Posted on 10/11/2006 4:52:31 AM PDT by bd476
ping...
Illegal immigration...
yes - you hit the nail on the head. I blame all of society's problems on the legal system (and the lawyers).
what a system we have. it has really taken us over and it's getting worse and worse.
and who benefits? the lawyers... and judges... and politicians... who are lawyers...
Nurses get some good pay...
nationalized healthcare will be president hillary's #1 goal. she took alot of abuse for her failure to ram it down our throats last time and quietly settled down. now she will be back with a vengeance. she has quite an ego and alot to prove.
and yes... flag this post...and i shudder as i type it... but it will be PRESIDENT HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!
ping...
I just read, in the October issue of Woman's Day magazine, that MRSA is also being contacted in gyms.
I have a friend who works in the hospital, she is sick with something all the time.
Do you think maybe the MRSA you are starting to see in the community may have begun in some hospital?
Personally I go when its a close friend otherwise I stay away. The thing that is really frightening is the thought of becoming a patient.
I also have a friend who has a pin in his leg . His doctor reccomends he get anti-biotics before going to the dentist to prevent staph. Maybe he shouldnt visit the hospital.?
That is wonderful to hear, Smokin' Joe. I love hearing that. :-) I made some close friends with a few families who had loved ones down the hall from my Dad.Smokin' Joe wrote: "It not only takes some of the load off the nursing staff, but when we do call a nurse or aide in, they seem more likely to respond quickly."
Unfortunately, for me anyway, their relatives passed away very quickly but before then, those patients were surrounded by love, laughter, kids giggling, chatting, older folks telling tall family tales surrounding the patient in their hospice bed, and often fighting for a chance to attend to their loved one.
All families are different though. In my case, personally I wanted to be there, had to be there, period. I couldn't afford it and of all my Dad's relatives, probably had the least financial and time resources but I prayed fervently and God's Blessings made it happen.
My other family members were busy with their personal lives, and some were uncomfortable. I was energized and felt wonderful just walking into my Dad's room. It was exhausting work but it was also a beautiful honor. I can't judge though, everyone has some talent, everyone has some limitation.
Medical staff are also concerned about litigation. An ICU nurse once confided that the best care, the most attention is always for the patient with attending family members simply because less honorable medical personnel are aware that someone is there watching.
Remember to always get your relative's permission to bypass HIPAA for their protection. If you have at least one relative who will request to read the patient's chart every single day, slip-ups, negligence, switched medicines are far less likely to happen.
Also it helps to watch the staff closely before jumping to the conclusions on who is good and who deserves to be the one to clean up after elephants in a circus.
The most medical malpractice I personally witnessed were committed by a couple of nurses whom initially had made a very positive impression.
You say that hospitals are degrading care in order to make a profit. I hope that you are keeping in mind the fact that the majority of payments for care come from the government programs Medicare and Medicaid and that they have been cutting what they will pay for years.
Health insurance is not health care. If your "insurer" doesn't pay enough to motivate people to provide care for you you won't get care. It isn't rocket science.
Agree.
I don't think believe that there are many folks here in the US able think outside the box. Look at the increased number of daycare facilities we've had for children since the 1960s. Look at the increased number of Senior Citizen/Nursing Homes since the 1940s. Look at mass institutional education where parents are expected to send their children away everyday for 8 hours while someone else educates them.
Sometimes seeing one's personal responsibility, power and options is impossible when one never has seen it before and when no one else around you "sees" it. There is already in our society a lot of support for "me time" and I heard over and over "you know you need to take care of your needs, too." I always responded "but I am taking care of my needs by being here with my Dad. He's my Dad, don't you see?"
I saw families who didn't have the classic family "look."
Some were pretty rough around the edges. They shared some traumatic family histories, but somehow, there they were, caring for, loving, laughing together, setting aside hurts and differences just so their loved one could enjoy family time as they faded away from this life.
I think it's a matter of prayer, heart and God.
Carolyn
Before you make any irreversible decisions, Psycho_Bunny I hope that you have God's personal hotline number. Not one Doctor, Nurse or Researcher on Earth can predict the length or quality of your final days. I saw an ALS patient surrounded by family, walking down the hallways with help from his wife and kids, waving hi to me one day. I spoke with his wife and she said that he had at least a year or more. He was gone in a week.
A terminal cancer patient I know was told she had at best six weeks and that she could expect a rough going. She made her final arrangements, was admitted to a hospice facility and kissed her kids goodbye. Two weeks after that she started feeling better but thought that that was one of the "signs" death was close. Then a few weeks later she started getting restless in her hospice bed. She requested physical therapy. Then she started getting dressed in street clothes everyday. She waited for two months and said that she was actually gaining weight from the food. She was released to go home. She followed-up with her oncologist and she showed no tumors. I think they call that remission but five years later she was still cancer free.
Selfishly perhaps, I wondered aloud how she could have survived the cancer, how she could be told she had six weeks to live and five years later she was thriving in a new career, and quite happy and very healthy looking.
She had been diagnosed as having Stage 4 ovarian cancer. She had had surgery, chemo and radiation. They couldn't get all the tumors which had spread throughout her abdominal cavity. She was a shell of her former self and she not only survived but she thrived after being told the worst news.
Yet I had lost my dear cousin who "only" had Stage 2 ovarian cancer the year prior to my meeting the woman with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
She said "I do not know other than that God has blessed me. I didn't deserve it any more than anyone else. I prayed, I meditated, I cried a lot, and then I got better, I lived. That doesn't mean that your cousin was less deserving, it was just the way it is, God's plan. I'm going to make the best of it. I want to tell you about my brand new job ..."
I can relate to the "me first" mentality when it comes to serving family members as they pass on. To me, taking care of family members IS what I need to do in order to take care of myself. Been through it four times in recent years. It is an honor for all involved and it has tightened the bonds of our family. You are doing the right thing with your dad.
MRSA probably did start in hospitals, but is now in the wider community, you can contract it anywhere. Unless your friend has a draining wound in his leg, I don't see any reason not to visit in a hospital
As for your friend who is sick all the time, maybe its something in his/her makeup. I have been in hospitals sometimes night and day for the last 25 yrs, so has my husband, so far no severe illnesses. Again, handwashing is the key
If you have to be a patient, don't be afraid. Our health care is still the best in the world by far!
Agree completely.
God bless your daughter and all the patients she cares for!
To your post 22, very true that too. Boy, do we pay!
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