Trust

I have been taken to task on-line at Dr. Kevin's blog. The reason? I don't trust anybody in health care any more. The good Dr. feels that he can't treat people who don't "trust" him.

Trust is EARNED in my opinion! Why on earth would I trust a complete stranger, who is too rushed to care, with my life? Why would I trust that "they know what's best for me" when they have no clue who I am OR what's best for me as an individual? I refer back to my Versed debacle. I did trust them. They didn't listen to me or care. They didn't care what *I* wanted done with *my* body and mind. They didn't care about my prior experiences with anesthesia and sedation drugs. (paradoxical reactions) They didn't care about the expense. "Who cares? Tra la tra la!" All they cared about is what THEY wanted to do to make THEIR life easier. How do you regain trust in people who treat patients like that?

How do you trust people in the medical field when they made things much much worse for me? The surgery itself, despite being done EXACTLY as they wanted, complete with Versed and g/a, caused nerve damage, loss of grip and necessitated yet more surgery? How careless were they with me? Do you really expect me to trust people who are so dismissive of me and my health, future earnings, mental capacity etc. that they would so sloppily do my surgery?

How do I trust people who give me a hospital acquired infection that is so easily preventable? This cost me yet more money and it cost me some kidney function. How long before something WORSE happens because of that? These people could have KILLED me over a broken arm! Would you trust them again?

My medical team had zero respect or care for me as a person, yet they still wanted to be paid top dollar for this kind of sub standard and downright cruel treatment! They almost bankrupt me for a simple surgery that took 70 minutes. They all knew that my boss didn't supply health care! At $1200 a month for a policy, I would have had to live under a bridge in order to pay that. Did they help me by keeping the cost down? NO they did NOT, in fact, I truly believe that they surmised that they COULD charge the absolute MOST money from me and that I would have to pay it. (or lose everything) After all I had no insurance lawyers to back me up. Tell me I'm wrong! If you do research about this, you CAN find where hospitals knowingly charge the self payers MORE MONEY than they do the insurance companies. Patients have no recourse against this predatory pricing scheme. None. You can't pry any pricing out of them prior to the work being done and then it's to late. You want me to trust the hospital ever again?

Did you know that the president of the hospital I went to told me that he has NO FIDUCIARY DUTY TO THE PATIENTS? What that means is that the staff in the hospital is made up of "independent contractors." These "independent contractors" work within the walls of the hospital but have no oversight. They can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal or getting fired. The hospital ALLOWS these people to be there and do things to patients, but doesn't give a damn whether they break the law, abuse patients and misbehave in any way! No wonder my team felt that they could get away with treating me without my consent! Is this conducive to trust? The minions at the hospital were absolutely UNTRUSTWORTHY! How would I have known this ahead of time? I couldn't. I will never trust anybody in the health care field to have *MY* best interests at heart, ever again.

So now a doctor tells me that he wouldn't treat me because his profession has taught me mistrust! How special! You know what? I don't trust and wouldn't use a doctor who is so arrogant as to demand trust. "Trust me" is the worst phrase to use on people like myself. It INSTANTLY alarms me! No more blind trust. Healthy suspicion has replaced that. It's every (wo)man for themselves in today's medical arena!