Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Stop Unnecessary Hysterectomies!

Here is a petition to sign to stop unnecessary hyterectomies, along with other gender specific surgery.  I'd like to stop ALL unnecessary surgery and this is a start.

Women's Rights Petition: Help Stop Unnecessary Hysterectomies and Castration | Change.org

The lady who started this is one of us, whose crna injected her with Versed in order to facilitate excessive surgery which this patient had declined.  This MUST stop!  Please sign it even if you are a man.  After all you DO want your mate to retain those feelings for you, don't you?

Sunday, July 15, 2012

ProPublica Patient Harm Community

This is an interesting visit.  You can read what others have posted and leave your own horror story.  We need to agitate for better health care reform than we are currently getting from the dunderheads in DC.

 (114) ProPublica Patient Harm Community

Friday, July 13, 2012

From The AANA

All About Anesthesia  I want to point out the VERY FIRST PARAGRAPH from the link provided.

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What Is Anesthesia?
Anesthesia is freedom from pain. Each year, millions of people in the United States undergo some form of medical treatment requiring anesthesia. Anesthesia, in the hands of qualified professionals like Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, is a safe and effective means of alleviating pain during nearly every type of medical procedure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here it is again...  "ANESTHESIA IS FREEDOM FROM PAIN."  "Anesthesia is freedom from pain."  I can't repeat that enough!  Amnesia isn't FREEDOM FROM PAIN!  How many times do we have to hear/read stories from patients about screaming and writhing in pain?  How many times do we have to hear/read stories from nurses that talk about the enormous 'stimulation' (pain) that patients are subjected to under the premise that pain unremembered isn't pain.  So what if the AMNESIA doesn't work?  Pain is pain, whether the patient is 'sedated' (a misnomer) or not.  This is absolutely amazing.

So if the above statement from the AANA is correct then what is happening with our anesthesia providers?  Since when is unreliable amnesia considered pain relief?  To me this represents a complete and abject FAILURE on the part of these nurses to address the PRIMARY REASON FOR THEIR JOB!  "ANESTHESIA IS FREEDOM FROM PAIN"!  So it states in the very first sentence of the very first paragraph from the anesthesia nurses own web-site.

How do these nurses justify this kind of statement?  "Anesthesia, in the hands of qualified professionals like Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, is a safe and effective means of alleviating pain during nearly evey type of medical procedure."  What is completely missing is that freedom from pain is construed as freedom from memory.  How is that the same?  Answer; IT ISN'T! 

Honesty is always the best policy.  The above paragraph from the AANA is dishonest in my opinion.  Experience and information from others has shown me that crna's are supplying amnesia, not "alleviating pain."  Let's be honest about this.  Refuse the so-called sedation!  Force the "safe and effective" crna's to do their primary job as shown by the above, that of "ALLEVIATING PAIN"!

While we are at it, I want more effective training for our anesthesia nurses in NERVE BLOCKS!  Without the amnesia to hide behind.  That's the whole reason my crna said that g/a was "necessary!"  His nerve block allegedly failed.  What he also failed at was finding out if *I*  was unhappy...  Of course he felt that I would have AMNESIA and would never know what really happened...  Amnesia is not the primary reason for the existence of crna's a shown by the AANA.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Chapter 15-The Critical Importance of Individual Autonomy

Here's the link.  Chapter 15 – The Critical Importance of Individual Autonomy  I took the liberty of excerpting a paragraph from Dr. Rich's 'book.'

"It is inevitable that eventually (if not immediately) the overwhelming fiscal catastrophe that healthcare costs threaten to bring down upon all of us will cause our Progressive leaders to mandate (now that such mandates are widely acknowledged to be legitimate) that we all must engage in sufficiently healthy lifestyles (since our gluttony, sloth, driving habits, hobbies, and other proclivities are creating an unfair strain on our precious healthcare system). People who allow themselves to become too fat or too old, or who injure too many joints because of carelessness or poor choice of pasttimes, or who (by virtue of the fact that they have developed preventable diseases such as cancer, heart attack or stroke) demonstrate that they have paid insufficient attention to proper preventive measures, will (at the very least) have a lesser priority when it comes to receiving healthcare services. Good citizens (the ones who behave themselves, and whose good behavior is manifested by good health) will be taught from an early age to disdain the likes of these lazy, careless, and intemperate individuals who become fat or sick, who care nothing for their fellow citizens, and whose selfish personal choices place those good citizens in unnecessary jeopardy."

I wondered if anybody else could draw these conclusions.  I admit to a certain arrogance of the IQ crowd (since my debacle at the hands of a crna who is in no way on par with my superior IQ) in that I would even have the hubris to think that only *I* could follow this health care mandate through to its ultimate consequence.  Lest anybody think that they will be left out of the hate filled rhetoric of the pure, spotless and healthy crowd, let me disabuse you of that little fallacy at once.

