My name is Insensitive Bastard, but don’t be fooled by the
name, I actually am sensitive and Handi-Crapped. In my book Handi-Crapped (fiction based upon
a true story), I chronicle a journey through our healthcare system with it’s elusive
search for a cure for an infection. Within
this narrative I try to encourage readers to question the authoritarian medical
establishment. After all, the best
medical advocate that we have is ourselves.
In this mind-numbing expedition through the medical
bureaucracy and surgical profiteers, our protagonist questions the number and criticality
of the procedures being performed on him.
He actually fires a surgeon from his team and then begins an exploration
for the ultimate medical team. The
reader will be left to decide whether he found one or not.
As he finally settles on a team, he wonders if he is putting
too much trust in the surgeons that are actually in control of his life and
potential death. Is he, them or anyone
doing the most effective treatment for a cure?
Do administrative or financial rewards enter into it? Were 19 surgeries required to keep him alive
or could he have done better without some of them? He wonders if we are even given enough
information to assist with the direction of our own treatment.
Mr. Bastard travels through a space and time where he is
offered several solutions to his infection where most of them require surgeries. As the surgeries pile up, he notes that the
treatments themselves begin to take a toll.
In a blistering pace where he is operated on three times in one week, he
can’t even remember the time between two of them. Once in a fit of rebellion, he even fights
back against the anesthesia so hard it takes hours of recovery just to come to
(don’t do this at home).
In hospitals, prior-to and during our initial consultations,
we are categorized by our insurance company, our policy and designation. Make no mistake, you simply become an
algorithm to the administrators that will be providing your care. According to Physicians News Digest, HOW
DOES A HOSPITAL MAKE MONEY, it states “Surgical patients are better them medical
patients. In general, hospitals make more money from your
patients who will undergo surgery. The procedures are usually reimbursed at a
higher rate then a typical medical patient who only generates a daily room rate
for their care.” Lets forget the grammar/spelling mistakes
within their quotes, let try to focus on the fact that they are saying this out
loud.
Once a patient understands these implications, they possess
all of the parts of the equation they need to assess and consult for their own
treatment. Doctors are not Gods in lab
coats, they are just like you and me.
Their education does not necessarily determine their morals or
responsibility to provide the most effective treatment. While I believe most doctors are great, ego
does transform some of them into a depository vessel of greed and potentially
is willing to experiment his/her surgical talents (or lack thereof) on the only
body you were given by God to spend this life in and that is a shame!
Nurses though, seem to have followed some kind of calling to
their career/job/placement/angel on earth designations. They are really the healers of the
hospital. They are underpaid,
underappreciated and in general treated badly by doctors and administrative
staff. I really don’t see why they don’t
tell everyone to just “F… Off” and get into another profession. Except that they are not like most of us
because they know how much they mean to us.
Nurses are there for us because they know we need them to get better…and
we do. I know that I never thanked the
nurses enough and for that I am truly sorry.
If you are a nurse, please know how much your smiles, jokes or talks
help us in probably the worst times in our lives. We will never forget your faces even if we
can’t remember your names, but your kindness and caring is etched in our minds
forever.
Ultimately, the pursuit of a cure is dotted with stories of
his family’s struggles, of nurses who are captured as the hero’s that they are and
the rest of a system and people that fall somewhere between sinners and
saints. We hope you enjoy the book and
welcome any comments or stories about your own journey through our medical
jungle. I wish you health, happiness and
courage!
>Insensitive
Bastard
Wow, I can't wait to read it!
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