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Author Topic: Stupid Hospitals!  (Read 7577 times)
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ConfusedUs
 

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« on: 2004-01-27, 06:05 »

So today, my 7 month pregnant wife (who most of you know as DreamerGina in the IRC channel) started having sporadic sharp, stabbing pains in her lower abdomen. After about an hour or trying to contact our physician, during which she had several more spasms at increasingly short intervals, we got in the car and braved the icey roads to get to the emergency room at our preferred hospital, which is about a 15 minute drive away.

We get to the hospital, park outside the emergency room, trudge through the snow and ice that should have been shoveled off and wasn't for some reason, and reach the entrance.

It's closed. For remodeling. There's a sign pointing to a TUNNEL made of plywood and tin roofing that says 'enter through tunnel'. As we approach the entrance, two nurses are standing there smoking. No biggie, smoke if you want. However, the smoke is being drawn through this narrow, unventilated tunnel.

Thirty feet of narrow, dark, icy, smoke-filled tunnel later, we get to the entrance of the emergency room. We get to the desk and the lady behind the glass says "just one moment", turns around and walks off. She hands some paperwork to another patient, and waddles around picking up trash in the waiting room that some jackass left behind. Ten minutes later she asks us if she can help us. Good thing it wasn't actually an emergency, eh?

We explain what's happening, and she directs us to the maternity ward on the other side of the hospital. She offers to help us find it and gets a wheelchair for my wife, who is now having trouble walking. We wheel the wife over there, and check in at the maternity ward. We sign the papers saying "yeah, we'll pay for services rendered", and are shown to a room. The nurse takes the wife's blood pressure, hooks up some sensors to monitor the baby's heartrate and to check for contractions, then starts asking the classic questions: "what's wrong, how long, where, are you allergic to anything?" She says she'll call our doctor and get him right over.

Thirty minutes later she comes in and informs us that our Doc is delivering a baby at another hospital (wtf?) and he'll be over soon. The nurse says that she doesn't think anything is wrong, but will keep a close eye on the monitors while we wait.

Three hours later the nurse comes in and says that the doc's on his way from the other hospital. Three sporking hours of wondering what's going on, and just WAITING as my wife is in pain.

Doc finially shows up, sticks his hand in my wife's vagina and has her pee in a cup. No introduction. No "what's wrong". No nothing. Just "spread 'em and fill this cup, k?" We never see him again.

Nurse comes back an hour later and says that nothing's wrong. Wife's just having Braxton-Hick's contractions (practice contractions) and has a stretched ligament. Just "go home, rest, and drink plenty of water."

There was no comfort, no attempt at an explanation to make a scared mother and a worried father feel better. No decent explanation as to what "Braxton-Hick's contractions are", I had to sporking look it up when we got home. Just a waste of four sporking hours, for nothing.

And the really sad part?
This is still better than we were treated at the hospital closer to us.
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Woodsman
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« Reply #1 on: 2004-01-27, 06:13 »

i can imagine how worried you must have been. My brothers wife had a miscarriage about a week ago and its a freakin downer.
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ConfusedUs
 

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« Reply #2 on: 2004-01-27, 06:14 »

Yeah. And we didn't even get a 'hello, I'm Dr. X" from the doc.

Just take off your pants, spread 'em, now pee in a cup.
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Tekhead
 
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« Reply #3 on: 2004-01-27, 06:30 »

sounds like you got the business end of hospital treatment.
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l4mby
 

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« Reply #4 on: 2004-01-27, 07:45 »

Oi. This is not the 1st time I've heard of such a thing. I'll tell you about my experience, but 1st, I'm glad to hear that Gina is ok. *hugs you both* I shall relay this to my mother, who is an RN on labor and delivery. She'll be able to tell you more about everything birth related. So if you have any questions other than what "Braxton-Hick's" is, lemme know. I'll ask her for ya.

As I said before, this isn't the 1st time I've heard about crappy ER treatment. Not only have I heard about it from other ppl, but I've been through it myself. Sooooo ... here's my trial ...

I was at work. Just doing my job. At the time I was working on the register and then out of nowhere ... very very sharp chest pains. It was getting hard for me to breathe. Thinking it would pass, I continued to work. An hour passed and it was getting worse. At times, it felt like I was going to pass out. So, finally, I decided to have somebody drive me to the hospital, fearing I could pass out while at the wheel.

My co-worker drops me off at the ER, asking if I wanted him to stay. Which, I told him no, I'd be fine. So I get there, and I'm still having a hard time breathing w/ really really sharp pains. The receptionist is asking me what's wrong and such. I at this point in time, can't talk b/c I can barely breathe I'm in so much pain. She asks me for my insurance and sees that I'm a minor. My parents, were out of town. They couldn't admit me until they got parental consent. My parents were in a park at a family reunion, unreachable by phone. So, I sat there and waited. They finally got a hold of my uncle, who told them that it was ok, and they'd try and continue to get a hold of my parents.

