Lifelong Hearing LossAt the age of nine years old, I was diagnosed with progressive sensorineural hearing loss. At that time, I already had a 60% loss in the high tones. No one knew I was deaf because I had adapted and learned to lipread. I suspect most people I encounter these days don’t realize how […]
You Are What You SayCorporate-speak infests healthcare. Buzzwords invaded medicine thirty years ago, but the infection was contained to hospital administration. Now healthcare is controlled by insurance companies, global technology firms and for-profit outfits of all sorts. Business slang, the jargon of greed, is fouling the language of care.The corporate-speak contagion spread, pushed from hospital […]
Over the last several weeks I have been struck by the growing chasms in modern medicine. I see battles between physicians and patients, physicians and technology, physicians and bureaucracy and between the entire healthcare industry and health itself. The chasms are particularly deep in women’s health where so often serious health issues are written off […]
Understand What Insurance Is and Is NotFinding healthcare resources – people, treatments, care – is a match game. Your quest is to find resources to partner with you to feel better, heal and experience the life you want to live.Reading “match game,” the vision that probably came to mind involves perusing a list of “providers” […]
How can you support the heroine in your life and navigate the healing process? Find your inner Chris Columbus.Being ill is overwhelming. Anyone with ongoing illness is a heroine on an epic journey. This journey can be filled with plenty of bumps, roadblocks, U-turns, and forks (aka decision-making opportunities). There are some awe-inspiring moments as […]
The New York Times reported that women are less satisfied with their health care than men, citing a study from Health Services Research.Researchers could see an overall difference between men’s and women’s views, but these differences were even more prominent for particular questions. One question asked patients if they felt they received sufficient information for […]
The professor squinted through cigarillo smoke rings. She listened as fourth-year nursing students discussed ways to help Cambodian refugee families be more independent in their new American home. “This independence drivel is bull s**t. People come for care. Dammit, care for them”, she snapped.The nursing professor was persona non grata in a Central American country. […]
Perhaps you’ve seen the case of Erick and Marlise Munoz, who reside in Tarrant County, Texas. Marlise is comatose due to a pulmonary embolism and is on life support because she is pregnant. In previous conversations, Marlise had expressed to her husband that she wouldn’t want to be on life support should she become comatose. […]