Dichotomy
By Jane A Malkoff MSN RN NP
I know a woman who received excellent health care in the western United States, Colorado, and other countries. Her health care issues are serious. She takes accountability for understanding her diagnoses. She is unswerving in her desire to live well and for as long as possible. While out west and in Colorado she had good relationships with her health care providers. She educated herself about her health problems, used the internet for information and brought information she found compelling to her appointments for collaboration with her providers. Her providers understood her health needs as well as their shared role in a commitment to a plan of care. It was clear to this woman and her providers that quality of care depended on this collaboration.
This same woman moved to Indiana and found health care providers known as the best in the area. She set about health care planning with the same intent and practices she had used successfully in the past. Indiana, she found out, was like nothing she had ever experienced. She was denied a potentially life-saving diagnostic test when she told her MD that leaders in the field were recommending it. She was reprimanded by her primary care MD and a specialist for using the internet to learn about health and options. She heard, “I went to school for 10 years to do this and you go to the internet over my advice” and “You need to just sit and turn on the TV and stay away from the internet”. When she chose not to return to those providers treating her as an outsider in her own health care, she found out word gets around fast in Indiana. When attempts to ostracize her from involvement in her own health care did not work, she was ostracized from the system through the notes the providers had taken and the calls they had made to one another.
She is considering staying in Indiana to be near family but may drive across state lines to receive quality medical attention where she can have a voice in her own care. Thanks to her bravery she did obtain the needed procedure out of state. It was a very good thing she made that decision.
Clarity admires those who find their voice in oppressive situations like these. We will stand by you all the way.