Hospitals, Doctors and Medical "Practice"

Blkvoodoo

Blkvoodoo

professionally useless
Moderator
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Location
Archer Lodge
YES, this a rant

I am currently waiting for news of my Dad who had a "simple" procedure done Friday morning, was supposed to be in the hospital 2 days tops.

He is still there, they operate again ( 3rd time ) in the early Tues AM.

WTF ! ok, I get that "shit happens" but fawk me ! Mom is a fecking wreck, as is my little sister ( trying to keep Mom calm, all are 900miles away )

I have noi vacation time due to my little episode in April when I was in the hospital for 2 days, supposed stroke or TIA ( mini stroke ) ( off work for 2 weeks total)

CT scan, Xray, oh, you're too fawking big to fit in our MRI, ( my shoulders wouldn't even fit ) YOU need to find an "open" MRI. 4 FAWKING days later I had an MRI, cuz you know, I may have had a stroke, and time is of the essence...... ( WTF , they can't tell me where an open MRI is ? this shit should be on a call out list, I'm not the only 6'5" saquatch looking fawk out there ! )

MRI showed nothing ( maybe cause they weren't looking for the right thing ? )

while I was in the hospital I asked REPEATEDLY, " Could this be a pinched nerve or disc in my neck or back ? " the answer multiple times, was " No. not likely, as the symptoms don't jive with that "

one week later, tired of waiting for the Dr's to pull their heads out their asses, I decided to go swimming, as when I got out of the MRI and they had hyper extended my neck for 15min with the neck and head brace, I felt BETTER, if only for a short time. ( nobody would listen to me when I told them this )

after swimming ( actually floating in the deep end ) for 2.5hrs, I was able to walk straight, my head didn't hurt as bad, and the numbness in my head and arm had subsided a bit.

Monday ( one week from the beginning of this ) I went to my regular GP and pretty much DEMANDED a 'scrip for Physical Therapy ( insurance won't pay for a Chiropractor )

I was in the PT office 15min and holy fawk, after a few range of motion tests and some manipulation of nerves and such at the base of my skull, there was no pain ( until he released )

15min of traction and holy fawk, it was the best I had felt for over a week.

technically, the PT cannot "diagnose" but they sure hell can TREAT ! after 4 weeks of PT, I feel much better, though technically, I am not fixed.

for the amount of money charged , there sure as fawk is no accountability for NOT finding the problem.
my little trip was billed out at over $8000 ( and counting ) and there is NO reduction of cost ( I've asked and pushed ) "They can't help me. " NO Shit ?

Rant off, just pretty pissed off at the medical world right now.

thank you for your time ! :)
 
My wife is an Occupational Therapist, and while she can not technically "diagnose" a patient, she has pinpointed several mis-diagnosises (I have no idea how to spell that if it's even a word) by doctors. What pisses her off the most is when a doctor thinks that OT can "fix" a problem that should have been fixed in surgery or with another medical procedure. She hates being the one to tell them that OT is not some miracle fix that is being ordered just because the patient's insurance will pay for it. Don't get me wrong, she is VERY good at what she does and is not afraid to justify some rather unorthadox treatments and/or explanations of treatments to put in plain english what doctors are speaking over the patient's head about.

The more I listen to her talk shop though, the more skeptical I am of the entire medical profession. It seems it's less about what the patient needs than it is about what they can bill for.

Ironically, she would say that about 50% of her job is to weed out lies that patients tell her seeking unneeded pain medication. Makes it real tough to get sympathy from her whan I actually hurt myself. My arm could still be caught in the band saw and she'll tell me, "Suck it up wussie-boy - take a Tylenol"
 
i dropped an 8.8 on my finger about 2 years back. broke it in 2 places and cut it open pretty good (didnt chop it off). my bills totaled to $2700 for an xray and 2 stitches for the gash. i didnt have insurance at the time either because i had just gotten a new job and insurance hadnt started yet. i asked for help on the bills, i was making $21k a year at the time, and they wouldnt lower it. however, had i been an illegal, i'd have gotten treated and not paid shit. there's multiple reasons that healthcare is fucked up now, but just wait til it's free for everyone.
 
After a couple of decades of misdiagnosed RRMD (Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis) episodes and the ubiquitous and ongoing difficulties finding a competent physician, I'd say your experiences have been the norm in the medical profession. My observation is that in this day of assembly line medicine and personnel who couldn't find a bucket of shit in a phone booth, 90% of what is done to "help you" seems to not be an attempt at a diagnosis but more an attempt at covering their own asses. I got lucky and got some help during a spontaneous stop at Duke while having an episode in Durham, but the norm seems to be that you will max out your insurance coverage and your leave time dealing with the run-around referral maze. Hope things get straightened out for you, and thanks for the opportunity to rant on this end. It always makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one.
 
That's why they "practice madicine" I try not to let them "practice" on me. Sorry you had to go through that shat..
 
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