Fuck Hospitals
I don’t swear a lot on my blog, but seriously, fuck hospitals.
Mom went in to the emergency department about 4 pm with some jaw pain and arm pain, which was a concern because the last time she had a cardiac event, those were the symptoms.
She’s 89 1/2 years old. She has 2 stents, heart failure, arthritis, osteoporosis and doesn’t see or hear well.
She has been there since 4 pm and has not had a sip of water or bite of food.
Fuck hospitals. In hospitals as they exist now, data matters more than people.
Nurses skitter around with laptops on wheeled stands before them, never meeting the patient’s eye because they are so busy typing.
No one explains anything to the patient. No one knows anything.
God, I’m just so pissed. How is this HEALTH CARE when the patient’s comfort is last on the list of things people think about? How is it care when you don’t offer a 90-year-old woman a bite to eat or anything to drink for five hours? Do you really care when you leave a nasal cannula in that makes her so uncomfortable and you don’t even bother to connect it to an oxygen line?
I’m not blaming the nurses. They are just dragged downstream with the current.
But here’s what I want to know – where is the care in health care? Where?
Mom seems fine. Pain is gone, all the all-important numbers are good. I hope she can get some sleep.
Good night.
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Suebob's Red Stapler 
God, I’m sorry Sue. I remember all too well my dad’s repeated visits to the ER, and while he never had an experience as bad as your mom’s, I do recall having to stay on the staff constantly to make sure he wasn’t being ignored. I shudder to think about the way that patients who don’t have a friend or relative there with them to advocate on their behalf are treated. Glad your mom is doing better and hope she gets to go home soon.
She was home by 3 pm the next day! Yay. There was some discussion of whether to install another stent, but they’re holding off for now.