5 ms·

This part fascinated me : "" I waited 5 anxious minutes, and then was bought into a room with two doctors, one of whom turned out to be Dr. Sonny Palmer. Son

by bleair 10y ago

This part fascinated me : "" I waited 5 anxious minutes, and then was bought into a room with two doctors, one of whom turned out to be Dr. Sonny Palmer. Sonny said Georg thought I needed some help, and I’d be checked within a day. I asked if he’d seen the letter with his name on it. He hadn’t. He went and got it. He came back and said I was going to be operated on in an hour. "" You obviously don't want to be rude when talking with doctors, but you absolutely should be your own advocate. Any time you're dealing with medical choise ask questions, such as "did you notice X" or "did you see the information from other person Y" or "do I have other options here than the plan you outlines?" or "your advice sounds good, but what are complications / side effects in doing this?" In the United States it feels like our attitude is "I go to doctor to get fix for aliment. He prescribes X. Done", and it's never that simple.

shanusmagnus 10y ago
Couldn't agree with this more. I'm from MN, we tend to be pretty polite and understated, assume that doctors (and other authorities) know what they're talking about. Had a friend who progressed to a heart attack in a waiting room because he didn't want to make a fuss. Make a fuss.
- lancewiggs 10y ago
  This was in Australia. A senior cardiologist has no motivation other than saving your life, and the symptoms were very clear. Meanwhile a stent operation is relatively trivial - as was explained later in the piece. If he'd asked for a second opinion it could very well have added enough time to make things a lot worse.
  - gpawl 10y ago
    motivation doesn't imply correctness. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373373/Study-shows-heart-patients-bypass-surgery-DONT-live-longer-patients-pills.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373373/Study-show...
  - taberiand 10y ago
    I think it was less about asking a second opinion than making sure the doctors opinion was drawn from all the available facts.
  - martyvis 10y ago
    Interestingly this article on HN last week addressed the finding that while stents are often prescribed for chest pain symptoms it is doubtful they have a more favorable outcome than other treatments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13713563#13716162 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13713563#13716162
- agumonkey 10y ago
  My aunt waited 4 hours even vomiting ... If you don't bleed out they assume you have nothing. We need to adjust healthcare. Way more important than the digital world and social networks.
  - mitchty 10y ago
    Sounds like standard triage, I've dated a nurse and the general order of priority was: - unconscious/bleeding - bleeding - everything else Its not that they assume you have nothing its that if you're conscious, whatever you have can wait.
    - agumonkey 10y ago
      We all understand that there is priority. But it seems a corner case when you have a condition that will worsen a lot in hours even though you're not bleeding nor unconscious.
agumonkey 10y ago
Communications in hospital is so subpar it's alarming some times. Long wait for stupid data transfer. "Data races", contradictory informations and judgement. I agree with your advice, but rare are the doctors that don't bounce what you say until it's really heavy.
cellularmitosis 10y ago
I've been in the hospital twice in the past year (once to visit my grandfather, once to have my appendix removed), and I was really bothered by the lack of communication. In my grandfather's case, the nurses were bewildered by the fact that his blood pressure varied so wildly between lying down and standing (which causes him to pass out). I finally had to ask them "Surely the doctor told you he has Shy-Drager syndrome, right?" They had no idea that this was normal for him, and will only get worse as he gets older. If it only took me 30 seconds to explain it to them, why couldn't his doctor have done the same. When I had my appendix removed, I was on a couple of prescription medications, which I brought with me to the hospital to ensure I got the names correct when I informed the front desk clerk as I was admitted. Two days later my nurses had a hissy fit when they discovered that not only was I on prescription medications (this somehow hadn't been communicated), but that I was also administering them myself (apparently a no-no in the hospital). Apparently no one talks to each other in hospitals.
- textfiles 10y ago
  Jason Scott, the heart attack guy, here. During the weeks I was with my dad, at Duke Hospital, I got to see extremely excellent care - because he'd been a transplant patient, they took his medications incredibly seriously. Everything was charted and they were always on top of it. There were arguments about his exercise needs, but mostly between him and the nurses, who exhibited a wide range of bedside manner. I definitely think having an advocate with you at the hospital is critical. At St. Vincent's, I really dealt with superior nurses. Only one was short with me, and that's mostly because she was asking me a question and my answers were too fru-fru for her; she wanted a number, and all I had was a guess. When I finally guesstimated a number, she went away; never saw her again. Meanwhile another walked me though a large post-heart attack education patiently to make sure I understood everything. The hospital, I'm sad to say, makes a big difference.