Hopefully you do not drink or smoke, abuse prescription medicines, are skinny, jog 10 miles a day, drink preparations to guarantee that you will never grow old, take your FDA approved vitamin regimen etc.  But I will bet that you perfect specimens do something which will cause the rest of us to pay for your health care bills, aside from merely getting older...

What do you do for recreation?  Do you hike where a wild animal might molest you or you might fall off a trail?  (bad for the environment as well!)  Do you ride horses or motorcycles?  Do you go skiing?  Do you or have you ever been convicted of SPEEDING in your motor vehicle?  Do you jog at night without protective gear, to include lights, turn signals, reflective tape, a helmet and various guards for your joints?  Do you swim?  If so do you have a flotation device?  Are you timing yourself after eating before returning to your water sports?  What are you doing to make yourself live forever, and not become a burden in your old age?  Do you have a suicide pact with your doctor yet, so that if you ever get sick, you won't be a burden to the rest of us who are still perfect in every way?

 Don't even START with what all we allow our children to do!  Think of the ball playing, tree climbing, jumping, running and all those things that children do.  They could injure themselves!  They could even injure themselves badly enough to cause permanent harm, for which society will pay!  We need to STOP all that dangerous childhood fun.  Immediately if not sooner.

Sex is still a pretty good way to get an expensive problem or exotic disease.  Hepatitis, gonorrhea, genital warts, HIV, jeez, the list goes on.  Are you abstaining from this?  We need to save the world from excessive humans, have you been sterilized yet?  If not, why not? Don't you want to save the world and not burden the rest of us?  Pregnancy is fraught with peril and laden with high medical costs...    So far the only freedom we have left is what we do with our willing partners, but this has to stop if we are to afford this affordable health care act.

Why are you sitting at a computer reading this?  Don't you know that sitting, a sedentary lifestyle, the glare of the computer screen etc. can cause health problems?  For you medical types, are you watching your blood pressure while you read this stuff?  With the internet takeover, they may well monitor our 'screen time' and just shut off our computer so that we go and exercise for a while.  Just 'nudging' us in the proper direction!  A healthy slave is a productive slave.  It says something about us all remaining productive right there in the affordable care act.

Once the feds are responsible for our health, they can and will do a lot more to prevent ourselves from being injured.  Onerous seatbelt and helmet laws are just the start!  They WILL prevent us from being a 'burden to society.'  Funny how there was absolutely ZERO in this health care bill to rein in abuses, over treatment, excessive salaries, excessive treatment or even forcing medical practitioners to conform to patient rights law.  It's all about control and MONEY!  Just like the purveyors of Versed.  Instead of bringing the cost down so that we could all afford insurance again, they decided to promote the excessive dollars spent on "health care" with this bill.

Medical Deception

I've written a little bit about how deceptive our medical workers are.  Here's one from my personal experience with my first ORIF distal radius....

I think even medical people will agree that this surgery is a minor one.  No big deal.  Outpatient services can handle this trifling surgery.  Even a crna can handle this one with an otherwise healthy patient, agreed? I personally take exception to this, but only because my particular little medical minion claimed that the axillary block was dangerous in the extreme.  Maybe it was dangerous for HIM to give me the block, but in the proper hands I don't think it is.  This is a 'bring your driver' type outpatient operation.

So why is it, that if my surgery went so well, were these jackels planning to ADMIT ME afterwards?  Hmmm.  Nobody mentioned that this surgery required an over night stay prior to the debacle.  Right there on my chart it says that "pt. tolerated procedure well."  Or maybe not!  They lied to me.  They lied to me all along, I did NOT tolerate the procedure well, and the procedure was done so poorly as to make me think that a JANITOR performed it.  They lied to me about Versed.  They lied ABOUT me to several different boards!  So why did they suddenly decide they wanted to keep me overnight if things went so well?

Could it be that the surgery was such a fiasco that they felt that I would benefit from careful watching to see if they had caused some horrible harm?  Oversight and nursing care FROM THEM?   HAHAHAHA!  I hadn't really thought much about this attempt to turn me into an in-patient because there was no way I was staying there with those people, even if I had to walk out clad in only a surgical blanket!  They had STOLEN my belongings and sent them up to some room, without my permission.  There I was demanding my clothes or I would kill them all and disrupt every patient in the hospital, and they had to go fetch them.  Can you believe it?  I NEVER agreed to stay under any circumstances!  This was to be an in and out thing, not an overnighter!

