Status Updates From More Rants, Raves, and Craz...

So why do I care so much about people I don’t even know? People who obviously frustrate me and drive me mad, who constantly lie to my face and find new ways to press my buttons? Deep down, at the core of who I am, I actually like this job. I love these crazy, outlandish people who come to the ER for help.

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Here is what is wrong with the health care system: We treat the drug-seeker. Then we discharge him. The hospital surveys the patient. He gives us a poor score. Our patient satisfaction scores go down. We get paid less by Medicaid. Employees don’t get raises, because lord knows the suits won’t take a pay cut.

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In the future, there is no need to assume, guess or suspect. Whenever I am uncertain a patient’s chronic pain or headache might not have a medical origin, I simply click a tab, and an embarrassment of riches cascades onto my screen: a list of every hospital and urgent care center he has visited that operates on the same system.

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Everybody lies! Dr. House is the chief architect behind this medical observation, and I can attest through experience that it’s true. I don’t care if patients lie. I just think it’s smart to tell the truth when it comes to your health and wellbeing, especially if you don’t know what’s wrong with you. What fascinates me is that some patients desire to hold on to the lie even in the face of obvious evidence against it.

It’s prep time!!!

Easter Sunday: Between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., you would think someone died, it’s so quiet. Then church lets out. You would be surprised how many people pray themselves through a heart attack at church and then decide to seek medical treatment. One lady with chest pain actually asked me why I was working Easter and told me I should be at church.

This isn’t the first time someone has faked an illness for one reason or another, or gone through elaborate means to do it. People can be psychologically disturbed and do crazy things. Strokes are relatively easy to fake. Just stop moving an arm and say you have numbness. It is really hard to prove someone isn’t having a stroke, unless we drop the limp hand over their face.
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The ER is no stranger to drug seekers who attempt to scam the system to receive the “good stuff.” Sometimes it’s like a gentlemen’s agreement in which we know what they are seeking and that they don’t really have pain. But they don’t come around that often, so doctors will give them a prescription for 12 hydrocodone, and they’ll be on their way.

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