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I have been trying to write this newsletter for a month now, but the despair of this moment we are in has kept me from doing it. What can I say that every single business / celebrity / political figure / news reporter who is worth anything hasn’t already said? Racism is an evil. Racism is a public health emergency. There must be a change in how we police our communities. I have partly kept my sanity by watching the late-night comedy shows. Their truth telling, as well as their ripping to shreds of the current administration, are deeply satisfying. I am heartened by all the changes happening that are so long in coming—and those changes are not nearly enough. I think the fact that we are all captive audiences due to the pandemic has helped white people see in a way they have previously chosen not to. I have read and watched videos of many anti racism scholars, writers and speakers. What I Recommend Ijeoma Oluo - So you want to talk about race  Ibram X. Kendi - How to Be an AntiRacist  Robin DiAngelo - White Fragility  I especially recommend this absolutely stunning and moving impromptu sermon by author Kimberly Jones. Jones gives a powerful, eloquent speech that explains in detail why this is happening (racism across 450 years) and the difference between protesting, rioting and looting in 2020. And this article in the New York Times, written by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. Are You Willing to Give Up Your Privilege? Philanthropy alone won’t save the American dream. This is something I have been thinking and talking about to my peers, my family, and my community. What am I willing to give up? I have been thinking about it in a very concrete way. As a physician, what would I be willing to do (or to give up) had I been or if I should be present when someone is calmly snuffing out someone’s life? I am committed, essentially programmed, by an inborn quality and by my medical training, to save lives, to do all I can to try to heal. Like me, this is true of most healthcare workers. This is why you have seen such incredible sacrifice on the part of all healthcare workers to take care of people with COVID-19, when that care becomes a risk to themselves, their own families, and their communities. What am I willing to give up? I am willing to give up the ease of access I have to the highest level of medical care if it means that everyone now has access to life-saving and preventative medical care. I am willing to pay higher taxes if it means we have social services for all that need them—housing, mental health services, food, and a host of other needs. I am willing to stand up to systemic racism and violence against black and brown bodies to ensure that we all have equal opportunities in this life. Am I willing to give up my life? This is the scene I replay over and over in my mind. Is there a chance that a 60 something white woman, a physician, could have used my privilege to get this to stop before it was too late, without getting shot? In my screenplay I am successful. That’s the benefit of me being the author. Today I watched this clip from Democracy Now.  Noura Erakat, a well-known Palestinian human rights lawyer who teaches at Rutgers, is interviewed and speaks passionately about her cousin who was murdered at a check point in the West Bank. It reminded me of “home."
Her cousin bled for 1.5 hours without being taken to a hospital. The same question ran through my head. If I had been there what would I have done? I can add my voice to the many who have said racism is a health emergency. We are all dying from it. Are those of us who have it willing to give up our privilege? Are you? The answer has to be yes.
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As I work from home, I've had more time to reflect on the challenges we all face during this time of social upheaval. While my life hasn't changed significantly, I often work from home, I know that it has upended the lives of my friends and family.
