Change Doctors?

Here is an excellent piece again from Dr. Kevins blog; 10 reasons why you need to change doctors I have taken the liberty of reproducing a couple of paragraphs from the above which apply on this blog.

"4. You are rarely being seen by the doctor but are almost constantly being seen by a physicians assistant or nurse. Not that there is anything wrong with physicians assistants or nurses because they do play a very important role in health care, but if you are seeking the care of a specific healthcare provider and are rarely ever getting to see that individual (and you are not getting the care you believe you need as a result) this is a good sign that it may be time to make a switch."

My previous post this morning goes into this issue. Even after my surgery I was only allowed to speak to Travis. I was confused as to why the surgeon was unavailable to speak to me and I was continuously shunted off to his "assistant." Could it be that the "assistant" was actually the real surgeon? So he was the one I needed to talk to about any complications? What a bait and switch operation! The surgeon himself sees me and cons me into having a horrible surgery which most definitely WASN'T in my best interests and then fobs me off on his little assistant! (unknown to me) This same assistant who referred to me as "it" when looking for me in preop! This is BS in its purest form!

"5. The provider becomes defensive and angry when asked polite but challenging questions. No health care provider is always correct with diagnostic decision making or managing treatment. Patients should feel like they can have an open and honest discussion with the provider which includes asking questions about possible alternative diagnoses, treatments, or inquiring about information gathered from popular news sources. Provided that the questions are asked politely and without the intention of being antagonistic, there is no need for the provider to become upset. There is no need for a patient to feel scared to ask questions of their physician, nurse, psychologist, etc."

I got fired for this. (I must admit that the surgeon fired me at the same time as I decided that he was insufficient to continue my care. He "fired" me by writing a letter to the np that originally sent me to him. The np wasn't even working at the clinic any more, so the firing was merely symbolic, but what a symbol of medical care it was!) I had many issues with my care which I expected the physician to address. Numbness, pain, loss of grip, screws sticking out into the soft tissue and sawing at my tendons. He was not only uninterested and dismissive but he also fired me so that I could work on the problems which he or his physicians ASSISTANT (not ASSOCIATE) caused with somebody else. This wouldn't be so bad, but once again I had to pay for an absolutely uncalled for "consultation" which is anything but! My new surgeon hadn't seen the inside of my arm and warned me that since he didn't know where the nerves ran in MY arm, that there was an increased risk of yet more nerve damage. So you see it's not just getting another surgeon that is involved.

"6. Feeling rushed. Healthcare is best when the provider is able to take the time to listen and understand the patient’s problems. When the provider gives off signals (e.g., frequently checking the clock or a watch, sighing when questions are asked, walking towards the door, cutting off questions) that he/she cannot spend much time with you, it may be time to consider seeking the care of someone who can."

I didn't feel rushed at all when I went in for my "consultation." My stepfather is a doctor and I am well aware of time restraints. However, it was obvious to me later that my surgeon hadn't listened to a single word I said. He was always "too busy" to come to the phone before the surgery. "Too busy" to see me in the hospital prior to or after my surgery, and possibly "too busy" to perform the surgery himself. Just "too busy" once he had convinced me through lies, omissions and plain old scare tactics to have the surgery.

"7. When the provider makes decisions that turn out to be harmful. An example of this would be going to a pediatrician for a child with respiratory problems and constantly being told it is probably due to allergies despite the fact that the child has no known allergies and has not improved with allergy medications or a nebulizer. Due to the delay in taking the parental report seriously that the problem is likely more than allergies, the child develops pneumonia and is hospitalized. Situations like these are reasons switch providers. While no health care provider is free from making mistakes, this does not mean you have to stay under that provider’s care."

I should never have had the surgery I was conned into having. It caused more damage than it alleviated. Please see the x rays in my 2009 posts.

"8. The provider has decided upon your course of care before evaluating you. This one sounds hard to believe but it happens sometimes. I had a situation once when I went to a doctor, he saw my chief complaint, and filled out two medical scripts before talking to me or evaluating me. Medication and other treatments should be based on a discussion with the patient and an evaluation."

