It's been quite the fortnight of medical adventures for me and my family. The latest was a terrifying episode of our mother going from a fully conscious, rational person who could discuss her replacing the front door of her house sixty years ago, to being admitted to a local hospital for overnight observation due to severe sciatic pain, to having her sent home, against the advice of her doctor, quite literally delirious, irrational and in a state of severe dehydration. We found out that the "Hospitalist" had given her Xanax for anxiety, on top of morphine for the pain. Her medical records say, distinctly, that she should never be given Xanax, due to a problem with it when she was mis-prescribed the medication before. She was in her mid-90s at the time and, as the doctor who got her off of it said, no one in her age group should be given Xanax.
We've been sitting up with her round the clock, dealing with the delirious episodes, learning too-late that someone her age has to be constantly checked for urinary tract infections, dehydration and that you should always question when a doctor prescribes mind altering drugs. She's made some improvement though she is far from lucid. One of the definite statements she has made is that she doesn't want to ever go back to that hospital. It is the first time in her life that I have ever heard her make a negative comment about the medical profession in any way.
Needless to say, it has taken up most of my attention for the past week and put me on guard concerning my own condition. I had never heard of a "hospitalist" before but, in her case, it is a doctor who looks out for the health of the hospital's bottom line instead of patient care.
The next person I hear talk about tort "reform" might have to go to the hospital.
The New Yorker (IIRC) did an analysis of tort reform in Texas several years back, and found it had no effect whatsoever on medical costs. Truth, of course, is still putting on its boots while the lie is being carried around the world on a sedan chair by those who profit from it.
ReplyDelete"Hospitalist" is a new one on me. It reinforces what a nurse (who used to be on DeBakey's team here in Houston) told me: never leave a family member alone at the doctor, or alone in a hospital. She also said you really don't want to know what goes on in an operating room. She taught me to never trust hospitals at all. although the story of your mother's treatment still shocks me.
I hope your mother has a speedy recovery, and a full one; and that your medical problems abate.