4 ms·

I have never admitted to a hospital in the US but have heard stories of other folks who have been. I just get a feeling that once you are admitted in a hospital

I have never admitted to a hospital in the US but have heard stories of other folks who have been. I just get a feeling that once you are admitted in a hospital nobody has any power including yourself. Everything is taken over by the "system". This is my biggest fear why I would never want to be hospitalized.

klmadfejno 6y ago
That may be true, but I meant powerless to meaningfully improve someone's medical outcome due to COVID, regardless of bureaucratic barriers.
- koheripbal 6y ago
  ...which is not correct.
nashashmi 6y ago
It actually benefits you to have a doctor in the family who is there navigating and talking to the doctors. The doctors are more receptive to each other and listen carefully. Otherwise you are just a number. And the doctors won't try so hard on patients who really don't have any understanding of medicine in the first place.
- bsder 6y ago
  > And the doctors won't try so hard on patients who really don't have any understanding of medicine in the first place. I have never found this to be the case. Generally, if I was fighting with a doctor, it was because he was trying to be too aggressive and do too much, not too little.
  - nashashmi 6y ago
    Clarification : Doctors won't try so hard to do thorough testing of the patient nor would they take a deep look to assess all symptoms. But if they feel you know medicine or are capable of understanding medicine or have a drive to learn more about your condition, then they will try harder, do more tests, ask more questions, etc.
- isolli 6y ago
  My wife went to the ER (in Manhattan) with septicemia a week after giving birth. She was left lying on a stretcher for 17 hours without as much as water to drink before they finally "found" a room for her. (Thankfully she recovered.) A few months later, a friend who works at the hospital told me: I wish you had called me, I could have gotten you a room. And I thought: this is just like a third world country, where you need connections to get basic care.
  - koheripbal 6y ago
    You are lucky. People in Quebec hospitals are left in hallways permanently, due to space issues - even before covid.
bsder 6y ago
> I just get a feeling that once you are admitted in a hospital nobody has any power including yourself. Everything is taken over by the "system". This is my biggest fear why I would never want to be hospitalized. Well, I was admitted and personally walked out with a gall bladder about to explode. Yeah, I was back in the hospital 24 hours later ... not my finest hour. So, I can absolutely confirm that you can be stubborn and buck the system. I will absolutely defend your ability to spend time and research your treatment when dealing with doctors normally--especially for chronic conditions. Doctors page fault on every patient and if you are being responsible you may very well be better informed than your general practitioner about what is going on with your body. However, if you are actually admitted to a hospital with something acute, do you really have the wherewithal to diagnose and manage it? By the time I hit the hospital, I was probably on 72 hours with very little sleep and pain that took hydromorphone to even dent. I guarantee I wasn't thinking clearly by then. The biggest problem with hospitals is that you need an advocate for you, personally. Without someone in the room with you, you won't know if the nurse missed that medication round, isn't paying attention to your increasing temperature, didn't bring you your lunch, etc. The problem isn't when the system works. The problem is that without someone else there you don't have someone to watch for if the system hiccups.

klmadfejno 6y ago

That may be true, but I meant powerless to meaningfully improve someone's medical outcome due to COVID, regardless of bureaucratic barriers.

koheripbal 6y ago
...which is not correct.

nashashmi 6y ago

It actually benefits you to have a doctor in the family who is there navigating and talking to the doctors. The doctors are more receptive to each other and listen carefully. Otherwise you are just a number. And the doctors won't try so hard on patients who really don't have any understanding of medicine in the first place.

bsder 6y ago
> And the doctors won't try so hard on patients who really don't have any understanding of medicine in the first place. I have never found this to be the case. Generally, if I was fighting with a doctor, it was because he was trying to be too aggressive and do too much, not too little.
- nashashmi 6y ago
  Clarification : Doctors won't try so hard to do thorough testing of the patient nor would they take a deep look to assess all symptoms. But if they feel you know medicine or are capable of understanding medicine or have a drive to learn more about your condition, then they will try harder, do more tests, ask more questions, etc.
isolli 6y ago
My wife went to the ER (in Manhattan) with septicemia a week after giving birth. She was left lying on a stretcher for 17 hours without as much as water to drink before they finally "found" a room for her. (Thankfully she recovered.) A few months later, a friend who works at the hospital told me: I wish you had called me, I could have gotten you a room. And I thought: this is just like a third world country, where you need connections to get basic care.
- koheripbal 6y ago
  You are lucky. People in Quebec hospitals are left in hallways permanently, due to space issues - even before covid.

bsder 6y ago

> I just get a feeling that once you are admitted in a hospital nobody has any power including yourself. Everything is taken over by the "system". This is my biggest fear why I would never want to be hospitalized. Well, I was admitted and personally walked out with a gall bladder about to explode. Yeah, I was back in the hospital 24 hours later ... not my finest hour. So, I can absolutely confirm that you can be stubborn and buck the system. I will absolutely defend your ability to spend time and research your treatment when dealing with doctors normally--especially for chronic conditions. Doctors page fault on every patient and if you are being responsible you may very well be better informed than your general practitioner about what is going on with your body. However, if you are actually admitted to a hospital with something acute, do you really have the wherewithal to diagnose and manage it? By the time I hit the hospital, I was probably on 72 hours with very little sleep and pain that took hydromorphone to even dent. I guarantee I wasn't thinking clearly by then. The biggest problem with hospitals is that you need an advocate for you, personally. Without someone in the room with you, you won't know if the nurse missed that medication round, isn't paying attention to your increasing temperature, didn't bring you your lunch, etc. The problem isn't when the system works. The problem is that without someone else there you don't have someone to watch for if the system hiccups.