My surgeon had decided upon a course of action by reviewing my x rays prior to ever seeing me. My x rays revealed a fracture that he wanted to operate on. What this meant to me was completely irrelevant to my surgeon. He also had decided that I would receive general anesthetic instead of the nerve block that I stated would be acceptable to me. There was no discussion about it. He never told me about the risks of SEVERE side effects. There was no revelation about general anesthetic being used against my will because my surgeon (as revealed afterwards) only works on unconscious patients. My break went from "no visible or palpable deformity" to "severe deformity" unless surgically remedied. (See the x rays and physician notes.) What my surgeon referred to as "vast improvement" was a minuscule adjustment, barely visible IN THE X RAYS, to the angle of my wrist. (completely invisible by just looking at my arm) For this minuscule adjustment to the bone angle, I got permanent loss of grip, numbness, tendon damage, am at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome and have PTSD and a medical phobia. Not to mention the almost 20,000 dollar bill for the first surgery and more thousands of dollars for additional doctor visits, additional surgery, treatment for the hospital acquired infection and counseling for PTSD. What a deal.

Physician Associate or Physician Assistant

I found this article on Dr. Kevin's blog; A physician assistant writes to the doctors of America

This is very typical of medical personnel these days. This physician assistant wants to be referred to as a physician associate. This term further muddies the water as far as just exactly who is treating the patient. I don't know about you, especially if you are in the health care world, but an ASSOCIATE is an MD who works with your doctor, as in a PEER. (Common usage of the term in my world.) An ASSISTANT is somebody who is capable of ASSISTING the doctor.

If you look at my patient charts you will see that the physician ASSISTANT has been upgraded to the position of my DOCTOR! I didn't know this person and I certainly didn't HIRE him to be my surgeon. Who authorizes this change? Certainly not ME and I'm the one paying the bill! I CONTRACTED with a real surgeon, whom I expected to have FULL medical training, spanning years and years, not an assistant whose training is only 2 years.

If you have read some of my statements regarding the quality of my surgery, I am more and more convinced that the surgeon I hired relegated his surgery to the PA. According to the article linked above, this is something that PA's feel that they should be doing... But I didn't hire a PA to do my surgery! Doesn't that matter, or am I so insignificant that I don't deserve to have the surgeon I chose (bad choice, but that's another story) do the surgery?

I waited and waited for my surgeon to come and explain exactly how the procedure would be done! Instead, apparently, a substitution was made, and my surgeon never appeared. The substitution was never revealed to me. I discovered this by examining my medical records where it listed Travis as my new and unknown to me, surgeon. Travis NEVER explained to me who he was, why he was in my room, or told me that he was my new surgeon, let alone that he was a physicians ASSISTANT in a position of authority and under the guise of somebody who was going to pretend that he was equal in every way to the surgeon. Imagine the confusion if this physicians assistant could claim that he was an associate of the surgeon. By which terminology I would have assumed that he was another MD! Would he have told me that he was an associate? Or would he still have decided to conceal his entire role in my care? I thought he was yet another nurse. This is all illegal, but where I went laws were not relevant to care.

It absolutely AMAZES me that medical people are so narcissistic as to need to write an article like the one above. They want to be called something that they are not in order to feed their own ego, the patient be damned. If PHYSICIAN'S ASSOCIATE is now going to be considered the preferred term, then it follows that the office personnel, janitors, nurses, significant others etc. can also be considered associates of the physician right? These are the people that the physician ASSOCIATES with! Words mean something in the real world that the rest of us outside of health care inhabit. Stop trying to obfuscate the issue!

Did my phony doctor actually perform my surgery? Where was the real doctor whose job includes a lot more than showing up hours late in the OR, after the patient is drugged? Why is any of this OK in the medical world? If somebody hires ME, I can't then substitute somebody unknown to my employer! I can't send in a person whose training includes driving a school bus, say, instead of a full tractor trailer rig, in my stead! (different licenses and scope of training) Why is this fine at the hospital? What ever happened to THE LAW on this subject being followed?