They ran test after test after test. Chest x-rays, heart monitor, EKG, etc. I was having the same symptoms as a heartattack patient. The doctor comes in and talks to me. Asks me if I'm pregnant, if I'm on drugs. I tell her no, there's no way for either of them to be possible. She draws blood anyways. 3 hours later, they get a hold of my parents, who are now on their way. One of my friends in the waiting room leaves a note for me saying that she talked to my mother. The doctor told her that if they didn't come pick me up, they were sending me to the pysch ward. Turns out, I was a 'typical teenager having a panic attack for attention.' Parents come pick me up, and I'm finally out of the ER, 8 hours later.

So now, I've got a mandatory appt to see a shrink in 2 days. WTF. My mom asked me all about it and thought it was weird, as I was still in pain, knowing I had no tendencies for such as was presumed. Well, I got a call in the morning from the hospital saying that I needed to come in immediately. Get there, and they take more chest x-rays. Turns out, my lung collapsed. What's bad ? My mom took one look at that and went, "my god, how did she miss that ?" My lung was still somewhat deflated at that time the next morning. What's worse ? If my lung had deflated another 2%, I could have died. Luckily for me, the hole in my lung sealed back up and it reinflated in time. What's even better ? The doctor calls that day and apologized to MY MOTHER. F*CK YOU !

So I know how it feels to be given the shaft in the ER room. I sympathize greatly. Sth tells me that the efficiency of the ER should be improved upon greatly. It's stressful enough to go to the ER as it is ... on top of having to go through all that crap you guys did. It's bullshit, and sth needs to be changed. If I hear one more story like this, especially about one of my friends, oh boy. The sad part is, that it's only seeming to get worse, and not better. *shakes her head in disgust* *hugs again*
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ConfusedUs
 

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« Reply #5 on: 2004-01-27, 07:49 »

Yikes! That's worse than my story.
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l4mby
 

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« Reply #6 on: 2004-01-27, 07:54 »

Hey, I'm still here, and so are you guys, so it's all good.

Oh yeah, I forgot a little light on the subject. They cancelled my shrink appt. *snickers* I may be crazy, but I don't need therapy thank you !
« Last Edit: 2004-01-27, 07:54 by l4mby » Logged
dna
 
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« Reply #7 on: 2004-01-27, 15:12 »

Treatment like that is unexcusable.  I'm proud to say that you would have gotten better treatment where I work but this sadly seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
When I've taken my family members here for emergency treatment, I've always been satisfied at not just the professionalism, but the personalism as well.
You should move here for your baby Slipgate - Wink
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Hedhunta
 
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« Reply #8 on: 2004-01-27, 16:28 »

oh and heres the kicker w/ our current president(bush). he wants to RESTRICT people from being able to file malpractice suits!!
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Phoenix
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« Reply #9 on: 2004-01-27, 17:20 »

Actually, it's just to restrict what they call punitive damages.  That is, millions and millions of dollars that people sue for beyond the actual cost of fixing you when a doctor screws up.  You get some people who get the slightest little excuse and they sue doctors for malpractice.  Ok, sure fine, but you know who pays for it?  YOU.  Hospitals and doctors pass the cost on to malpractice insurance, and raise their rates to cover it as well.  Think I'm wrong?  Cincinnati has an epidemic of doctors leaving the city - GOOD doctors, mind you - because they can't afford the cost of malpractice insurance and the number of frivolous "money grubbing" lawsuits are going up.

The end result of this is that you're left with overworked/undertrained and/or incompetant doctors and nursing staff.  What Gina and l4mby ran into is a symptom of this problem.  The entire healthcare industry is nothing but a money machine.  They see sick people as cash cows and milk it for all its worth.  Treating people comes second to complying with insurance regulations, and more often than not it's "ok, you've got x,y and z, so you've got this, quit bitching, pop a few pills, and on your way.  NEXT!"  After waiting for two hours they shuffle you in and out and it's either in your head or you've got something on the "A" list.  They don't bother to take the time to treat you properly because there are so many people who need treatment, and fewer doctors around to treat them who actually care about healing people more than running a successful business.

