Having been raised by parents in the medical profession, I have always had a somewhat unique view of patients, nurses and doctors and the relationships they have with each other. In the ER it seems there are those who are genuinely sick and need the help, there are those who use the ER as their family physician and then their are the frequent fliers of the world who come in to try to get a quick drug fix.
I wouldn't say the hospital, Grandview, my mother worked at when I was younger was "inner city" but it is in the downtown area and definitely most of the clientele are from the western part of town and I think its fair to say most that come through the ER there are either Self Pay or Medicaid/Medicare. Courtesy of the Medicaid act though, you can't be turned away for service and they have to see you regardless of your ability to pay which unfortunately leads to people getting the idea they can use the ER as a doctors office that just happens to be open 24 hours a day. Moving on...
I happened to be at a rather interesting point in my life/career when I was diagnosed, I had just dropped off my parents health insurance plan but had not yet been able to enroll in insurance at my employer, though it was right around the corner, so in essence I was no more than a Self Pay who just found out he had cancer. Lets be real for a hot second, cancer isn't cheap, a z-pack doesn't make it go away. So to make a long, yet fairly painless story, short, I applied for medicaid the first day of my admission, so when it was approved it would cover everything, and thus far has. People may trash the system, and talk about how its so slow and this that and the other thing, but I tend to think the system is in place to be used by people like me. Since my diagnosis came with a 'total disability' stamp on it too, I was unable to work and medicaid was what I qualified for.
Now before I continue, you must realize, in case you didn't already know - Medicaid "insurance" is not like Anthem, UHC, Aetna, Humana etc. Medicaid pays literally pennies on every dollar billed to the hospital. So outside of a hospital, a doctors office that takes medicaid really sees very little reimbursement for their services.
With that in mind, growing up the way I did around the hospital and seeing how the nurses and and doctors are treated by the patients at times I swore I would never bitch or complain about the care I receive especially since I know that they are getting such little money in return for the services rendered. People tell me it shouldn't matter, but in my mind, it does to an extent. I do have at least one ace in my back pocket, since most of the people at Grandview know my mother I get the benefit of the doubt most of the time, but regardless, when I was at the James I never complained. I am always polite, and I try to not irritate the nursing staff or other techs that are there to do there job, which is to help me. The reality of the situation is, its a job, and like it or not, they are helping you get better. The common misconception though, I think is the word nurse being spelled M-A-I-D. You have to 'do' for yourself. Its not a day spa, and there is no mani-pedi department.
It astounds me how rude patients can be to the people who are trying to help them heal. I equate that to nothing more than biting the hand that feeds you.
For instance, when I first started chemotherapy in December of 2008, I was in the big treatment room and the one nurse who works the whole oncology clinic at Grandview, and who is a saint in my eyes, was delivering lunch to those of us who were receiving treatment that given day. (In case you weren't aware its an all day affair) . I generally don't eat lunch provided by the hospital, something about a rubbery piece of "chicken" breast, jello and steamed veggies just doesn't do it for me, so I politely decline. After the nurse had left though, this woman sitting across from me had the audacity to complain how the hospital was cheating her out of a full meal and the meals get smaller and smaller every time she comes for treatment and furthermore, she thought she was going to write a complaint letter. Now herein lies the problem... Its a free meal provided by the hospital, so the appropriate response is "thank you", not give me more. Additionally you know she was either a self pay, or medicaid so she isn't actually paying the thousands of dollars for her chemo, let alone the 2.99 for her meal she would have been charged. Add to that the fact she had earlier in the day treated the rest of the patients to her lip smacking for 15 minutes while she cleaned the meat off a couple chicken legs and a thigh from KFC she brought in from the night before.
I wanted to reach across the room and hit her upside the head and ask her if she even realized how ungrateful she was being. Im pretty sure there are homeless people on the street corner who would work a full day of labor for that meal but yet she's entitled to something more. That sense of entitlement is one of the most infuriating attributes in today's society. Everybody deserves more and more... But then I realized the actuality of her writing a letter to complain would be one giant 'failure to launch' ... and heres why...
In addition to her ignorance, she couldn't compose a complete sentence if her life depended on it. It is doubtful she knew the address to the hospital, and lastly, would you take a letter written in broken english with crayon seriously? No? Me either.
The point is, I've gone through a lot of painful procedures. I have had giant biopsy needles shoved into my lungs on more than 5 occasions, I have had biopsies that had to be repeated because of poor samples, Ive had my bones drilled into to take marrow samples from, Ive had IV's started more times than I can count, Ive had tubes in every hole in my body - yes, ive been plumbed like an apartment building... (now thats a pretty picture, no?) Ive been poked, prodded, jabbed and jarred... forced to do things I didn't want to do, forced to make decisions I didn't want to make and I've even been forgot about by the nursing staff from time to time, because they were so busy. Yet the truth is always the same, its to help me get better and unfortunately a lot of people lose sight of that very quickly when placed in a hospital scenario.
I don't take the mentality of 'I am a somebody, and will get what I want', I've always been courteous and exceptionally grateful for the care I've received, I've always done what was asked of me and what did I get out of it? My life was saved... on more than one occasion. The ability to keep living is priceless in my book.
No comments:
Post a Comment