I've seen this insufferably arrogant attitude in crna's, np's and now physician assistants. Any wonder why we patients are getting riled up?

Frida Writes!

Thanks for stopping by Frida! Glad you are OK! I have had a reader worried about you not blogging recently, as was I. I am reproducing your comment here, so that the people I'm in contact with can see that they are not the only ones with these problems. Tim over at http://www.versedbusters.com/ was an engineer before his Versed debacle.

FridaWrites has left a new comment on your post ""Why I Hate Anesthesia" by Frida":

Thanks for the link to and discussion of my post--though I haven't been blogging for a while, this is an issue I still feel very strongly about. For me, it's a temporary amnesiac rather than a permanent one--and I remember exactly what happens later.

However, I have long-term memory problems from anesthesia, which led to forgetting massive amounts of information I had learned for my job over several years before my surgeries and procedures. I remembered learning it, but nothing of the content. My memory was near photographic before. Also, word retrieval problems persist.

Frida I have a hypothesis that Versed affects bright minds the worst. *I* used to write humorous short stories, but I'm not so good at that any more 6 YEARS later. I've had general anesthetic 6 times prior to Versed and I NEVER had this kind of long term problems with it... Just with Versed.

My story is in these pages and it follows yours pretty much. I remembered everything right up until the general anesthetic, which I had forbidden along with any drugs like Versed. Then I was "awake and alert" afterwards for some time, which I have zero recall of. I have a snippet of the nurse asking me if I knew where I was, and I snapped at her "I'm in the hospital, LEAVE ME ALONE." Next time I came to in mid sentence on my feet in a murderous rage. Very odd. This drug has permanently altered the characteristics of my brain. It's bad stuff for smart people!

Off topic, one of my short stories; "Mouse In Boot"

A while ago I was curled up in my bedroom with a book and a blanket. The rain was lightly falling outside. Peace reigned. Enter my 12 year old daughter Crystal. She perched on the edge of the bed and began to regale me about what all her super-pony Mike had done that day, yesterday, last year AND what this perfection of a pony might do in the future. With a sigh I closed my book and turned my attention to her.

Behind Crystal was the open doorway into my room. I saw Crystal's cat saunter into view. The kitty plopped her bottom down exactly in the doorway and sat looking at me with the piercing stare that all cats get when they have a "prize." My own gaze sharpened when I noticed the "prize," in the form of a mouse, dangling limply from Kitty's mouth.

Teaching moment; In point of fact this "mouse" was a vole. There are some minor differences between a mouse and a vole, such as the vole has a shorter tail. I really don't care about all that, it looks like a mouse and for the sake of this story I will refer to the tiny rodent wrongly as a mouse. (See photo above.)

Anyhow Kitty suddenly relaxed her jaw and the mouse seized this opportunity to run for its life! It scampered across the floor and wriggled under the closet door with Kitty and Crystal in hot pursuit. With squeals, screams and some various meows from Kitty, the door to the closet was flung open and Crystal and the cat dove in.

I managed to snatch up the cat, which tried to free itself from my grasp with a series of eel-like writhing maneuvers. I squeezed the protesting cat harder. It emitted faint little mews of excitement. At this point my attention returned to the closet. Shoes, boots and assorted clutter was flying from the interior of the closet and had become a menace to my health and safety. Particularly the high heel pumps, which, if jettisoned from a closet at a high rate of speed could cause serious bodily harm!

So there I was, my peaceful pursuit of languishing in bed forgotten in the heat of passion. That is, the heat and passion of a 12 year old girl and a cat chasing a hapless mouse! I was ducking and dodging trying to escape injury, keeping a death grip on Kitty AND trying to gain some kind of control of the situation! Crystal would periodically corner the mouse, and the mouse would, quite understandably, jump high in the air, squeak and instantly insert itself into some other corner of the closet. When the mouse jumped and squeaked, Crystal jumped and squeaked and the cat renewed its efforts to escape.