Now, regarding malpractice, if anyone's got grounds for a malpractice suit it's l4mby.  Missing something that should be completely obvious on an X-ray like that and could be FATAL is grounds to grill them.
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Woodsman
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« Reply #10 on: 2004-01-27, 17:32 »

keep in mind hospitals having to insure themselfs against beefy law suits  is one of the contributing factors to the rising cost of heathcare so dont assume being able to sue medical organizations into bankruptcy will help to improve the quality of heathcare.
« Last Edit: 2004-01-27, 17:32 by Woodsman » Logged
games keeper
 

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« Reply #11 on: 2004-01-27, 17:42 »

story of my aunt in america .

my aunt saw those little flies infront of here eye when she was back here in belgium .
when she went back and they where flying above greenland ,won eye said pop and she couldnt see trough it anymore .

so when they landed they went to see another docter then there usual docter .
the docter sees at her and says , "oh my god , why didnt you come sooner this must be going on for months already .
( the other docter said she was fine every time again )

so they go to a special hospital that is specialized in eyeoperations.
when they go in , everething is ok , no problem , good treatment .
after her operation .
she just woke up after the operation , and the nrse said ,
"here are some pills you have to take , I will get some tea , so you can swallow the pills ."
the nurse comes back with the tea , wich is HOT .
and says she is gonna get her clothes .
when the nurse commes back 2 minutes after , she asks , why she hasnt drink of her tea yet .
my aunt says it was to HOT .
nurse keeps saying it isnt blablabla .
nurse helps her in her clothes and into a wheelchair .
and another nurse comes to her and runs with my aunt in the wheelchair to 1 of  her friends ,
blablabla goes the nurse against her friend , while she takes every bump on the hall against full speed , ( for my aunt every bumb fels like a needle is stingen trough her eye , so she asks if she could slow down )

answer of the nurse "you'll be fine , you'll be fine .
when they come to the elevator the nurse still hasnt done talking to her friend , and tries to get the wheelchair in the 1 where her friend is .already in ,wich is already full .
after 10 trys , 1 of the people in the elevator says to her , I think the elevator is full .
so she stops trying .

when they get to the car where my uncle is  , my aunt says she isnt feeling to well .
nurse answer "you are fine , you are fine . "
the second she is in the car , she barfs everething out over the dashboard .
the nurse already ran away at that moment .
so my uncle after her , nad says that my aunt is not well .
so the nurse runs in the hospital and comes back with 2 operation skirts .
she opens the2 doors of the car . , put my aunt between the doors , pulls out her clothes ,
and puts on the 2 skirts .


a couple of days later she comes back to the hspital , and the help of the docter says they may come in , she tells my aunt to read the signs on the board , with her good eye closet .
my aunt still blind at 1 says she cant read it .
but you must be able the read it , it are  the letters are 1 feet tall .
again my aunt , I cant read it .

then the docter comes in and says , "congratulations the operations was a complete succes .
aunt " what do you mean ok , I cant see "
docter , I but you couldn't already be able to see , there you will still have to wait for a couple of months .  

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Devlar
 
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« Reply #12 on: 2004-01-28, 04:48 »

Phoneix, they already have restricted malpractice settlements in Canada, in fact all of them go through the government, and I had to wait 8 hours in Triage before

Restricting Settlements may help something, but ultimately inefficient hospital bureacracy as well as the inability to properly allocate government funding (lack of funding by default) that is the real reason why the quality of healthcare has dropped
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Angst
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« Reply #13 on: 2004-01-28, 05:56 »

Or a favorite complaint I hear from canadians, since healthcare is socialized, everyone pays taxes for it, so everyone can get medical attention, whether they could normally afford it or not.

Course, the flipside is, now you have to wait, and if you don't want to wait, and have the money, you go to the us and get it done.

/me shakes his head
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« Reply #14 on: 2004-01-28, 13:19 »

in belgium , you pay money for it every month or so , but when you need an operation , its completely refund to ya .

this means that if you dont ever need an operation or anything in your life , you have payed a lot of  money for something you didnt got .


But , if your young , like evereone here on the forum ( I think )
and you dont have to much money at hand , you would still be able to pay for the operation .

(also , for con ) every child here gets you money )
first child = 75$ a month
second child 10$ a month or something and so on , so on .....
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Woodsman
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« Reply #15 on: 2004-01-28, 15:14 »

well i was going to stop by belgium on my trip to germany but not anymore!!!
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Devlar
 
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« Reply #16 on: 2004-01-28, 18:33 »

Quote
Or a favorite complaint I hear from canadians, since healthcare is socialized, everyone pays taxes for it, so everyone can get medical attention, whether they could normally afford it or not.

Two-Tier Healthcare scares me, just as it does most (with the exception of the extremely rich) Canadians. Since the second you put it in the quality of the public service goes down the crapper.

/.start angry rant

My great objection is to mismanagement of funds by the government, its not that we all pay for health care, it's that we all overpay for it and continue to underfund it because the government is busy buying new jets for themselves or doing research on the effects of monkey semen in drinking water. The only people who should be poor in society are politicians (I say this as a Poli Sci/Sociology Major), since anyone with this magnitude of budgeting problems shouldn't be allowed to handle money. But then, Canada is also a dictatorship, oh well

/.end angry rant
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