It is finally clear how fragile our healthcare system is, and that our leaders are struggling to meet the demands of this pandemic. We all feel worried, nervous, anxious, and overwhelmed. While there is a breadth of daily information on aspects of the outbreak, it isn't always clear how that may affect you in your personal situation. This is where I can help. As a healthcare advocate, I want to be there for you and your family, to answer your specific questions, and to provide guidance, research, answers, and compassion. Whether you are facing pregnancy during the coronavirus and have concerns, or you are caring for an elderly parent and want to ensure you are both staying safe, or you are having health complications and feel you aren't being heard. I want to help you. I am expanding my services to include one-hour consultations to provide answers to any immediate questions, offer counseling and guidance about your concerns, and research options and opportunities to ensure you feel secure in your health, and the health of those you love. Schedule your session today. I am here for you. I hope everyone had a good holiday season! I am back to the routine, despite the weather. We had a tiny amount of snow in Seattle, not even half an inch in my neighborhood. Snow causes this city to slow down to a crawl and schools close. This gave me the opportunity to stay indoors and catch up on work and reading. When I started writing about healthcare, one of my first newsletters addressed “going upstream." One of the up-streamers I read about was Dr. Jeffrey Brenner in Camden, New Jersey. He developed a model of care, almost 20 years ago, that featured a very intensive intervention for the most vulnerable people. Dr. Brenner was highlighted in Atul Gawande’s article for the New Yorker “Hot Spotters” (which is Gawande’s term for up-streamers.) Dr. Brenner's hypothesis was that this intervention would save the healthcare system money by decreasing hospitalizations and emergency department use. The goal was to improve overall health status while decreasing the use of resources. However, my reading this week led me to this article: Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints |
 | This Uighur Journalist Is Bravely Fighting a Homegrown Cultural Genocide Gulchehra Hoja has dedicated her life to protecting her people, who are being tortured for their religion and identity Article by Jennifer Chowdhury Photo by Mohammad Amir Hamza |
So why am I devoting an entire newsletter to this? Because sometimes the highest form of advocacy for health is political action.
Here are some things we can do:
• Discourage anyone from traveling to China for organ transplantation
• Spread the word
• Educate yourself about this issue
• Write to your Congressional Representatives when an issue like the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 comes up for a vote (it was passed in the Senate and has been introduced in the House.)
• Support local Uyghurs wherever you are—not a single family I know has been spared the disappearance of at least one relative.
“When we know ourselves to be connected to all others, acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do.”
― Rachel Naomi Remen
Here are some things we can do:
• Discourage anyone from traveling to China for organ transplantation
• Spread the word
• Educate yourself about this issue
• Write to your Congressional Representatives when an issue like the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 comes up for a vote (it was passed in the Senate and has been introduced in the House.)
• Support local Uyghurs wherever you are—not a single family I know has been spared the disappearance of at least one relative.
“When we know ourselves to be connected to all others, acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do.”
― Rachel Naomi Remen
During a recent weekend, I spent some time with a visiting poet and author, Aurora Levins Morales. A native Puerto Rican, she spent quite a bit of time in Cuba as a child, but now calls the San Francisco Bay area her home. In 2017, Aurora suffered a stroke after several previous head injuries, and underwent rehabilitation in Cuba.
When Aurora described the care she received in Cuba, and the laws regarding care of people with disabilities, I almost cried! It was so superior to what we have in the USA. Health Advocates spend so much of our time trying to figure out how to get the best services for our clients, services that should be available to all. I decided I had to write about it. Naturally, the story is a bit more complex than the rosy view I imagined.
The Cuban Constitution guarantees protections for workers who have a disability, illness, or just due to advancing age. In the case of their death, those same protections apply to their family. The state protects “through social assistance, the elderly without resources or shelter, and any personnel unfit for work who lack family members in conditions to render assistance”. There are laws guaranteeing a safe workplace, medical care, subsidies, and retirement in case of temporary or permanent disability. The free medical care for all in Cuba is legendary.
Cuba has the best health care in any Latin American country. Their infant mortality rate is better than ours, and despite the negatives, they have a similar life expectancy to us in the US. The negatives cannot be ignored, however. There is crumbling infrastructure, poorly paid doctors, and the system is further stretched by doctors who are sent throughout Latin America, where they can make better pay, leaving those at home to work harder for less money.
And, despite the glowing Cuban Constitution, life for those with disabilities is not so good. Although the Cuban State guarantees the right to free education without discrimination, there is no educational policy nor laws designed to protect people with differing abilities.
When Aurora described the care she received in Cuba, and the laws regarding care of people with disabilities, I almost cried! It was so superior to what we have in the USA. Health Advocates spend so much of our time trying to figure out how to get the best services for our clients, services that should be available to all. I decided I had to write about it. Naturally, the story is a bit more complex than the rosy view I imagined.