Picture me in my robe, avoiding missiles lobbed from my closet, while clutching a struggling cat to my bosom! Kitty would first try to back out of my grasp by pressing its back paws against my arm, spinning its tail in circles and trying with all its might to pop its head backwards through the crook of my arm. Then it would suddenly try to dart out forwards, placing its itty front paws along my arm and straining, it's back legs struggling to gain a purchase against my back. Did you know that a cat's body can turn almost 360 degrees at any point along its spine? All the while its cat face remained turned toward the exact spot where the mouse was, its ears tuned in to the tiny scratching noises mousey made in its valiant efforts to survive the encounter. Kitty was still making plaintive noises, albeit with a slightly breathless and muffled tone... My closet was being emptied at an alarming rate.

At length the mouse took refuge in one of my darling high heeled ankle boots and it was caught! Trapped like a rat! Keeping the cat firmly under my arm, I tried to take possession of my chi chi boot from Crystal. No dice. Crystal had no intention of relinquishing the mouse (nor the boot) to me. The mouse had run up into the tippy toe of the boot and BRACED itself in. No amount of Crystal's tapping could dislodge it.

At this point we are going to have another teaching moment; Never, ever stick your hand up inside a boot to grab a rodent, mouse, vole or otherwise that is wedged in there... They BITE! They have GERMS along with sharp teeth! Of course this is exactly what my daughter tried to do. As she shoved her hand into the boot, I screamed "STOP" at Crystal and startled her so badly that she immediately dropped the fancy footwear.

My reflexes are pretty fast, so, still tightly gripping the cat under my right arm, I seized the boot before the mouse even knew what was happening. Impacting violently with the floor didn't budge it! The mouse was still firmly ensconced in the toe of my boot. I transferred possession of the still squirming cat to my daughter with an admonition that there was a death penalty involved with letting the cat loose.

I beat the heel of the boot on the table long enough to dislodge the mouse from the toe and take the above photo. Then I took the boot containing the mouse out into the lovely pasture and set the mouse free, where it belonged. It seemed a little addled, which would be expected after this kind of treatment, but the last I saw of the little vermin, it was high tailing it (literally) into some brush.

Two pairs of reproachful eyes greeted me at the door when I got back from my errand of mercy. My daughter had wanted to keep the mouse as a pet... A wild, exotic-germ infested OUTDOOR mouse... Oh yes, that will happen in MY house! The cat was angry that I had rudely appropriated its toy. Not to mention the whole detainment thing that I had subjected it to, thereby destroying all of its cat fun with the mouse! You just can't win in these situations and I don't even try. "I'm the mom, what I say goes." Problem resolved.

Crystal, still in a snit over the release of the mouse back into the wild from whence it came, didn't want to talk about the pony any more with the likes of ME! Brat. The cat was sulking too! I swear it pooched its cat lips out at me, pouting. After one more baleful backward glance, as if to say "I've got your number pal," kitty flounced out, as only cats (and teenagers) can do, outrage exuding from every inch of its body.

I returned to my bedroom alone, to my blanket and my book. Peace reigned once again in my house. Oh yeah, and it took an hour to pick up the debris from the closet emptying exercise. Guess who got to do that? If you guessed Crystal, you are wrong. If you have ever had to deal with a twelve year old girl in a state of high dudgeon, then you know that some things are better just left alone...

PS Now Crystal wants a HAMSTER! It never ends!