by bleair 10y ago

shanusmagnus 10y ago

Couldn't agree with this more. I'm from MN, we tend to be pretty polite and understated, assume that doctors (and other authorities) know what they're talking about. Had a friend who progressed to a heart attack in a waiting room because he didn't want to make a fuss. Make a fuss.

lancewiggs 10y ago
This was in Australia. A senior cardiologist has no motivation other than saving your life, and the symptoms were very clear. Meanwhile a stent operation is relatively trivial - as was explained later in the piece. If he'd asked for a second opinion it could very well have added enough time to make things a lot worse.
- gpawl 10y ago
  motivation doesn't imply correctness. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373373/Study-shows-heart-patients-bypass-surgery-DONT-live-longer-patients-pills.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373373/Study-show...
- taberiand 10y ago
  I think it was less about asking a second opinion than making sure the doctors opinion was drawn from all the available facts.
- martyvis 10y ago
  Interestingly this article on HN last week addressed the finding that while stents are often prescribed for chest pain symptoms it is doubtful they have a more favorable outcome than other treatments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13713563#13716162 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13713563#13716162
agumonkey 10y ago
My aunt waited 4 hours even vomiting ... If you don't bleed out they assume you have nothing. We need to adjust healthcare. Way more important than the digital world and social networks.
- mitchty 10y ago
  Sounds like standard triage, I've dated a nurse and the general order of priority was: - unconscious/bleeding - bleeding - everything else Its not that they assume you have nothing its that if you're conscious, whatever you have can wait.
  - agumonkey 10y ago
    We all understand that there is priority. But it seems a corner case when you have a condition that will worsen a lot in hours even though you're not bleeding nor unconscious.

agumonkey 10y ago

Communications in hospital is so subpar it's alarming some times. Long wait for stupid data transfer. "Data races", contradictory informations and judgement. I agree with your advice, but rare are the doctors that don't bounce what you say until it's really heavy.

cellularmitosis 10y ago

I've been in the hospital twice in the past year (once to visit my grandfather, once to have my appendix removed), and I was really bothered by the lack of communication. In my grandfather's case, the nurses were bewildered by the fact that his blood pressure varied so wildly between lying down and standing (which causes him to pass out). I finally had to ask them "Surely the doctor told you he has Shy-Drager syndrome, right?" They had no idea that this was normal for him, and will only get worse as he gets older. If it only took me 30 seconds to explain it to them, why couldn't his doctor have done the same. When I had my appendix removed, I was on a couple of prescription medications, which I brought with me to the hospital to ensure I got the names correct when I informed the front desk clerk as I was admitted. Two days later my nurses had a hissy fit when they discovered that not only was I on prescription medications (this somehow hadn't been communicated), but that I was also administering them myself (apparently a no-no in the hospital). Apparently no one talks to each other in hospitals.

textfiles 10y ago
Jason Scott, the heart attack guy, here. During the weeks I was with my dad, at Duke Hospital, I got to see extremely excellent care - because he'd been a transplant patient, they took his medications incredibly seriously. Everything was charted and they were always on top of it. There were arguments about his exercise needs, but mostly between him and the nurses, who exhibited a wide range of bedside manner. I definitely think having an advocate with you at the hospital is critical. At St. Vincent's, I really dealt with superior nurses. Only one was short with me, and that's mostly because she was asking me a question and my answers were too fru-fru for her; she wanted a number, and all I had was a guess. When I finally guesstimated a number, she went away; never saw her again. Meanwhile another walked me though a large post-heart attack education patiently to make sure I understood everything. The hospital, I'm sad to say, makes a big difference.