The Cuban Constitution guarantees protections for workers who have a disability, illness, or just due to advancing age. In the case of their death, those same protections apply to their family. The state protects “through social assistance, the elderly without resources or shelter, and any personnel unfit for work who lack family members in conditions to render assistance”. There are laws guaranteeing a safe workplace, medical care, subsidies, and retirement in case of temporary or permanent disability. The free medical care for all in Cuba is legendary.
Cuba has the best health care in any Latin American country. Their infant mortality rate is better than ours, and despite the negatives, they have a similar life expectancy to us in the US. The negatives cannot be ignored, however. There is crumbling infrastructure, poorly paid doctors, and the system is further stretched by doctors who are sent throughout Latin America, where they can make better pay, leaving those at home to work harder for less money.
And, despite the glowing Cuban Constitution, life for those with disabilities is not so good. Although the Cuban State guarantees the right to free education without discrimination, there is no educational policy nor laws designed to protect people with differing abilities.
According to official figures, approximately 3% of the Cuban population lives with some limitation that keeps them from participating in the labor market, and as a result, they cannot access the funds to confront the many obstacles they face in life.
Task for Alejandro Castro: Protecting Cuba's Disabled by Juan Juan Almeida
Though we enjoy some benefits, persons with severe disabilities often feel neglected and marginalized when it comes to this issue. Our limitations also make it more difficult for us to find a solution to the problem.
Being Disabled in Cuba: Waning Dreams by Mercedes Gonzalez Amade
Even more disturbing is the rise of medical tourism where foreigners see a completely different medical system than most Cubans do.
Cuba, despite its famed legions of highly trained doctors, is no health-care paradise. Most hospital facilities for Cubans have peeling paint, missing light bulbs, and electrical and water outages.
Doctors, short on supplies, are forced to reuse latex gloves, and patients bring their own sheets for beds. Medicines are scarce, in part because of the long-standing United States embargo against the island. The island's tourist facilities, however, are another world.
According to Cubanacan Tourism and Health, the umbrella organization charged with promoting Cuba's health tourism facilities, the island last year attracted 3,500 health tourists, a number that is growing by 20 percent a year.
Promise of Cures lures tourists to Cuba by Laurie Goering
On the flip side, there are positive stories. This one is written by a doctor who went to medical school in Cuba. He is answering, from his point of view, the question “is the Cuban healthcare system really as great as people claim?
The Cuban healthcare system, borne out of its revolutionary socialist ideology, regards accessibility to healthcare as a fundamental right of its citizens. It focuses heavily on a preventative approach to medicine and offering the simplest check-up to the most complex surgery, free of charge. Dental care, medicines and even home visits from doctors are all covered by the system.
Is the Cuban Healthcare System really as great as people claim? by Rich Warner
My conclusion is that Cuba is not nirvana when it comes to healthcare, and the situation for those with disabilities is not as great as you would think based on the constitution. So, while I am disappointed, there are some positive steps worth noting. I feel incredible pain and anger about the difficulties I have in getting even meager services for my clients. I can only imagine how they feel having to live it.
We still have so much work to do to make it the system we all want to live in. Do you know anyone who has experienced the medical system in Cuba? I’d love to hear more first hand stories.
Best of Health,
Sima Kahn, MD
Founder, Healthcare Advocacy Partners
We still have so much work to do to make it the system we all want to live in. Do you know anyone who has experienced the medical system in Cuba? I’d love to hear more first hand stories.
Best of Health,
Sima Kahn, MD
Founder, Healthcare Advocacy Partners
Happy end of summer everyone!
The west coast has had so many smoky days! The fires have stretched from British Columbia to California, leading to skies that are worse than in Beijing! Thankfully, the sky is clearing, and hopefully our end of summer will not disappoint.
I have been thinking about patient empowerment this summer, and what what it actually means to truly empower someone.
The European Patients’ Forum says:
Patient empowerment is a process that helps people gain control over their own lives and increases their capacity to act on issues that they themselves define as important.
The World Health Organization defines empowerment as:
“A process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health” and should be seen as both an individual and a community process.