 I take this as more proof about what consumate liars these people are.  Oh yeah, everything went fine, other than we brained you with Versed, and then gave you g/a and a kidney infection without your permission!  The surgery went well.  Just because you fought us the entire time and we couldn't drug you enough to hold you still, doesn't mean it wasn't a success!  Disregard all those screws sticking out, that won't hurt you!  They are actually all inside the bone ANYWAY, you are too stupid to tell..  (see xrays in the blog elsewhere)  You just don't know how to read xrays and besides you are UPSET with us so your mental capacity is suspect.

As far as I can tell, that whole attempt at moving me to a room is just more proof of how these people will lie about your procedure.  If it went well, like they said, they wouldn't have decided they wanted to keep me, before I even woke up!

Open Wide and Say MOO!

I found this most awesome site today!  How To Survive Obamacare - A Book In Progress  Even the "Open Wide and Say Moo" title dovetails nicely with my contention that patients aren't REAL human beings, but only cash cows for the enrichment of medical people.  There are so many great chapters, I can't even begin to list them, but for my readers, you should have many happy hours with this link.

Monday, July 9, 2012

End of Story

Back in 2008 I had occasion to discuss, through e-mails with a crna, the problem of avoiding getting Versed.  Here is the very last e-mail from this person. I have TWENTY SIX in all, just to get this person to state what he states in this last e-mail.  We went through personal insults, (from him, directed at me) denial of empirical proof of Versed's effects on behavior etc.  But we did arrive at the admission that I wanted to hear...  26 e-mails later. 


From: armygas@gmail.com
To: Sent: 12/6/2008 3:08:49 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Check out Evidence that the anticonflict effect of midazolam...[Neurosci ...

If you stated you didn't want Versed, I would not give it.  It is just that simple.  Versed is not necessary to perform anesthesia.

 

--
Michael W. Bentley, MSN, CRNA
MAJ, AN
PhD Candidate in the Laboratory of Dr. Joseph McCabe
USU Program in Neuroscience
email: armygas@gmail.com
website: http://armygas.googlepages.com/
I removed my old e-mail from the above.  Since this person felt it necessary to advertize MY e-mail, on a website, in bold print, I felt comfortable leaving his alone.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Versed and Ketamine ... TOGETHER

I don't know why these anesthesia providers would do this to patients.  They say it makes anesthetizing patients easier.  (for them)  That doesn't seem like a very good excuse to use two terrible drugs TOGETHER!   I hate to admit it, but this terrifies me.  When I think about somebody deliberately doing this to me it causes physical symptoms, heart pounding, sweaty palms, terror.  There are several parts to this affront that cause me emotional distress.

The number one problem with thinking about this Versed/Ketamine combo is that I know for a fact that someday I will need medical care, which eventually will lead to some kind of surgery.  Before my Versed debacle I only worried about MAJOR surgery which would involve general anesthetic.  I don't do well with g/a!  My body physically fights it.  I have heard this from 4 different doctors.  I heard it from the doctor who took my tonsils out.  He said I fought them every minute and that's why my surgery wasn't quite right and I had so many problems post surgery.  Depression followed.  Later on I had another surgery.  My doctor assured me that the tonsil thing was because I was such a young child.  Only it wasn't.  I fought him too!   Another substandard surgery, along with some nice blood poisoning.   I was depressed for months and my long thick hair fell out.  My broken femur?  I fought them too, even though I was in my thirties.  I developed rotational instability, so they tried it again.  Another wild ride for everybody and still the rotational instability. 

So the last time I had ORIF surgery on my femur, I begged the anesthesiologist (MDA) to just leave me awake.  So he did.  (HE wanted me awake as well, but didn't know how I would react to that suggestion!)  What a relief!  I stayed COMPLETELY awake.  My healing this time was far different from the last 2 times and no rotational instability.  No rough awakening, struggling in restrains.  No depression.  The bone growth was "exuberant" according to the surgeon.  Everybody was happy.  When I had all the screws, plates, femur nail and all taken out, I got the same expert anesthesia doctor and I stayed awake.  I also got an arthroscopic surgery on my knee at the same time.  All wide awake, mental faculties intact.  Easy and short time in the PACU.  No depression. 

Incredibly all these years later, anesthesia has taken a turn for the worse.  I truly believe it's the popularity of a brain disabling drug and the popularity of expensive nurses.  I got Versed and g/a for the STUPIDEST REASON!  Nobody needs Versed and general anesthetic for an ORIF distal radius!  That's just overkill!  If I can be awake for a twelve hour surgery on my femur, complete with a bone graft from my iliac crest, I can't believe that my crna would presume that I needed this kind of intervention for a minor wrist surgery!  Versed to gain compliance with amnesia to hide what really happened from the patient.  I know this is true, I didn't get amnesia and I heard all the lies.  Why didn't my crna listen to me when I recounted the above?

