Dear American Healthcare System- You fail.

This isn’t about a single payer system.  Those type of systems have their own set of issues.  But while the political parties argue about the costs and accessibility, your failure runs deeper than that.  What good is a healthcare system that is cost efficient or accessible if it does not provide quality care?

You have failed so many people.

You fail those who get misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.  

You fail those who go to the doctor to get their symptoms checked out and those systems get brushed off.  Then those patients find out months later that they have Stage IV cancer.

You fail those who need psychiatric care, but don’t get it and end up being a danger to themselves or others.

You fail those who have progressive diseases and have to pay $20k a year on their medicine.

You fail all those patients who fall through the cracks because doctors are too busy looking at their one system of expertise instead of the patient as a whole person.

You fail every patient that has had their drugs mismanaged.

You fail to provide support to the families.  They may not be the patients, but having family members who are sick is stressful and they need support too.  There need to be crisis counselors.  

You fail those who get admitted to the hospital for a procedure and while in the hospital, the patient develops an infection.  Deadly infections such as C. Diff (costridium difficile colitis), MRSA (Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus).  These infections have the potential to turn into sepsis, which can be deadly.  

Hospitals need to be held accountable for infections acquired in the hospital.  People should be able to be treated without the fear that they will develop a life threatening infection.  

This is not acceptable.

Bryon fought many infections during his stay in the ICU.  I had to learn the names of antibiotics that I never knew existed and should not have had to know existed.  

Hearing about Rep. Steve Scalise being readmitted to the ICU for infection brings out many emotions for me.  A sort of PTSD where I relive parts of the nightmare.  I can still feel the fear and helplessness I had when Bryon was fighting the infections.  For months I sat by his bedside, just waiting.  Staring at the machines that displayed his vitals and trying to will them to be stable.

I feel for Rep Scalise’s wife.  I don’t want to be arrogant and say I know exactly how she feels because everyone handles crisis differently, but I have a better idea than most as to what she is feeling.  She should not have to be dealing with this, especially after the trauma of her husband getting shot.  I just hope she gets the support she needs and that her husband gets well again.  I hope that the outcome is different than Bryon’s outcome.  

Sincerely-

One pissed off widow.