Because Jane is 74 years
old and a “unit” under Obama Care, her utility to society must be low in the
complicated formula the bureaucrats have devised to kill as many inconvenient
elderly as possible.
New rules under Medicare
and Tricare required that a case manager be assigned to her. Jane was no longer
a patient with feelings, humanity, personality, but a “case.” Think of her case
manager as someone whose sole purpose was to provide as little care as possible
to an elderly American in dire need.
Flailing in pain, crying
for help, and scared, Jane was tied to her bed to “calm her down” in spite of
the fact that she has severe inflammatory arthritis in her hands. Her dentures
and glasses were given to a nurse for safekeeping and she promptly lost them.
It would be another 24 hours before they were found.
Jane’s husband Rob* served
in the National Guard for years in a very blue state* in a predominantly blue
collar town. It was the right thing to do for our nation and he had hoped that
our country would keep its promise to care for him and his wife medically in
their twilight years. After all, a civilized society is defined by its
humanity, by its treatment of the weak, the old, and the helpless. It turned
out not to be the case, the government failed miserably in its promise.
Since the routine tests
showed an elevated bacterial count, the infectious disease specialist ordered a
spinal tap and counseled the family about the need of such a test. The doctor
on duty however, overrode the order and lied to the family that she had spoken
to the infectious disease specialist and that he had decided there was no need
for a spinal tap after all.
The family was advised to
look for a nursing home to move Jane into as soon as possible since she had
dementia and the hospital was unable to help her. Discharge papers were filled
out. With teary eyes, her husband Rob was struggling to concentrate in order to
complete the stack of papers unceremoniously shoved in front of him.
Several hours later, the
infectious disease specialist reappeared during rounds to check on his patient
Jane, to make sure the spinal tap was done. To his surprise, his order had been
cancelled by the doctor on duty and the case manager was busy with discharge
paperwork. He reinstated the spinal tap order and invalidated the illegal
release from the hospital which he had not signed nor ordered.
Infuriated, two family
members filed complaints the next morning against the admission doctor and the
case manager. As everyone was crying from stress, relief, and hope that perhaps
Jane’s symptoms were due to meningitis or encephalitis, treatable illnesses,
the case manager walked in and demanded to know in very harsh tones why the
family had neglected her instructions the previous day to choose a nursing home
from the list provided. She also threatened them with payment liability for the
hospital bill if she stayed beyond the discharge date. She said, “We may just
have to make the nursing home decision for you.” Although nobody gave this
woman power of attorney over Jane, the family was bullied into submission and
obeyed. They picked the closest nursing home, 5 minutes away from Jane’s home.
As they visited the
nursing home, the family was surprised to find out that Jane’s entire life
history and medical records had already been emailed to them by the case
manager without the family’s permission. The family made a verbal complaint to
the hospital director for the maltreatment of Jane and their invasion of
privacy and decision-making.
Jane was calm enough today
and had her spinal tap. She is awaiting the test results. In the meantime, her
immediate family, generational staunch Democrats and supporters of Obama, was
numb with shock and outrage that able-bodied Americans on welfare who refuse to
work and illegal aliens are going to be medically insured and treated at the
expense of hard-working Americans like Rob and Jane who paid their dues to
society in many ways over decades, while Jane is treated worse than an animal,
moved back and forth over the course of several days from the psych ward to a
regular hospital floor. She became one of the early victims of the much touted
Obama Care that “does not have death panels and rationing.”
Sadly, this country is
falling into the hell trap of communism very quickly. What good is medical
insurance if the medical care is unavailable, non-existent, sub-standard, and
most of all, inhumane?
*Names have
been changed and the state withheld at the request of the family, to protect loved
ones from more government reprisals.
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