The Versed itself created an anxiety in me that unless you have experienced it, you won't understand.  This drug destabilized my whole personality.  It began the minute I discovered I had been drugged against my will, even though I had not signed a consent for it and had plainly declined it.  I was absolutely, completely, abjectly OBEDIENT!  I couldn't believe it!  I was OBEYING then, being COOPERATIVE with everything at the same time I was enraged that I was doing so.  I couldn't stop myself.  It was a Zombie NIGHTMARE, starring ME!  Not to mention all the "funny" things my crna was saying.  If you want some crna humor, go look at the nurse-anesthesia site for a glimpse at what I HEARD in the operating room.  The final insult was my crna saying, in writing, that I (finally!) gave permission for the general anesthetic in the OR by "not objecting."  Not by signing an informed consent before I got Versed...  No, I gave consent in the negative after being injected with Versed.  INSULTING!  FRIGHTENING!

I didn't know about the sorry state of informed consent these days.  Informed consent has morphed into a vague "hold harmless" agreement for the protection of the medical entities.    If they would drug me to the point I could barely move, and couldn't speak clearly, what else would they do?  (I found out...  anything they felt like doing, regardless of what *I* said they could or could not do)  That Versed, far from "calming" me made me off the charts anxious, and really really pissed.  I never signed off on any of it.  My alleged informed consent is on this blog and I defy you to find anything in it about Versed, general anesthetic, risks, benefits, identifying of medical staff, nothing but consent for a blood transfusion is specified.  The only spot in my chart about me declining sedation or g/a is in the nurse notes where she say "pt. is angry bc she had to have general anesthetic which she hoped to avoid."  WRONG!  I said "no", not that I just "hoped to avoid it."  BEFOREHAND!  Any reference to Versed is blatantly absent.  Anywhere.  Where's the part about the 4 femur surgeries on my chart?  ABSENT!  Where is the part about all those paradoxical reactions to anesthesia?  ABSENT!  Now why would a patient who is explaining why they are refusing sedation and general anesthetic leave out this information on prior surgeries?  They wouldn't.  It was deliberately and maliciously omitted by the crna.  Informed consent is a joke.

I hope that if medical people are reading this it's crystal clear that their drug of choice, Versed, doesn't work on me as expected, JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE DRUGS!.  Now think of adding Ketamine to the mix.  The Versed only made it hard for me to move and off-the-chart anxious.  Ketamine causes HORRIBLE, freak out style, life changing hallucinations.  Are these crna's really suggesting that they might give me Versed AND Ketamine leaving me to have horrible nightmares that seem real, and just immobilize me with Versed.  Oh-my-God.  The feeling of dread that this creates is unbelievable.  Just thinking about ever getting Versed again is enough.  How will my brain survive not only another assault with Versed, but also Ketamine?  Will I survive the surgery, but be in a psych ward forever?  Who will pay for that?  What would happen to my daughter and my husband, if I'm incapacitated by frivolous drugs used for a crna's benefit, not mine?  I don't want a crna ever again, but medical people lie, and it's entirely possible.

So what do people like me do?  Never get any medical intervention and possibly die?  I have to die because medical people want to give me Versed and maybe Ketamine regardless of what I tell them?   Does that seem right or fair to you?  These drugs are used merely to make the anesthetists job easier!  How do I make sure that they aren't used on me?  If informed consent laws had been followed I wouldn't even be AWARE of Versed, now would I? 

I was already worried about getting g/a again!  What can I do if my body struggles under anesthesia?  When I fight the anesthesia in the OR and wake up fighting restraints, won't I cause problems with the surgery?  Pull out stitches etc?  Or conversely, what if these people take the straps off too early like my last surgery?  I was on my feet, furious and LOOSE in the PACU!  How good will that be for me after a major surgery?   Nobody listens to me about this.

It cracks me up in an ironic way when I hear about how wonderful health care is in this country!  It's out of control expensive and it's not very safe any more.  I don't find it wonderful, I find it frightening.  You have to worry about your own safety with the medical people and worry about them bankrupting you.  We have lost all control of the medical field and now they want us to lose all control of our minds.  VERSED AND KETAMINE!  Thanks anesthesia nurses.  I wish I could convince my veterinarian to do my surgery next time.  I have far more control over what happens to my pets than I do about what happens to me. 

PS I don't allow my pets to get Versed or Ketamine.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Midazolam: Debate or Dialogue?

Recently I had occasion to admire a crna over at nurse-anesthesia.  GASP!  I know, it doesn't fit with my visceral hatred of most of them.  However I am a very discerning person and I recognise that people can change.  Some people can learn from their experiences and maybe even learn from the experiences of others.  How we verbalize these learning experiences makes all the difference. 

