My family has a rather adversarial relationship with the medical profession.
Most ailments are treated at home. Thorns, rusty nails, and blisters are treated with povidone iodine, and Vicks is applied to all lung conditions. We have a treasured stash of prescription pain medication. Matthew is pain-resistant, so whenever he is seriously injured enough to warrant some T3, we fill the scripts and store them away in the cupboard. You never know when some dumb doctor will be out on the golf course when one of us is in agonizing pain.
Only when we have determined that inaccessible drugs are needed do we fraternize with the enemy. My mom accompanies every member of the family to their appointments lest the doctor misdiagnose or forget about the patient on the cold metal table. Armed with an arsenal of print-outs from WebMD, she will convince the doctor of the proper diagnosis and then, thoroughly beaten, he becomes her pez-dispenser for prescriptions. When someone is in the hospital, they require 'round-the-clock supervision lest the nurses forget to change the IV.
I have recently discovered yet another way to skirt the medical profession. With my UM ID, I have access to many pharmaceutical and medical resources through the medical library. What they don't tell consumers about drug side effects could kill you.
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3 comments:
Oh yes -- we got tetanus shots regularly, since we were frequently stepping on rusty metal in bare feet. I don't find myself in such situations now that I no longer live in a third world country...
I realized how much of a healthcare policy nerd I have become when I read this and quickly started composing a response in the form of a constituent letter. I decided to delete it for my own sanity's sake.
I'll leave it at this: it is good to have a mother who knows what she's doing. :-D
Actually, Leeann, an analysis of healthcare would be fascinating. I'm totally confused by the whole system. I don't know why healthcare is such a bureaucratic mess (my usual suspect in such cases is government interference), but the high costs and inefficiency make me want to either entirely privatize or entirely socialize the whole damn thing. It's hell for people who are not disabled or old, but do have pre-existing conditions.
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