible for nearly 100,000 (one hundred thousand) deaths per year in just our country! The 1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err is Human estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die annually as a result of medical errors, (which means they killed them) placing health care injury among the top 10 causes of death, more than motor vehicle crashes, breast cancer, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). You are safer spending one tour in Iraq than going to see the doctor. So, I’m no dummy; I do my best to steer clear of these folks. The odds are too great that looking into a doctor’s eyes in a hospital may be your last act on Earth even though you only came to visit.

So I think everyone can agree; the system is broken.

If my clinic was there to provide healthcare they would care about me, the patient, and what I wanted to do with my life. Instead, it’s about what they want to do with my life because I represent dollars, dollars for the doctor, dollars for the clinic, dollars for the pharmaceutical companies and if I don’t come to them as they determine they need me then they punish me. Literally, they punish me. My clinic has now enacted a policy that if your prescription runs out (no refills left) they will not authorize the pharmacy to refill your prescription until you see the doctor. In other words, until you pay, they withhold your meds. And worse yet, they don’t care which doctor you see (meaning you don’t need to make an appointment with the professional who is familiar with you) you just need to see anyone who can okay the refills. As I said, it’s about dollars and don’t let your healthcare get in the way.

My personal dilemma:

Within the last year I have had to have my blood pressure addressed. It has taken several visits and medicine adjustments to get it to “normal”. But now it is and has been for a few months (3). I went to fill my pill box and found I was nearly out of my prescription, I had two pills left, we called the pharmacy, and they can’t fill the prescription because there are no refills left. I went to the clinic to inquire and found no sympathy for my situation. All I found there was a rude woman who claimed to be over worked and who blamed “BUSH” for the healthcare mess.

Now Bush you can blame for Iraq if you need to blame someone, I’ll accept that, but nearly 100,000 deaths a year attributed to healthcare mistakes, I don’t think you can blame Bush for that one and if you do then you just hate Bush, hey lady?

Eventually, my practitioner called me and tried to scold me for being rude to the employees at the clinic. I’m still not sure how I feel about that scolding because I’m a pretty nice guy but I don’t push well. In fact I immediately push back. So when one of those ladies in the colorful smocks tells me to get on the scale (which I was just on 3 months ago) I say no thank you. They don’t like that because how dare you challenge their directions. And I might refuse having my temperature taken too, it just depends if I think it is necessary after all I’m only there to have my prescription extended. I’m not there because I’m passing blood or I can’t stop vomiting.

What is really going on?

So at this point the question has to be: What’s the difference between getting your drugs from the doctor or the guy selling on the corner?

It appears that the difference is; the guy on the corner doesn’t make you weigh every time you get your drugs.

You know, there was a time when the medical profession was an esteemed profession that everyone held in high regard, including me, so what happened?

I can tell you what happened, the healthcare system, which includes the medical profession, became obsessed with making money.

At the top they feint about being concerned about your health as they direct those on the front lines (the Doctors and Nurses) to treat you like a statistic. In other words you have become just a money generating entity as they assess your body. Everything is factored into your statistics and then you are directed to be treated accordingly. If you are a woman you go to one slot, a man, you fill another, Hispanic, another and so on. Your weight, your height, your age everything becomes a factor in directing you toward the money generating machines. The blood work, the MRIs, the C-T scan, the colonoscopy, the stress test, the bone density test and on and on and on until there are 98,000 dead.

Oh, and let us not forget the pills, the drugs, the very thing that makes you go back and be evaluated again and again and again as they forever look for that symptom. But you are no longer a patient you are a bundle of statistics waiting for them to find the right sequence that adds up to some treatment, that is why I push back. It is my life and I refuse to allow them to manipulate me into their formula. I know someday I will die but I will choose the path that leads me to that end, not some over paid suit sitting in an ivory tower at the corner of Wall and Broad checking corporate earnings.

PS: My experiences have been generally with Adventist Health, Redbud Community Hospital and the Middletown Medical Clinic.