"Why I Hate Anesthesia" by Frida

Friday, March 7, 2008

Why I Hate Anesthesia

1. During anesthesia, wake up. Each and every time, especially on Versed, otherwise known as truth serum.
2. While awake, reveal your deepest secrets, ones you had not even thought were secrets because the Conscious and Unconscious never conferred and said, "hey, maybe you don't want to say that." Realize with horror what you say at the time, but there's a disconnect between lips and brain. The lips are in control. The brain looks on but is unable to act to save itself. There are things that only two people should know about, and the other person is not someone in the surgery room. Make other confessions about issues you haven't even clarified with yourself and are not even sure are entirely true.
3. Eventually, have a reaction to the anesthesia because you are recovering from a respiratory infection that's lasted weeks and you didn't want to keep postponing. Uncontrollable coughing where you cannot take in any air. Wake up as doctor pats you on the back and says that you need to stop coughing. Try to stop coughing, but keep coughing. Tell nurse to remove socks because you're too hot, and you know being hot makes you cough more. Get drowsy again. Think you're at home. Ask someone to rub your back, thinking it's your husband. Wake up again when people laugh. Say something about sex and backrubs and husband. People stop laughing. Realize you've said something really wrong.
4. Conclude from surgery prep and someone messing with your very low back that sexual assault by some random stranger is about to happen. And that you're unable to act. Give doctor an earful and chewing out. Later, remember not being still. For a spinal procedure. Pass out again.
5. Wake up a minute later shrieking in 12-level pain on a scale of 10. Shake all over, uncontrollably, from pain. Hear doctor say, "good grief." Pray aloud for Gabriel and Michael to intercede on your behalf, because God seems to have taken a step back. Pass out again. Seconds later, yell at husband to turn music in the surgery room off and let the dog out. Apologize, saying you thought you were at home again (as if you shriek at people at home). Pass out again.
(If during wisdom tooth extraction, freak out about huge metal thing being put in your mouth and what's happening to your teeth. Realize this won't last forever. Pray you'll pass out again. Pass out again.
If during colonoscopy, freak out nurse and GI doctor (oh yes, very long time since you've seen her) by suddenly saying, "cool," and asking about the pictures on the screen.)
6. Wake up again. Say something about how this is a lot like time travel. Pass out again. Hear random comments of anesthesiologist, and respond to them with your own opinion. Everyone stops talking.
7. Wake up again when they're transferring you. The anesthesiologist tells you they almost had to stop the procedure completely, that they gave you Versed, the truth serum, after waking you up from the other drug and letting it wear off a little. Recognizing "Versed" and you don't mix, ask over and over, "I didn't say anything did I? Did I?"
8. Doctor comes in to talk to you and husband. He looks concerned but won't look your husband in the eye.
9. Get dressed. Realizing your socks are not on, recognize that those distant memories of discussing them with the nurse and the other memories did not happen ten years ago and weren't some weird dream but happened within the last half hour.
10. Remember later there's always a follow-up appointment scheduled--which you've been known to "forget." Can't forget with this doctor, follow-up too important.
11. Go to restroom. Look in mirror as you wash your hands. Look in horror at burst blood vessels around your eyes from coughing so much and not getting enough air.
12. Resolve not to go under again.
13. Later, when doctor recommends going under again, say that you don't think that's a good idea. Be glad he's so nice as to say, "oh...but you were sick then." Stupidly agree to go under again.
14. Hope that this time you won't talk on Versed.

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Here's the link so you can read the comments; Frida Writes: Why I Hate Anesthesia

This old post was sent to me by a reader who HAS NOT gotten over her encounter with health care and their drug of choice Versed. All you people who think that Versed is wonderful need to wake up! Realize that there are other people that have had a severe and UNENDING reaction to this poison! Years after a single incident! What other drug can do this?

It's amazing how similar this story is to others who have recall. I remember the helpless feeling of being so drugged that I couldn't resist. Also note the"unable to stay still." This is the EXCUSE that my crna made, in writing, to oversight boards. This must be a common problem with Versed. Why wouldn't it be? Removing self control from patients and hoping that they will instead simply obey MEDICAL WORKERS orders apparently doesn't work too well. Versed isn't supposed to be an immobilization drug anyway. According to MEDICAL SADISTS themselves, Versed is just to make you calm and relaxed. Being immobilized and trapped in a body that won't obey you doesn't qualify. Dense amnesia isn't my idea of being relaxed. Obviously Frida doesn't find it so either and spent a lot of her time worrying (obsessing) over Versed as well.

Doesn't the medical field care about how much harm they are doing with this drug? The shock of having your self control wrested from you with a chemical, the humiliation, the pain (untreated due to amnesia hopes on the part of the sadists) and the whole conversations ridiculing the patient when the patient allegedly has amnesia is the perfect environment for PTSD! That's all just fine as long as the nurses jobs are easier? Really?

