I guess what frustrates me most is the lack of information and control that you as a patient have, once you are admitted into the system. Our family is lucky in that we have health insurance. I think the cost of health care is ridiculous, and I really think one of the best things that would improve health care in America would be if the hospitals were required to list the prices for their services. You know, hip replacement surgery, $7200, one day hospital stay, $1200, X-rays, 3 for $299. Yes, it might sound ridiculous, but don't you shop for food, clothing, cars, houses, Christmas presents, and virtually everything else because of price. I am not saying that I always buy the cheapest car or vegetables, but I at least know which store is more expensive than the others. Nowadays, you go to a hospital because it is closest to you or your doctor recommends it. Anyway, I know that I am lucky and most of the cost of this medical care will be paid for by an insurance company, but that doesn't mean I thought it was the best, necessary, or in the interest of me the patient.
Dana and I went to the hospital emergency room at 11:00pm on a Sunday night. We had called our family doctor before we left and relayed the symptoms over the phone. He recommended going to the emergency room and even faxed over her records to the emergency room so they had detailed history of what care she had received in previous episodes. When we arrived at the emergency room the people were nice, but it all started new. They had to do this test and this x-ray and we asked if they had received the fax from our doctor which they said they had, but they just wanted to see for themselves and make sure. The doctor wanted to place a tube in my wife's stomach and we asked that we not do that and maybe there was a different method of treating her. The doctor relented, but my wife was still admitted to the hospital.
Once your admitted, then you enter a new level. Sometimes the nurses and doctors talk to the family members sometimes they don't. I could accompany her to the CAT Scan room, but not to have x-rays taken. The nurses shared information with me about my wife, but the doctor couldn't because of "HIPPA Regulations". The biggest thing is, if you ever disagree or would like to try something different from the doctor's recommendation, then you are classified as "refusing treatment" which is code for the insurance company won't have to pay for any of this and you will have to sell your house, car, and first born child to pay for $50,000 dollars or more of health care that these benevolent souls have so graciously given to you out of the kindness of their hearts and not to pay for the ever increasing construction and remodel of the hospital you are staying in. And you know, they boasted of the new Stroke care center the hospital had just opened, but the two closest restrooms to my wife's hospital room were both under construction so that I had to go down one floor every time I needed to use the bathroom.
Since we were new to this hospital, (we recently bought a new home and this hospital was closer) we were assigned a doctor. Our family doctor does not have privileges at this hospital, so he never came to see my wife. The tube in the stomach that we had successfully argued to keep out in the emergency room was placed in by the new doctor, after Dana had been sedated and I had gone home for an hour to pick up the kids from school and take them to their grandmother's house. When I returned, I asked to speak to the doctor and four hours later when she did arrive, we were told that this was what she thought was best. Once again we asked if she had received the faxed information from our family doctor about the past care Dana had received from a different hospital and she assured us she had, but at her hospital, this was the process and this was the way things were done, and this was what she thought was the best method. So, imagine my surprise when 24 hours later, after a 10 minute conversation with a surgeon, he said you don't need that tube and removed it.
Yes, the nurses and doctors helped Dana, took care of her, and without them she would still be sick and have suffered great pain. However, when the time came that we were released, it felt more like we had been released from prison and pardoned by the warden than helped by a doctor who cared for us as a patient, a person, and another human being.
For Andy, he had fallen on a rock at school and needed stitches. We called our family doctor and they do not have the facilities in their office for stitches, so they offered to call the Urgent Care or emergency room. Our neighbors across the street are a paramedic and an emergency room nurse. Our first instinct was to ask Sam and Lisa if we really needed to get stitches because we didn't want to go through the hassle of the hospital system. Unfortunately, stitches were necessary. Yet, even with Lisa calling the emergency room and Urgent Care clinics at three locations to determine who was not that busy, we still faced a 2-hour wait when we arrived. Then, the confusion on the nurses faces when we told them we had insurance and they asked, "well, why didn't you go to the hospital emergency room". Our doctor told us to come here because the wait was shorter. Then, because we had insurance, which apparently 99% of their patients do not, they weren't sure what paperwork to fill out, if we needed to pay a deposit or the whole amount, whether they could bill us later, etc. After a 15 minute discussion among the nurses, while Andy continued to hold his arm, they decided that as long as they had the medical insurance information that would be enough. Next, when they began to provide care to Andy and treat his cut, they asked if he had any allergies and if he had his immunizations. Dana said no and even had his shot record with her. he asked if they needed to see it, to which the nurse replied, "No, that's OK." Then, why did you ask? If we didn't have the shot records with us would that have meant more tests or shots or drawing blood?
Like I said, the care was fine in both cases and I am grateful my wife and children are healthy now. But the process and system that you have to go through to receive medical care is way too complex and intimidating that going to receive care from a doctor is a last resort when the problems are now extremely complicated. Instead, you wish you could go for preventative care or before the pain is excruciating and then the results would be better, the people would be nicer, and doctors wouldn't be so paranoid that you are going to sue them.