The person I admire from nurse-anesthesia is the SAME person who originally wrote the nasty thread on that site here;  This is unreal. You have to see it.  Amazing huh?  This is from 2007.

Here's what he thinks now on a recent thread; 
"Midazolam is a short-acting benzodiazepine in adults with an elimination half-life of one to four hours. Keep in mind that elimination half life is time it takes for a substance to the lose half of its pharmacologic, physiologic, or radiologic activity. So if you are doing a case for between 4-6 hours you really dont need more than 2 mg of versed."
Isn't that refreshing?  Of course even 2 mg of Versed is far too much for me and everybody else who has had a severe reaction to Versed...  ZERO mg is sufficient for me.  But this comment is in rebuttal to a crna who has used TWENTY SIX MG of Versed in a single procedure.  My mind would be completely gone after this.  I can't even IMAGINE how bad that would be for us.  Obviously this man has had a learning curve since he first wrote about how bad http://www.versedbusters.blogspot.com/ people were.  (He agrees that those of us who don't want to be poisoned with Versed have the RIGHT to refuse it.)

Anyway, I went to this person's blog pages and found this;  Logical fallacies - Blogs - WWW.NURSE-ANESTHESIA.ORG  I wish everybody had to take debate.  As an aside, my daughter is in debate and I am now a debate judge so I know about this subject...  I just wrote YESTERDAY about personal attacks from crna's!  The red herring (see rules of debate) of this statement "you must suffer from fibromyalgia" interjected into a debate on the misery that Versed has cause for so many of us is breaking one of the rules of debate.  It also completely stops any 'dialogue' between health care providers and patients doesn't it?  Why would they do this?  (rhetorical question)

I tend to combine dialogue with debate.  I already know that I'm right about Versed.  I can debate that all day long, but it doesn't really help me to be right, especially about Versed.  What I need is to hone my dialogue skills, such that I can convince these others that I'm right.  Kinda hard when the opposing team resorts to personal attacks, ridicule, and general snarkiness.  You know what that means to me?  All those personal insults?  It means that they have no answer to my argument and so must stoop to this kind of behavior.  Which is counterproductive.  It breeds zero respect for them or their profession.  (crna)  Apparently I can't convince them of this either!  Lol!  (It also means that *I* win the debate)  Does it alarm anybody else that we can't have a decent dialogue with anesthesia providers?  We can't debate an issue without it degenerating into a patient bashing exercise?  And we trust them with our lives?

Anyway, this PARTICULAR crna, even though he holds Versed and (ugh) Ketamine dear, has my respect.  I think it might be because he took that "debate" a few years ago.  Maybe all crna's should have debate as a requirement, and PASS the class with a good grade.  They need to read the attributes of "dialogue" as well.  The perfect place to start is on this crna's blog where there are 2 very excellent posts on both debate and dialogue.  (link is above)

Friday, July 6, 2012

Fibromyalgia and Versed

My, my how witty these crna's are here;  closure of 'This is unreal. You have to see it.' thread--  The FLURRY of responses to an unhappy patient who was ABUSED by crna who injected her with Versed PRIOR to trying to obtain "informed" consent is totally in line with my view of this profession.  It's almost entirely personal attacks.  Nice going anesthesia nurses...  There is no defense to the indefensible, so I understand the juvenile nature of the responses.  (Most of them anyway, and by the usual suspects)

That's not the main point of this post however.  I want to point out this response in particular;
"Have you ever been diagnosed with fibromyalgia?"  Here it is in situ;  closure of 'This is unreal. You have to see it.' thread--
 
It reminded me of a post I got back in January of 2010...  Here it is, you can also see it in this post of mine,  No Midazolam: Wages and Health Care  comments section. 
 
"All you do is complain and moan about how horrible these people were to you, yet you don't give specifics about what exactly they supposedly did to you. I predict from the tone of your rant that you "suffer" from fibromyalgia too. Those in health care know what I'm talkin' bout!" 

Notice the part *I* emphasized in the little rant above.  Remind you of the recent smart ass response on http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/ I referenced above?  Hmmm.  I think I may have found the "anonymous" donor to my comments.  Take a look at how many of these oh so very well educated crna's LIKE this kind of nastiness!  Shame is obviously NOT a part of their (crna) personality traits.  I was so taken aback by the mocking of an apparently very painful and medically provable condition that I wrote a whole post on this very subject, here;  No Midazolam: From the "Comments" 

Now I find that among the general crna population, they apparently equate a muscle disease called fibromyalgia with Versed use.  How are we to interpret this?  Are these people trying to say that fibromyalgia is a faked disease and additionally those of us who have a bad reaction to Versed are similarly 'faking it?'  Are these crna's trying to say that people who suffer from fibromyalgia are uniquely susceptible to a bad reaction to Versed?  After all, my little crna claimed that Versed was merely a muscle relaxant.  I'm not really sure because instead of defending their position, they are simply injecting this alleged fibromyalgia diagnosis into the conversation without explanation.  I can guess it's the former reason.  Whatever, it's a non starter for a midazolam defense.  Unless you are a crna or srna and then it's amusing.  I'm not laughing.  I'm thinking that anybody who "suffers from fibromyalgia" isn't amused either.