They go on to say:
Four components have been reported as being fundamental to the process of patient empowerment:
1) understanding by the patient of his/her role
2) acquisition by patients of sufficient knowledge to be able to engage with their healthcare provider
3) patient skills
4) the presence of a facilitating environment.
I think we can all get behind this, but what does it mean in real life? An example:
A woman had cancer that had been successfully treated once, and then had a recurrence, also successfully treated. She then had a second recurrence and had participated in several clinical trials, none of which were adequately treating the disease. When presented with options for further treatment, there was no weighting of the different options, no side-by-side comparison of the efficacy, risks, benefits, and comparison to non-treatment. And that age-old question that doctors hate and patients continue to ask did not come up “what would you do if it were you?”
This was/could be presented to her as evidence of patient empowerment—she was completely free to make whatever decision she wanted. But it was missing some vital parts of what is required for true empowerment:
2) acquisition by patients of sufficient knowledge to be able to engage with their healthcare provider
AND
4) the presence of a facilitating environment
With 3 or 4 choices thrown out and not enough information to understand them, how is that empowerment? Further, the opinion of the doctor is valuable—I have yet to meet an oncologist who didn’t have an opinion about how they would move forward. They may not tell the patient, but it is there. Even the information they don’t know is helpful, because the patient can move on to other criteria to make a decision. Such as how much is this going to hurt or cause other side effects that negatively impact their quality of life?
In terms of a facilitating environment, this is a place a healthcare advocate can be truly helpful. Exploring the patient’s priorities and understanding their risks and benefits can provide the environment for engaged decision making. Ideally, the medical team is part of this process, but if not, healthcare advocates can fill the gap.
It is not empowerment to feel lost at sea. That is why we do this work.
As always, I would love to hear from you about your thoughts.
Sima
The west coast has had so many smoky days! The fires have stretched from British Columbia to California, leading to skies that are worse than in Beijing! Thankfully, the sky is clearing, and hopefully our end of summer will not disappoint.
I have been thinking about patient empowerment this summer, and what what it actually means to truly empower someone.
The European Patients’ Forum says:
Patient empowerment is a process that helps people gain control over their own lives and increases their capacity to act on issues that they themselves define as important.
The World Health Organization defines empowerment as:
“A process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health” and should be seen as both an individual and a community process.
They go on to say:
Four components have been reported as being fundamental to the process of patient empowerment:
1) understanding by the patient of his/her role
2) acquisition by patients of sufficient knowledge to be able to engage with their healthcare provider
3) patient skills
4) the presence of a facilitating environment.
I think we can all get behind this, but what does it mean in real life? An example:
A woman had cancer that had been successfully treated once, and then had a recurrence, also successfully treated. She then had a second recurrence and had participated in several clinical trials, none of which were adequately treating the disease. When presented with options for further treatment, there was no weighting of the different options, no side-by-side comparison of the efficacy, risks, benefits, and comparison to non-treatment. And that age-old question that doctors hate and patients continue to ask did not come up “what would you do if it were you?”
This was/could be presented to her as evidence of patient empowerment—she was completely free to make whatever decision she wanted. But it was missing some vital parts of what is required for true empowerment:
2) acquisition by patients of sufficient knowledge to be able to engage with their healthcare provider
AND
4) the presence of a facilitating environment
With 3 or 4 choices thrown out and not enough information to understand them, how is that empowerment? Further, the opinion of the doctor is valuable—I have yet to meet an oncologist who didn’t have an opinion about how they would move forward. They may not tell the patient, but it is there. Even the information they don’t know is helpful, because the patient can move on to other criteria to make a decision. Such as how much is this going to hurt or cause other side effects that negatively impact their quality of life?
In terms of a facilitating environment, this is a place a healthcare advocate can be truly helpful. Exploring the patient’s priorities and understanding their risks and benefits can provide the environment for engaged decision making. Ideally, the medical team is part of this process, but if not, healthcare advocates can fill the gap.
It is not empowerment to feel lost at sea. That is why we do this work.
