The last time I was in the ICU, I was giving one of our fallen their final salute (photo edited for this reason). The cat will come out of the bag soon, so the kitty may as well say it. After seeing what “help” looks like, I decided Mother’s Day was my day to die. I called in my last call to dispatch and even though I know most of my EMS “family” doesn’t care two straws about me, I meant it when I said it was an honor and a privilege to serve with all of you. Unfortunately, I didn’t die fast enough, so now I’m back in the ICU as a patient. I tried very hard to get the medical and emotional help I needed, and unfortunately, what I need just is not in the cards.
Does the above describe PATIENT ABUSE or PATIENT TORTURE? Have some pt’s health issues become so complex, so costly, so time-consuming that our system will just start to ignore their request for receiving some care, just some attempt to relieve their pain? I recently heard about a practitioner who stated that they would not prescribe pain meds to any pt until it was determined what was causing the pt’s pain.
Unless a pt has a broken bone protruding out of their skin, it can often take some time to determine what health issue(s) the pt is dealing with, should it be appropriate that a pt suffer while a diagnosis is made. Which sometimes can take days or longer to come to a firm diagnosis?
Filed under: General Problems
I have a neighbor/friend whom I have shared my research and writings with for years. Recently, she suffered a severe injury to her arm (shattered the ends of her femur and radius) which required emergency and surgical treatments. She wailed to me for days about how the ER refused to treat her pain. She was surprised, as if all the things I’d been telling her about the inability to get pain care would never apply to her.
It’s urgent that we get the public to understand that every American is currently one injury or illness away from suffering severe chronic pain that could be treated but will go untreated. Everybody seems to think that a visit to the ER will include the kind of pain treatment they received years ago.
Perhaps the prospect is so horrible that it just doesn’t register in people’s minds.
Without a doubt, torture.
I am going with torture
Yes.
Abuse is rampant. I have had multiple patients who require higher doses of opiates, held in hospital in agony, conclude that it’s safer for them and healthier for them to be at home. Several times I have filed complaints with adult protective services on these hostage patients.