Come Monday...Systemic Malpractice

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

Be assured that I am very much in favor of universal health care, but I have a real problem with the quality of care that is generally available in this country.  Therefore, [Obamacare] would be a huge waste of time and money until great improvements can be made in my opinion.

Of course, the main argument against such a position is that any care is better than none at all, but I would hope that those who hold to that would think differently if they would have had to have gone through what we have.  For aside from the quality of care I have received over the past 20 years, Arlynda has been recently (2-3 months ago) diagnosed with non-alcoholic [cirrhosis] of the liver, and given 2-5 years to live without a transplant.

Okay, I suppose it would be better to know what one is dying from (along with how long they may have to live) than not knowing anything, and seeing a doctor would be a good way of gathering such information.  That is, unless the doctor neglects to say anything, such as in the case with my wife.  For after going through her medical history, she discovered that she had been diagnosed with [fatty liver disease] over 10 years ago, and yet, it was not until her [ascites] became a genuine problem that the rest of the story was actually told to her by a new doctor.

The dots seem to clearly connect to me.  For alcohol breaks down into sugar in the body, and alcoholism is one of the major causes of cirrhosis of the liver.  Therefore, since it was clearly in her medical history that she has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and she has been being treated for [type 2 diabetes] for a number of years, which is a disease where blood sugar can get way too high, the doctor she has been seeing for her diabetes should have at least said something about her being in danger of developing cirrhosis of the liver, but I am not a doctor—am I?

Her new doctor is absolutely wonderful.  Well, at least he is for now.  For I am quite sure that it will not be all that long before “they” get to him, or drive him out of the medical profession completely.

There are already some indications of that.  For after Arlynda asked him to prescribe something stronger than aspirin or Tylenol to help dull an intensely sharp pain deep down in her upper left side, he told her that it might mask other symptoms, and that she would have to wait until after she had a gall bladder test he had scheduled—10 days from then!

Oh, and she still hasn’t received any pain medication.  Subsequently, she has not been able to actually lie down in a bed to sleep for close to a month now.  In all fairness, she has always been able to go to sleep almost anywhere, but I am thinking that the thought should count for something.

Her new doctor, who is a [gastroenterologist], sent her to a highly-respected liver specialist in St. Louis, who basically told her that a liver transplant was the only viable treatment for her at this stage in the game.  He then informed her (in no uncertain terms) that he would not even consider her eligible to be put on the transplant list until she quit smoking completely ([electronic cigarettes] don’t count) and lost at least 100 more pounds.

She is receiving some treatment for her ascites, but it leaves much to be desired.  For the last time she went to have as much of the excess abdominal fluid sucked out as possible, the doctor in charge declared that they had got it all after only six liters being collected.  Back at home four hours later, a clear fluid started pouring out of her belly button, which was not where they had inserted the [catheter].

Let us now get to the bills we have received for that last procedure.  There is $1,450.52 for the CS Lab, $809.50 for the CS Pharmacy, $506.52 for the CS Radiology Infusion, $980.60 for the CS Ultrasound and $259.00 for the Pathologist, which comes to a grand total of $4,006.14 for what took less than an hour to perform.

Those prices are what someone without health insurance is charged.  Do you really think that the quality of care will improve with the federal government only paying pennies on those dollars?

Alas, I used to believe that the American health care system was at least as good as any offered anywhere.  Then I became really sick and have had to face looking at the blank stares of my doctors after telling them that I feel like I have been suffering from a fairly severe case of the flu since 1993.

Arlynda’s sister came close to dying when her main doctor failed to recognize the smell of rotting flesh (for several weeks) coming from an infection in the incision he had made clear across her lower abdomen, and now it is my wife’s turn to suffer under the care of a hospital system that frequently runs commercial advertisements about them being one of the top 100 in this country.

In all fairness, Leslie’s ordeal was under the care of the other major hospital system in this town, but they also claim to be one of the top 100 in this country.  By the way, just how indestructible are you?

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