As always, I would love to hear from you about your thoughts.
Sima
Our 2018 NAHAC National Conference is coming soon!
Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Gary Jacobs
Advocacy as a Public Health Campaign: Understanding Historical and Modern Trends
When: Thursday, November 1, 2018 - Saturday, November 3, 2018
Where: The Marriott Hotel, Marina del Rey, CA
General Registration is now open - July 1-August 31
Pricing: NAHAC Full Members Only: $399
(includes Full, For Profit and Not-For-Profit Memberships)
General Public/Non-Member Registration: $435
For more information:
http://nahac.memberlodge.com/2018-NAHAC-Conference-Daily-Schedule
Advocacy as a Public Health Campaign: Understanding Historical and Modern Trends
When: Thursday, November 1, 2018 - Saturday, November 3, 2018
Where: The Marriott Hotel, Marina del Rey, CA
General Registration is now open - July 1-August 31
Pricing: NAHAC Full Members Only: $399
(includes Full, For Profit and Not-For-Profit Memberships)
General Public/Non-Member Registration: $435
For more information:
http://nahac.memberlodge.com/2018-NAHAC-Conference-Daily-Schedule
Happy almost summer! Being a sun worshipper, I am always energized by the longer days and sunnier weather, although in Seattle we are definitely not done with rain just yet.
This month I wanted to share some thoughts I had after reading an excellent article in the New York Times Magazine about the “reinvention” of primary care delivery. It features the work of Dr. David Meltzer from the University of Chicago, who was a speaker at one of the national conferences of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC), my professional organization as an advocate.
His research looked at the doctor-patient relationship, and whether longer appointments with a person’s primary care doctor (yes, all of them with the same doctor!) were economically sustainable.
This month I wanted to share some thoughts I had after reading an excellent article in the New York Times Magazine about the “reinvention” of primary care delivery. It features the work of Dr. David Meltzer from the University of Chicago, who was a speaker at one of the national conferences of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC), my professional organization as an advocate.
His research looked at the doctor-patient relationship, and whether longer appointments with a person’s primary care doctor (yes, all of them with the same doctor!) were economically sustainable.
Trying to Put a Value on the Doctor-Patient Relationship
by Kim Tingley
Photo Illustration by Weronika Gesicka
From the article :
“Meltzer insists that doctors spending more time with their patients actually saves money. After a year in his clinic, for instance, patients have 20 percent fewer hospitalizations than their control-group counterparts. Because hospitalizations make up the greatest portion of these patients’ annual cost to Medicare, which averages $50,000 to $75,000 each, that reduction is worth several thousand dollars per person in the first year, or a combined several million dollars; by comparison, the doctors’ annual salaries add up to less than $1 million.”
Dr. Meltzer’s clinics run “leaner”—fewer people in the mix, and:
“To accomplish this feat, he employs the oldest, slowest, least-innovative health care delivery model imaginable: general practitioners who oversee almost all aspects of their patients’ care and, in doing so, come to know them personally.”
What I love about this article (besides the fact that it validates what I have been saying for years) is that it shows that this essential factor in healthcare actually makes a difference, and not just emotionally, which I think most of us believe. It makes a difference economically also, and it made a difference in the health of the patients.
It’s a win-win-win. Yes, I believe technology can help with communication and efficiency, and definitely with access to knowledge. And yes, the huge amount of medical knowledge requires subspecialization since no one can master all the information available in a single specialty. But there needs to be a quarterback that knows the patient and sees them as a whole. This is what I do as an advocate, but I believe that ideally the primary care doctor would fulfill that role and I would no longer be needed!
Now, how do we get the medical industrial complex to listen?
“Meltzer insists that doctors spending more time with their patients actually saves money. After a year in his clinic, for instance, patients have 20 percent fewer hospitalizations than their control-group counterparts. Because hospitalizations make up the greatest portion of these patients’ annual cost to Medicare, which averages $50,000 to $75,000 each, that reduction is worth several thousand dollars per person in the first year, or a combined several million dollars; by comparison, the doctors’ annual salaries add up to less than $1 million.”
