Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Killing Me Softly

Or how to die unnoticed in the USA. 

Here I go complaining about health care in the States--

Yesterday I went to my Nurse Practitioner for my required blood pressure check-up. I think they want me to show up every 6 months, but I wait until my meds prescription has expired. That means about every 15 months. Or sometimes even longer if I beg for meds after the prescription expiration. So, you see, I am not jumping to visit the doctor or nurse.

Except for a higher than "normal" blood pressure and being between 10-15 pounds overweight, I am fine. But if you check my medical records around here, you might find that I am no longer living.  

Yesterday when I asked the practitioner's assistant if a record of my broken foot was recorded in my file last September ( I had that "fixed" at the hospital emergency room across the driveway from this office), she got into a real panic trying to find me on her database. Then she asked, "When was the last time you came here for a visit?" When I said Winter 2015, she said, "Oh, that was before we changed over to the computer." And then she started asking me questions that I remember filling in on a form when I became a "patient" of this practitioner around 5-6 years ago. Then I reminded her that I had been a patient of this doctor/hospital service for 10 years and had been told that my files from my previous doctor were somewhere in a moving box. The assistant said, "Yes, they are in an archive room." 

My question is, "Where is my current file?" Did I only get added to the computer if I made a visit to the doctor since the date they were required to keep personal data on a computer? 

Who is worried about Big Brother watching you? 

I am pretty sure that he could care less!

2 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

I categorize the current state of medical chaos as "old people medicine." Except, it's probably the same for young people.

wilma said...

Here they couldn't find anything of me about something what was going on. I asked if that was not in the pc. NO. It was ,but this guy(read doctor) was just to lazy. Then I just walk out and make an appointment with a real doc.
Now we have one who check everything in previous files and stuff. Way better.
Wilma