6 Things I Wish Hospitals Knew: from a Patient

I recently read a hospital's article about the 6 things they wished patients knew. So here's my take on the 6 things I wish hospitals knew.

1. Don't change my medication without telling me: This is non-negotiable. You should never swap a patient's regular medication for anything else without talking to the patient. I'm sorry some professor in college told you all medication is the same if the active ingredient is the same. They LIED. It's not the same by a long shot. You could easily be exposing them to an allergen or interaction. You're not a pharmacist so don't try to be. I'm on my medications for a reason. If you don't dispense a particular medicine tell me and I will have my husband bring it. I've had plenty of meltdowns because of this very situation. Imagine someone forces you to take an hour long detour each day. You'd have a meltdown or two right? Well swapping my medications without talking to me is no different.

2. Allergy contamination and safety should be a top priority: I've been given food I'm allergic to so many times in hospitals I've given up complaining about it. It's such a standard procedure my family brings me food rather than have me eat the hospital food. I've even been given a fruit cocktail cup in apple juice after being admitted for a reaction to apples. The nurses even knew it had apple in it! Yet no one takes responsibility for these mistakes. Step up and make your food safe. Allergy safety is as vital as sanitation. Anaphylaxis can kill.

3. No means no: I'm not sure what's unclear about this however I inevitably end up having to say no to some nurse or doctor. I am NOT a guinea pig or dartboard. I shouldn't be treated like one. You are there to give me the facts and let me decide. Not to try and pressure me into tests or treatments I'm uncomfortable with or think aren't necessary.

4. Don't harass my service animal : Again this should be common sense but it's not. Please ask before petting or engaging the dog. You're distracting my dog while he's trying to work. No you can't arbitrarily kick my service dog out of the exam room. No you can't kick him out for barking to inform me of a noise since that's his training. If you don't like it well too bad. Deal with  it. My service dog and I have rights. Respect them.

5. Understand what leaving AMA really means : I finally left AMA not that long ago. I was warned my insurance wouldn't cover the visit to the hospital and so forth. The doctor did her best to blackmail me to stay. It's a common tactic among doctors and even some nurses. There's just one hitch, it's bull. Almost all insurances say that if the treatment given was medically necessary it's covered. It has nothing to do with whether or not you decide to go AMA  or not, the treatment can still be covered. Using scare tactics like this are what make hospitals the bad guys especially doctors. Respect and understand my rights as a patient to leave AMA if I think it's the right move for me medically.

6. Interpreters are NOT optional : In this day and age of technology there is no reason a hospital shouldn't have some form of access to ASL interpretation. Court cases have been waged over this very issue. Guess what hospitals? You are required to provide understandable communication. Several court cases have ruled writing notes, lip reading, and uncertified interpretation are illegal. Yes it's illegal to ask my spouse to interpret end of story. Yes it's illegal to ask me to write back and forth or to read your lips. Yes it's very, very illegal to have one of your doctors try to interpret if they're not certified. I have the right to access to communication so provide it. End of story.

So those are the 6 things I'd like hospitals to know from a patient.

News that bothers me

I often see news that bothers me. Its like a prickle in my side that just keeps poking at me. Most often its when someone misrepresents my faith or the faith of a friend. Today I saw an article about a Muslim woman who was denied a full unopened can of soda because it could be used as a weapon.

First I think we should have a clear idea of what constitutes a weapon. The rifle my husband trains with in the Army now that's a weapon. A soda can or a nerf dart are not  weapons. Maybe if someone was trying to club someone with the soda can it could be considered a weapon until then let's apply some common sense. I could do far more damage swinging my medicine bag at you than a soda can but my bag isn't a weapon. It's a bag and for heaven's sake it's a soda can.

Second the airline hid behind the well touted line of its policy. I'm calling bull on that one. I'm not even a frequent flyer any more and I've had plenty of full unopened soda cans on a flight. So that leads me to the real question: why this woman? The answer is a sad one. The answer is that she didn't get the soda can because she's Muslim and looks it by all accounts. The flight attendant engaged in racial profiling with a policy that lets her get away with it and that is just wrong.

If we hate or discriminate against every Muslim then we become the very extremists our military has to fight. We have to reach out with love and find common ground. I have good friends who are Muslim. Maybe we don't agree on everything but we can always find the common ground that links us. I don't want to see us using racial profiling or profiling in the airports in general.

I confess I used to think profiling was a great idea. Then it happened to me. I got pulled aside for an additional screening. You want to know why? I have a service dog. No one else was pulled out of line so it certainly wasn't at random. The airport individual even went so far as to give my dog a pat down. Seriously they went through his backpack and jammed his ribs to search him. It was humiliating to be singled out. No one should have to be humiliated like that for any reason. Not to mention there's an abundance of evidence that the current TSA screening processes don't even work well.

So I understand how this woman felt when she was singled out over something silly. My point is that what the flight attendant was wrong and it just bothers me. We have to reach out and teach people or we risk becoming the very people we're fighting. We have to use common sense. Without these things we're lost.