Dr. Meltzer’s clinics run “leaner”—fewer people in the mix, and:
“To accomplish this feat, he employs the oldest, slowest, least-innovative health care delivery model imaginable: general practitioners who oversee almost all aspects of their patients’ care and, in doing so, come to know them personally.”
What I love about this article (besides the fact that it validates what I have been saying for years) is that it shows that this essential factor in healthcare actually makes a difference, and not just emotionally, which I think most of us believe. It makes a difference economically also, and it made a difference in the health of the patients.
It’s a win-win-win. Yes, I believe technology can help with communication and efficiency, and definitely with access to knowledge. And yes, the huge amount of medical knowledge requires subspecialization since no one can master all the information available in a single specialty. But there needs to be a quarterback that knows the patient and sees them as a whole. This is what I do as an advocate, but I believe that ideally the primary care doctor would fulfill that role and I would no longer be needed!
Now, how do we get the medical industrial complex to listen?
I recently had a conversation with a good friend who has a family member with a serious illness. She told me that close friends of the family had called her in distress about this family member, as if she was expected to comfort them! This made me remember an article I read recently about “ring theory.” I sent this article to my friend and suggested she send it to all of her friends and family. It’s important information about how to cope with friends and family who are dealing with a crisis or death. I think it is so necessary to understand, that I wanted to spread the word to all of you. (It’s also been called the circle of kvetching, for those who can relate to the Yiddish term). Here is the original article:
How Not to Say the Wrong Thing
by Susan Silk and Barry Goldman
Last year Elana Premack Sandler wrote this excellent explanatory article:
Ring Theory Helps us Bring Comfort In
by Elana Premack Sandler, LCSW, MPH
A few years ago, psychologist Susan Silk and her friend Barry Goldman wrote a piece about a concept they called the “Ring Theory.”
It’s a theory to help yourself know what to do in a crisis. If the crisis is happening to you, you’re in the center of the ring. If the crisis is not happening to you, you’re in one of the outer circles.
Here are the basic tenets paraphrased from Silk and Goodman’s article:
The concept is simple: “comfort in, dump out.”
I think disseminating this information will make the world a better place! It seems obvious when reading about the theory, but we have all likely been in the position of saying something similar that we later regretted. So please share this far and wide. As Susan Silk and Barry Goldman have said “And don’t worry. You’ll get your turn in the center ring. You can count on that.”
How Not to Say the Wrong Thing
by Susan Silk and Barry Goldman
Last year Elana Premack Sandler wrote this excellent explanatory article:
Ring Theory Helps us Bring Comfort In
by Elana Premack Sandler, LCSW, MPH
A few years ago, psychologist Susan Silk and her friend Barry Goldman wrote a piece about a concept they called the “Ring Theory.”
It’s a theory to help yourself know what to do in a crisis. If the crisis is happening to you, you’re in the center of the ring. If the crisis is not happening to you, you’re in one of the outer circles.
Here are the basic tenets paraphrased from Silk and Goodman’s article:
- Draw a circle. In this circle, write the name of the person at the center of the crisis.
- Now draw a larger circle around the first one. In this ring, put the name of the person next closest to the crisis.
- In each larger ring, put the next closest people. As Silk and Goodman state, “Parents and children before more distant relatives. Intimate friends in smaller rings, less intimate friends in larger ones.”
The concept is simple: “comfort in, dump out.”
I think disseminating this information will make the world a better place! It seems obvious when reading about the theory, but we have all likely been in the position of saying something similar that we later regretted. So please share this far and wide. As Susan Silk and Barry Goldman have said “And don’t worry. You’ll get your turn in the center ring. You can count on that.”
As most of you know, I am a zealot for the overthrow of the healthcare “system”—since it is not adequately serving any of us. You might think overthrow is a bit of hyperbole, which I suppose it is, but I believe what we have now needs to be totally reworked, including how it is paid for. Putting patches on a sinking ship is too little too late.