Please note, that *I* have never and do not now suffer from fibromyalgia.  I DO suffer from the over-the-top arrogant disregard for the very real suffering of their patients exhibited by anesthesia nurses...   I do suffer from the side effects of the 'perfect' drug Versed/Midazolam.  The very drug that these so-called 'educated' people love so much. 

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Fines, Fees and New Regs.

I have some ideas on how to make the "Affordable Care Act" work in our favor if it doesn't get tossed out.  Whether this act does get overturned or not, these ideas could be the start of reining in excesses in medical care.

The number one thing on my list is to get rid of the "Amnesia For All" sedation mentality.  Only a very few patients need this, and they can pay for it out of pocket.  Versed "sedation" in particular should be out of the question for most patients.  Propofol has a much better track record.  It will cost more money, but hey, if the patient wants to be sedated, they can pay for it. 

I want some teeth in the "informed consent" laws.  I want there to be FINES involved with breaches of the law.  I pick a nice round number, $10,000 for EACH VIOLATION!  $5,000 to the victim and $5,000 to be split between the whistleblower (if any) and the government health care fund.  The whistleblower shall be anonymous or immune from being fired, whichever the health care worker wishes.  Let's get our "patient advocates" which are supposed to be our nurses back on our side.  Let's CUT those costs by not only ensuring that the patient gets no more medical treatment than they want or need AND capturing those fines, fees and penalties for excessive treatment!  It's a win, win situation!

The government can MANDATE what information is given to the patient.  In the case of "sedation" the risks of sedation which are many shall be spelled out.  The word AMNESIA will be featured prominently in bold face type at the beginning of the document or a $10,000 fine.  It will also contain verbiage about unnatural obedience.  The admissions that Versed has been known to cause PTSD type reactions to it, including depression, insomnia, rage and permanent memory loss shall all be documented as possible risks of "sedation."  Any deletion of even one of these risks, which are well known to medical personnel will cause a $10,000 dollar fine to be levied against the anesthesia provider, the physician AND the treatment center.  This consent shall be SEPARATE from the surgical consent.  If the "sedation" is being provided as a patient borne expense this should be easy.  We can simply decline to sign it.  It would be shown to the patient as an OPTION at their own personal expense. 

Informed consent for sedation should also include the FACT that by consenting to sedation, the patients right to stop the procedure for any reason will be compromised.  We do have the right to stop the procedure at any time even after beginning.  We need to find a way to enforce this.  If a sedated patient is screaming or writhing in pain, this pain must be addressed before the procedure continues.  $10,000 dollar fine for not stopping when the patient is in agony, whether or not the patient has been given amnesia.  Nurses who step up to the plate while their patient is on Versed and may or may not remember the abuse, share the money. 

IF any anesthesia nurse working in a non opt out state works without the supervision required by law, another 10,000 dollar fine.  The anesthesia group that they work for will also be getting a $10,000 dollar fine for each time a nurse works without supervision, which can be detailed about what that supervision consists of.  ACTUAL supervision, not the deliberate flouting of the law now experienced.  Right now, anesthesia nurses are claiming that the LAW as it pertains to supervision is only a billing ploy.  This is FRAUD, and should have some more fines fees and penalties levied against each provider that claims a supervisor when in actuality the anesthetists are performing autonomously.  The entity who is allowing this to happen, to include the anesthesia group and the treatment center shall also be fined $10,000 per violation.  Include the insurance carrier in the sharing of the fines, fees and penalties involved with the fraud, if any of them were harmed by the fraudulent billing for a supervisor which was never there, but billed for anyway.

I could really get into this!  What about those instances where the patient has been given things which they expressly forbade?   In my case, I expressly declined any sedation type drug and general anesthetic.  That's at least $20,000 dollars I would get a share in.  Possibly more as I can document several SEPARATE times that Versed was given to me!  The NURSE injected me with that "vitamin v" at the instruction of the crna.  Maybe SHE should be fined as well, for injecting me when she knew that I had declined such intervention? 

The alleged informed consent I signed did not contain any risks or benefits.  Who knows how many items that might entail?  The phony informed consent I signed did not have ALL (actually it didn't have any) the people who would be involved in my care listed along with their job description as required by law.  I counted 17 people that I didn't know who they were and what they would be doing to me!  That fine would be $170,000 dollars!

