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!