I am writing this on the heels of a letter to the president by Roger Jones Starner, MD.
Here is the letter:
Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as “Medicaid”! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman’s health care? I contend that our nation’s “health care crisis” is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a “crisis of culture” a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”. Once you fix this “culture crisis” that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you’ll be amazed at how quickly our nation’s health care difficulties will disappear.
Respectfully,
Roger Starner Jones, MD
Three days a week I have the pleasure of experiencing first hand what Dr. Starner Jones is colorfully illustrating because I work in the Emergency or “Emergency” Department.
Recently a middle-aged patient was being admitted to the hospital after coming the ER complaining of shortness of breath. This particular patient has a disease called COPD, which stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of this progressive and at times debilitating lung disease.
The above-mentioned patient was having an exacerbation of the disease that concerned the medical team enough to keep him in the hospital for observation and treatment.
The admitting MD approached the RN about possibly allowing the patient (who refuses to stay in the hospital if he can’t smoke) to go outside and smoke a cigarette.
Keeping in mind the best interest of the patient, the nurse - politely, I’m sure, -refused.
Now making a scene (I did say this patient was middle-aged right?) because of the “idiotic” idea of allowing air to pass though the lungs efficiently, the vice president of the hospital was called to help appease the escalating situation.
The vice president escorted the SOB* patient outside to smoke.
The patient stammered back into the ER to put on his oxygen and order dinner from the in-house dietary department.
He was served a cheeseburger, french fries and coca cola.
I don’t know what happened to this patient, but I’m sure he is a repeat customer and the hospital will have the pleasure of catering to his addictions again.
My question is when did the hospital become of place of “the customer is always right” and not a place of healing?
And another, why even bother throwing (away) money into a healthcare system that obviously does not have it’s priorities straight? Don’t get me wrong; I strongly believe the responsibility of making healthy decisions lies in the hands of the individual. I see this as a detrimental cycle of unhealthy decisions made in part by a person and allowance/acceptance by the system.
I studied to be a nurse to assist people in their times of need and help them navigate through a medical situation that could be frightening and disconcerting.
I find myself, rather, a glorified waitress tending to vices.
If this should be the case from now on, I would like to change my title from RN to Enabler.
Dr. Jones Starner is absolutely right. This is a culture crisis.
epicuriOM
*SOB – an acronym used in the medical field standing for Shortness of Breath. ;)
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