An example of how badly this system—controlled by financial considerations—went off the rails has been in the news lately in Seattle. One of the major healthcare systems in our area underwent an expose by The Seattle Times; it seems the leadership of the neurosurgery department had lost its moral compass, and what was occurring was unethical and also illegal in some cases. Quality of care had been sacrificed for profit.
A Lost Voice by Mike Baker
Unfortunately, patients suffered poor outcomes and there was at least one death that likely could have been averted. Heads rolled, the head of the department lost both his job and his medical license, the CEO resigned, the state department of health investigated, JCAHO got involved (never a good thing), and major changes are underway.
There are many fine doctors in this hospital system, and I was extremely gratified to learn that many in that department, many of whom I have worked with, very vigorously objected to the circumstances and some suffered repercussions (one just was awarded a large amount of money for being fired as a whistle blower!). The past chief executive of the system’s physician division confronted the leadership regarding the situation suggesting that action be taken.
So why am I writing about this? For one, it confirms what I know to be true—most doctors are committed to doing what is right for their patients, do it well, and call out those who are acting counter to their principles. For another, when I initially read the articles in the paper about this investigation, I was screaming in my head “no, you need an advocate there!”
A young woman lost her life, despite the fact that her father is a doctor and was present in the ICU urging those caring for her to do what was needed. His concerns went unheeded.
Having someone who is not related to the patient serving as an advocate is invaluable. No one can think clearly when their child is struggling to breathe. As advocates, we have no qualms about raising a ruckus, confronting care givers, or going up the chain of command until we get what is needed, particularly when it is a life-threatening event. I would like to believe that if an advocate had been there this young woman would still be alive; I don’t really know if that is the case, but I do know that if I had been there, there would have been a lot more yelling and screaming going on. Sometimes that is the best thing an advocate can do.
On that less than uplifting note, I do hope all of you had some rest and enjoyment over the holidays and are having a wonderful new year.
An example of how badly this system—controlled by financial considerations—went off the rails has been in the news lately in Seattle. One of the major healthcare systems in our area underwent an expose by The Seattle Times; it seems the leadership of the neurosurgery department had lost its moral compass, and what was occurring was unethical and also illegal in some cases. Quality of care had been sacrificed for profit.
A Lost Voice by Mike Baker
Unfortunately, patients suffered poor outcomes and there was at least one death that likely could have been averted. Heads rolled, the head of the department lost both his job and his medical license, the CEO resigned, the state department of health investigated, JCAHO got involved (never a good thing), and major changes are underway.
There are many fine doctors in this hospital system, and I was extremely gratified to learn that many in that department, many of whom I have worked with, very vigorously objected to the circumstances and some suffered repercussions (one just was awarded a large amount of money for being fired as a whistle blower!). The past chief executive of the system’s physician division confronted the leadership regarding the situation suggesting that action be taken.
So why am I writing about this? For one, it confirms what I know to be true—most doctors are committed to doing what is right for their patients, do it well, and call out those who are acting counter to their principles. For another, when I initially read the articles in the paper about this investigation, I was screaming in my head “no, you need an advocate there!”
A young woman lost her life, despite the fact that her father is a doctor and was present in the ICU urging those caring for her to do what was needed. His concerns went unheeded.
Having someone who is not related to the patient serving as an advocate is invaluable. No one can think clearly when their child is struggling to breathe. As advocates, we have no qualms about raising a ruckus, confronting care givers, or going up the chain of command until we get what is needed, particularly when it is a life-threatening event. I would like to believe that if an advocate had been there this young woman would still be alive; I don’t really know if that is the case, but I do know that if I had been there, there would have been a lot more yelling and screaming going on. Sometimes that is the best thing an advocate can do.
On that less than uplifting note, I do hope all of you had some rest and enjoyment over the holidays and are having a wonderful new year.
Author
Dr. Sima Kahn muses on being a healthcare advocate, the troubles with our healthcare system, and how to advocate for ourselves.
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