"Laughing!" I remember my (ahem) sweet, caring team laughing and sneering at me as well. Do you think people like to be laughed at when they are in this altered state? Short answer; NO! THIS BEHAVIOR IS NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, ACCEPTABLE.

I don't know how we got to the point that any of what Frida writes about is acceptable or even normal behavior for health care workers, but we need to step back from this. More and more people are declining to get routine health needs met out of fear of Versed. Health care itself should not generate this high level of anxiety. Isn't it enough that being sick, injured or even just "possibly" having a medical problem enough to worry about? We shouldn't have to fear the personnel as well. We shouldn't have such severe anxiety over getting shot up with Versed, a dehumanizing, control stealing drug! Especially by a group of sadistic bullies calling themselves health care workers.

Vaccines, Medical Denial and Other Problems

As everybody knows who reads this blog, I was shot up with an "anti anxiety" drug, against my will and for which there was no clinical reason. I was not anxious. I was firm though about not getting any incapacitating drugs, remaining awake and alert and I refused general anesthetic. Instead of following my wishes the crna simply injected me with a patient control drug that he euphemistically called "Vitamin V." In that instant the crna destroyed ALL trust in medicine.

The crna also claimed that I was "very relaxed" after the injection. No honey I wasn't. The crna has no clue as to what I was really feeling. The blood pressure and heart rate acceleration should have told him the opposite was true. I was "very relaxed" before the injection and not after. Then he falsely claimed that I was "screaming in pain and would not hold still." That lie would have worked if I had gotten the amnesia which HE desired and *I* did not. Anyway, since then the medical community has attacked me personally. demanded empirical evidence, you know the kind of evidence that they are desperately trying to prevent! Versed isn't the only problem in the medical community and their refusal to face the truth.

I read this article over on http://www.drkevinmd.com/ When people decide not to vaccinate their children, I take it personally

Yet another Dr. takes personal choice PERSONALLY! If you don't accede to their demands in re vaccinations, they get upset. Then come all the denials that vaccinations EVER cause harm. The denial that the people responsible for the drug being on the market are the very ones who do the studies. Just because a drug company has a HUGE financial stake in selling these drugs and/or vaccines doesn't make any difference right? Everybody knows that drug companies are the most altruistic companies around and have no desire to make money...

Let me say this. If the medical community LIES and refuses to believe that there is any risk with a drug, they lose credibility. There are risks with vaccines. Look at the boondoggle with the HPV vaccine. Look at the deliberate scare mongering which goes on every single year with the flu vaccines. The side effects are minimized, but by how much? We can't trust anybody to tell us the truth, because it would interfere with attempts to scare us into using their product.

Does anybody know how much it costs for all these childhood vaccines? My insurance company balked at paying for my daughters vaccines about 10 years ago. IT WAS OVER 600 DOLLARS FOR THE NURSE TO GIVE HER A COUPLE OF SHOTS!!! The insurance company only had to pay $100. What a ripoff! This kind of crap makes us suspect that this is only a money making proposition. All of the medical people are talking about how tort reform can save us all kinds of money... Oh REALLY! Vaccine reactions are not prosecutable now are they? If you or your kid get any kind of severe reaction, you are on your own pal! Nobody has any accountability at all for bad reactions to vaccines. HAS IT MADE THEM CHEAPER? Not so I could tell.

Anyway, the above article explains the visceral hatred of medical workers toward all of us who criticise their precious drug Versed and their unholy zeal to inject us ALL with it. IT'S PERSONAL! LOL Amazing!

As an aside for the fear mongering doctor above who is personally affronted by parents choice, why don't we stop importing people with communicable diseases? HMMM? If it's so important to have a vaccination to prevent all these illnesses, doesn't it follow that maybe prevention IS the best way to go? So why put us all at risk for diseases, especially those which we have eradicated in the past and are now coming back from other countries? Maybe its deliberate so that they can sell more vaccinations? Why would you feel animosity towards parents who quite rightly are skeptical of all the "epidemics," "pandemics," and "global threats" when we deliberately import those same diseases? I can't take all this alleged "concern" for disease seriously under these circumstances.