Be Your Own Health Advocate

I've just been through a couple of insane days dealing with my father's medical caregivers. My father is a dialysis patient that ended up with a MRSA infection in his dialysis graft. For starters, the Dialysis Center told him that he had an infection and sent him on his way. My father presumed that they had told his doctor and that he would be getting a prescription phoned in for him. That didn't happen. Dad should have followed up, but he thought that the dialysis center would take care of it. The father ends up in a Las Vegas hospital with a team of doctors working on him. He has a kidney doctor, an infectious disease doctor and a Charge doctor who is supposed to be the primary. Add to this a hospital social worker who did nothing. I'll spare you from all the details, but the long and short of it is that at no point did any of the doctors talk to one another, the social worker never talked to any of the doctors and they were about to put my father on a plane home with no follow up care. His IV antibiotics would not have been continued and this infection probably would have killed him in a couple of days. The type of infection he has attacks the heart in patients with his particular health condition. My father is a brilliant man with an IQ of 182 - no kidding. He holds 5 advanced degrees and is no slouch when it comes to advocating for himself under normal conditions, but these weren't normal conditions. He's of the old school thought that the doctors know what's best and will take care of things. These doctors in the hospital he was at were so over worked that there was no way they could cover all the bases. He had an echocardiogram on Tuesday and by Friday, they still didn't have the results. No one went to bat for him until I got there and started throwing a fit. So here's the long and short of it and I'll get off my soapbox.... Doctors and nurses these days are so over worked that they can't possibly cover all the bases. If you need to go in for surgery or some sort of hospital stay, make sure someone stays with you and asks questions. Take responsibility for your own health care and make sure that you are given the care and treatment that you so rightly deserve. Ask questions, be annoying, don't quit until you are satisfied. You must be responsible for your own health and safety. Connie (whose father is annoyed with her because she pitched such a fit and refused to let them discharge him until all follow-up care was arranged and she was sure her father could safely travel)

Hi Connie, Glad your father had someone to fight for him, as I did with my friend last night. You are right, however, we should not have ot fight for care, but, unfortunately we do. With all the technology out there in todays world, you would think that things would get better. Take care of your Dad & get him back healthy. You had reason to get angry, he will get over it. Marilyn, the Bearlady

You are so right, Connie! It's so easy to assume that the "Professionals" will always do the right thing. Well...... there's an old saying that applies here: "When you Assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME. We need to remember that the medical profession is composed of mere humans, not Gods. They are good folks, but they are definitely overworked and under-rested. People in my line of work (railroad signaling) are required by federal law to work no more than 12 hours straight to avoid the kind of mistakes that cause train accidents. I never understood why hospital staff are allowed to work double shifts and worse. Thanks for the reminder. I hope that your Dad makes a quick recovery. He's lucky that he has such a terrific advocate even if he gets annoyed. Take care, my friend. Mike

Your dad sounds like a very cool person - not surprising given the quality of his progeny! He's lucky to have you...I will take the current state of the medical profession one step further (although it doesn't surprise me at all that you would defend medical professionals even while you are ready to wring their necks)...the way the system is set up, we are perceived as numbers rather than as individuals. This is especially true in the OR - where your being seen by a doctor is predicated on the severity of your medical issue. Well, how can the severity of your condition be determined when it's not even clear what the condition is, or what it's being caused by? Unfortunately, there is a tremendous lack of interpersonal relating - we are not perceived as living, breathing individuals with unique cir****tances - we are numbers, pieces of paper tucked neatly away in a manilla folder that is read more for proof of insurance coverage than for anything else. While I don't necessarily hold the medical professionals responsible for the System, I do feel that none of us -- including these professionals are doing anything to improve things. Your dad seems to be coming out of his current medical crisis and is on the mend because he had you fighting for him. There are so, so many people who simply fall through the cracks because they don't have advocates and don't know how to advocate for themselves. I'm so happy he's going to be okay, Connie. Take care, sweetie, and give your dad a big, fat hug from all of us. Reenie

Connie - It was as if I was reading a flashback account of Jack's dad. He went through the same sort of infection, but they did as they were going to do with your dad, and released him before it was completely cleared up. Eventually it took over again and he succumbed to it. His situation was a little different though because he had a stroke that shut down his kidneys and had to have a chest cath, which I understand raises the risk of infection. But he went through the sepsis, got better but not entirely cleared up, and it went on to run rampant a little later. I'm glad you were there screaming in defense of your dad. You are right. There are many things that can get overlooked, and I learned when I was in the hospital having Mason that my concerns that I kept to myself would have been better served expressed. I almost died because they weren't "seeing" what I was seeing, and I should have said something. Obivously it worked out in the end, but not until after an emergency c-section and both of us having a brush with death. It may be that we seem to be a boil on the butt of the medical staff, but I'd rather be a boil on their butt than a cadaver in the grave... Dina