I got this e-mail today;
Hi,
First,
thank you for your wonderful blog. It is refreshing and reassuring to know that
there are others who share at least some of my feelings. My story isn't all
that exciting, but I hope you'll read and comment on it.
A
few years ago, I had a scheduled endoscopy at a local hospital. I was told that
I would be given sedation that would allow me to be awake through the procedure
but that I should bring a driver to take me home afterwards. I was given an IV
that made me feel very woozy and I remember the nurse putting a numbing paste on
the back of my throat. After what seemed like a minute or two I asked when they
were going to start. The nurse told me they'd already done the procedure and I
was going to be taken to recovery. I was never, ever told that I would be given
a drug (Versed) that would induce amnesia! I was upset about this at the time
but never said anything.
Last
week I had a colonoscopy scheduled for Thursday. By Monday of that week, I
still hadn't received any paperwork from the clinic so I stopped by and was
given a copy. I read through it at lunch time, and realized they were planning
to sedate me. This was not an option in any case as I had nobody to drive me
home, but the paperwork said I would be given a sedative to "relax" me and a
narcotic for pain. I asked the receptionist what drugs were given, and told it
was Versed and Demerol. I told him in no uncertain terms that I did not want
the Versed. I was told that I could still not drive home with the Demerol
alone, and that I could request the procedure without any drugs but that this
was "not recommended." I told him this was what I wished to do (no drugs), and
he said he'd check with the doc and get back to me. The doc was OK with not
using any drugs.
On
the day of my procedure, the MA who took my history and vitals already knew I
wanted to do the procedure without Versed or Demerol. She marked this on my
wrist band and on my chart as well. A saline IV was started, which was
acceptable because I know they need access in case anything goes wrong (like a
punctured bowel and they have to give me a transfusion.) The nurse and doctor
doing the procedure were very friendly and professional and did not question or
patronize me for wanting to do the procedure without drugs. The procedure went
fine...just a little bit of crampy gas from time to time.
Although
my request to not have Versed (or Demerol) was handled perfectly by everyone
involved, I have become more and more angry and suspicious over the past few
days about why my preparation instructions never mentioned I would be given an
amnesic. If I hadn't had the endoscopy 5 years ago, I never would have thought
to ask this question. I've discussed this with some colleagues in the medical
field (I myself am an EMT and preparing for PA school), and I invariably get an
incredulous look and something along the lines of "Well, why wouldn't anybody want to forget?" This
is MY body, MY mind, MY life and I decide what happens! I can't even begin to
believe that most people don't think this omission about what Versed really does
isn't a problem! I WANT MY MEMORIES INTACT...even the bad ones, even the very
traumatic ones, and NOBODY has the right to steal them from me! Why do I feel
like I'm the only person who feels like this? I so need validation about this
right now.
I
did call the Patient Advocacy department at the hospital today and explained my
concern to a very nice nurse. She contacted the nurse manager in
gastroenterology, who said she will bring this up at a meeting tomorrow and see
if there is a consensus to modify the colonoscopy preparation paperwork to say
that a drug that "makes patients forget" will be given during the procedure.
The nurse manager from gastro is supposed to call me tomorrow and let me
know the outcome. We'll see. If they refuse to change the wording to make it
more transparent, I think their motives are quite clear. In any case, I told
the nurse from patient advocacy that for any future procedures I was to be given
NO Versed, NO benzodiazepenes, and NO amnesics of any kind, ever. She told me
the information would be put on my hospital record. We'll see about that, too.
First of all this is an example of the HUGE problem with not only Versed, but "informed consent" in general. This patient, quite rightly, was upset that the "sedation" (medical doublespeak, Versed is nothing like a sedative) wasn't completely explained to him. He obviously expected to be sedated (made serene) but not to experience a complete blackout of events. Medical people fake surprise when somebody mentions that they should have been told of the AMNESIA. "Oh my goodness, why would anybody want to remember their procedure?" Patient rights demand that we are told exactly what will happen to us. Pretending that the patient is somehow outside the realm of normalcy by not wanting chemical Alzheimers is WRONG. Ommiting pertinant information about a drugs action is illegal, no matter how much medical people want to pretend that it's normal. They CONCEAL the drug itself in order to CONCEAL the procedure from the patient. Why do they want to CONCEAL everything from the patient? They have no RIGHT to do this, or to act like "everybody" wants amnesia. Everybody does NOT want amnesia. It is our right to KNOW what Versed is and does, and we have the right to REFUSE THIS DRUG.
Fortunately this particular patient was allowed to refuse drugs without repercussions. Nobody sneaked it into his "saline". So there is some progress. However this patient noticed the false and misleading verbiage in his second encounter. He was alert and aware of medical fraud as it pertains to their AMNESIA drug. Medical people want to use this drug for two reasons 1) it allows them to treat their patient roughly without fear of being caught. 2) it adds thousands of dollars to the most routine procedures. Notice that there is nothing about Versed being "good" for patients. These medical people have seen over and over, just how bad this drug is for a lot of people. They have become inured to patient suffering because of Versed. THEY want to use Versed and have come up with myriad ways to sneak it into unsuspecting patients. The lack of concise language in the so-called "informed consent" is a deliberate ploy to get what they want.
As far as the "new and improved" information in the patient paperwork describing Versed as "making patients forget" this is yet another ruse to make patients sanguine about medical care so that they can be abused. Versed doesn't "make you forget" which sound innocuous, it gives you complete and total amnesia along with abnormal obedience and a motor mouth. Why not say what Versed really does? I'm sure that there are patients who might like this! If everybody welcomes amnesia and hates the idea of remembering every detail of their procedure, then what's the problem with being honest and transparent? After all, if ALL patients want to forget the whole thing, then medical people would gleefully detail what Versed is and does, wouldn't they? So why don't they?