What about my crna who failed to tell me that he was a nurse or that he would be in charge of my anesthesia?  He never gave me the option of demanding a real physician for my anesthesia either!  That's $30,000 from him, $30,000 from Anesthesia Associates and $30,000 from the treatment center.  Now we're starting to get somewhere.

A woman has alerted me to the fact that healthy uterus's are being taken by surgeons.  There need to be hefty fines for this.  There are ways to tell whether a uterus can be saved or not.  Let's fine people for taking out healthy organs.  Let them prove that they were doing all this extra surgery in good faith and not trying to bilk the insurance or government program!

Caps on advanced practice nurses salaries.  CEO's are getting hammered by the government for their inflated salaries, let's go after these nurses and THEIR six figure salaries.  If they want to be doctors, let them pay the price and go to school for it.  IF we are going to have nurses do the doctors light weight stuff, then they need a light weight salary commiserate with their station.  There should be a SAVINGS for allowing lesser skilled people perform tasks.  After all there is a paucity of gp's right now, or so they say.  If there were some bigger salary differences I'm positive that more decisions would be made by potential health care workers to go the doctor route.  Don't you think?

Anyway, there are about a million things that could be done to ameliorate the damage that this "Affordable Care Act" does.  Legislators love to legislate and mandate stuff, so let's get them going!  Call your elected representatives.  Outline some of your own cost saving and revenue generating methods for consideration!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Gotta Love it!

I just can't get over the sheer arrogance that our esteemed nurses display.  I had to grab the following post, verbatim, from here;  A conversation about Versed - Kitchen Table Forum - GardenWeb 

This is from sleeperblues.  These people INSTANTLY show up anywhere Versed is mentioned in the negative.  Enjoy the foray into an egotistical brain.  There's another post on this same thread that I will delve into at a later time.  If you go over to the above link, can you guess which post it might be?

"Doctors prefer you to be knocked out so they don't have to deal with you, IMO" is an irresponsible statement. There are so many things to consider with each surgery/procedure/sedation/anesthesia that you don't know or understand. "Take your medical care into your hands"? Really? Good luck with that.
I almost didn't post to this thread, because there are so many, many things to consider and I really had to make sure what I was posting was understandable. This is a complex subject and people study for years and years to provide these services.
Being informed is one thing, but being "informed" without the education to back it up is dangerous"

"Doctors prefer you to be knocked out so they don't have to deal with you, IMO" is and irresponsible statement."  No honey it's NOT an irresponsible statement.  For you to say this is a complete lie, opinion or not.  The truth is that this is EXACTLY why we are given Versed.  Why else would you people get so insane over the FACT that a lot of people have a horrid reaction to Versed? Yet, Versed is used on EVERYBODY for spurious, made up reasons!  Don't lie.  My crna said that he used Versed on 99% of his patients including me, who had declined it vigorously.  YOU GUYS like it.  It's not for our benefit.  There is no drug on the planet that 99% of people should have.

I absolutely LOVE this statement as it's a perfect example of what is wrong in the anesthesia department.  "There are so many things to consider with each surgery/procedure/sedation/anesthesia that you don't know or understand."  OH MY FREAKIN GOD!  Have you EVER read a more arrogant and sanctimonious sentence in your life?  When it comes to Versed, the only thing that is on their minds is how soon can I shoot this poison Versed into the patient!  You aren't "considering" a single thing.  What a crock!  As for the "you don't know or understand" part of the sentence, doesn't that tell you just what they REALLY think about patients?  You as a patient are just too stupid to live.  There is no way to follow INFORMED CONSENT LAW because you patients are too dull witted and ignorant to understand. 

"I almost didn't post to this thread, because there are so many, many things to consider and I really had to make sure what I was posting was understandable."  Really.  (droll voice)  I'm wondering what part of this ENTIRE post this person felt wouldn't be "understandable."  The part where they think they are a demi-God, deigning to grace us with their wisdom?  But WHERE'S THE WISDOM?   Once again we have the reference to "many, many things to consider."  What things?  There aren't any THINGS to consider before jamming up patients brains with Versed.  So again, what THINGS?  What is so incomprehensible in this post?  As for the part where "I almost didn't post to this thread" when has an anesthesia provider, especially a crna, EVER not posted where their precious Versed is concerned?  This person didn't hesitate for a moment to post on this thread.  They had to jump in and try to prove their superiority by claiming that we aren't smart enough to "understand" anything, even though there was NOTHING posted to understand, other than the incredible ego of this person.

