My father has several life/ death medical conditions . Hes on dialysis and has mobility issues. Along diabetes, heart disease and recovered from covid. Just had a rough day with all medical professionals that didn't communicate and my father ended up not receiving any care after driving from one place to another. My father has trouble getting in and out of the car so this day he had to do extra work all for nothing. The professionals acted like they didn't care. All words to my face but no action. Where and how can I complain about multiple places, and people who didn't do anything for my father but give us one heck of a day. Not only did he not get treatment for dialysis and this is day 5 without it, I was belittled as a caregiver by a nurse who did nothing for dad except let him sit for 3 hrs and was not notified.
I do so much better advocating for others than myself. And, I have a daughter who is an RN that can get me results. Our health system is lousy. Nurses are overworked, paid well, but overworked. And I find some are working for the good money not because they care. Keep records. Write down Dad was there but received no dialysis. I would not put it past the facility to bill Medicare. I would also call before his next visit and ask if there will be any problems because he sat for 3 hours and never got his treatment. There must be someone higher up.
One of my pet peeves is a Hospital doctor will not consult with your primary or specialist. I was told that they were incharge in their hospital. I think a lot less mistakes would be made if a primary and Specialist were consulted. A hospital wanted to do a test on Mom that would involve dye but her kidneys would need to be checked first because the dye effected the kidney. I had listed all Moms doctors, one being her urologist. If they had called his office they would have found Mom had one kidney removed and her other one worked at 50%. So no dye. And, if they had looked in Moms records they would have found that the surgery to remove that kidney was done at their hospital. Their records also show that Mom is allergic to penicillin but they gave her an antibiotic that had it in it. I was there TG and told them she only had the one kidney. What would have happened if I wasn't there?
Discharge...they had given Mom xtra B/P meds for pain but didn't lower them once she was out of pain. My DH doesn't use B/P meds but received some during an AFIB problem. He went back in rhythm and they said he needed to continue the B/P meds. In my Moms case she couldn't get off the couch and the in home Nurse caught the mistake and called her primary. In my husbands case, he saw his primary 2 wks later and she said he shouldn't be able to stand up his pressure was so low. Both times I question why did Mom need double her dose and why did my DH need any at all. Since then, we do not wait one or two weeks to see our primary after a hospital visit. We get in ASAP.
Honestly, for my FIL, since he has completely stopped advocating for himself as far as things that we consider important and seems to dally over things that are nonsensical to us (he will ask the doctor about diet pills when he should be asking about his A1C and insulin levels) we ensure that he always has one of us with him and that we always review his portal notes regularly (because they often put notes here than they don't even say to you in person). Especially since he has two primary doctors (VA and private practice) and multiple specialists.
I think these days as patients or patient advocates we have to speak up a lot more because our medical system is so overwhelmed, not just with providing medical services, but also the red tape and administrative back office stuff that comes with today's medical practices and insurance requirements.
Medical care is getting worse and worse. We are waiting often months to see someone. Then that someone is not even a doctor but a Nurse Practitioner. Even Hospice is now a part of the follow-the-money schemes and is down to one hour a week RN visit, two baths, your bottle of morphine and a phone call from clergy and social worker who isn't very good.
This is the way it is. We will soon be down to a zoom call.
I am sorry, but anyone stuck in the medical machine understands much of what you are going through. And complaints? Nope. There's no time for that, either.
I sure am sorry and I sure wish you luck. I was so lucky myself to be an RN when I was. Our nurses and docs now render care all the while they type on a computer. When I left nursing all the machinery was just starting. Who had time to even look the patient in the eye anymore, to realize that there is a human being on the other side of all those wound vacs and regulators for IV, urine, breathing apparatus. We are living longer. But...................