Versed is a "complex" subject?  Oh no it's not.  It's a simple subject.  Anesthesia people LOVE this drug and want us all to have it.  It's pure poison for lots of patients but the anesthesia providers can't/won't hear it!  Now who lacks "understanding?"  It doesn't take years of schooling to learn how to give Versed.  What could take years of schooling is for anesthesia providers to learn proper patient care without their vile drug Versed.  Now THAT will make things "complex" for crna's and the like!

The very last statement could be the best!  Here it is again...  "Being informed is one thing, but being "informed" without the education to back it up is dangerous."  Dangerous to whom?  What dangers present themselves when you give patients information as REQUIRED BY LAW?  The "danger" that the patient could refuse the Versed?  How is that dangerous?  How do you get an education without any information?  Really?  I'd like to try that one.  The way I've gained an education is by gleaning INFORMATION, whether by reading or life experience.  The two are inextricably linked.  What a bizarre thing to say!  Only thing is, sadly, this makes perfect sense to this arrogant anesthesia provider.  No wonder they give us Versed, our brains lack education, the ability to learn anything, the ability of self-determination, understanding, and we lack even the ability to discern what is best for ourselves.  Why worry about Versed destroying substandard brains which lack even the most remote possibility of understanding the nebulous "many, many things" that this person allegedly possesses knowledge of? 

Be afraid, be VERY afraid, when you present yourself for medical procedures.  You will be surrounded by medical workers who view you as this poster does.  Sub-standard pod people without a working brain.  Then they make SURE that the previous statement is true by using Versed.  What a deal.

PS, there is a sterling reply to the "sleeperblues" post I've taken apart here, on the web page I linked to.  It's REALLY good, and the person who posted it isn't taking any lip from the esteemed and superior anesthesia provider either.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

A Reader Sent Me This; "Interesting" Indeed!

An anonymous reader sent me a quote from here;  Are anesthesiologists the last true generalists?

Here's the quote sent to me in the e-mail;  by a Jason Simpson
 
"Man, so anesthesiologists don't know how to use telephones and fax machines?  That's some self-righteous vitriol down there.
Anesthesiologists aren't the last true generalists, we're the last true critical care generalists -- because that's what we are, intensivists.  Every day, I render my previously healthy 25-year-old lap chole patient defenseless and critically, critically ill by giving him midazolam so he can't remember me pushing propofol and burning his veins prior to paralyzing him with vecuronium, the latter two of which would literally kill him were I not to provide him with ventilatory support.   I can't claim that I remember all about ATP III levels for cholesterol treatment or when Grandma needs a colonoscopy or immunization dates or when proper fundal height of the uterus is reached, but I sure do know about pretty much everything else."

So of course I went searching for this person and I found him on facebook. 
Here's the mystery man, author of the quotes in this piece.

Jason Simpson posted a comment in Why the physician shortage is worse than you think · 2 months ago

"Karen talks a big game about fixing the doc shortage, yet she ignores the reality of CRNAs infiltrating anesthesia.  One day her job is going to be done by a midlevel.  Absolutely amazing that something as fancy/sophisticated as giving gas can be done equally well by a person who has less than one third the training of an anesthesiologist"

 What to make of all this?  First, I think that 'Jason' is probably a crna "infiltrating anesthesia" lol!  Here's what he says about using Versed/Midazolam;  "Every day I render my previously healthy ... patient defenseless and critically, critically ill by giving him midazolam..."  So does that sound like the definition of a harmless or safe drug?  In whose vernacular?  He's giving Versed to make his healthy patient "critically, critically ill" in order to save the patient from some burning sensations in his vein?  Does this make sense?  Wouldn't it be more efficient to prevent the burning instead of making the patient "critically, critically ill" with Midazolam instead? 

My crna tried to charge me and my insurance carrier 300 dollars for "electronic transmittal of data."  For 300 bucks a pop, I'm thinking that an anesthesiologist will totally "know how to use telephones or fax machines."  Or an e-mail for that matter!  (PS We did NOT pay that outrageous surcharge for "electronic transmittal of data."  Nice try Mr. Crna of mine, but no cigar!)

 Jason points out in the second quote above, something which is DENIED CATAGORICALLY by most crna's, that being "something as fancy/sophisticated as giving gas can be done equally well by a person who has LESS THAN ONE THIRD THE TRAINING OF AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST"  (emphasis mine) The crna's that I have run across absolutely feel that their training is as good, or far superior to that of an anesthesiologist, an MDA if you will.  These midlevel providers feel that they are most definitely worth as much as doctors.  Yerp!  Thanks to Jason for having the emotional fortitude to call a spade a spade.  "Midlevel" is exactly the term I use to portray the ACTUAL job description of a crna.  As far as the "equally well" part, not so much, in my opinion!