[first published in "The Flatland Oracles," my previous blog 07.18.2006]
Yesterday was not a good day for journaling. At 8 AM Nick had to have a certain medical procedure, inconvenient and uncomfortable, but unserious, so naturally I had to go with him. The procedure ended up taking the whole of the morning---a whole morning of me sitting in the waiting room in a chair that managed to be both unpleasantly straight and oddly unsupportive of the lumbar spine. Mine was out, so it was torture. Plus I was a little worried; when a family member undergoes a procedure, one always is, a little.
Do the designers of hospitals have a brief to make waiting rooms as unpleasant as possible for those waiting? The waiting room where I had to sit for two hours this morning was positively plush compared to the ER waiting room of the same hospital, where I had to wait much, much longer (and I was the person who was ill).
I really do resent the dead-eyed treatment you get from most medical personnel these days; do they have to rub it in by making the patient and the patient's family suffer as much as possible? I've come to the conclusion that the psychology of ER waiting rooms is designed as a deterrent to people who might otherwise come in for really trivial problems as well and to street people who might otherwise come there to sleep.
But is this wise? I would rather die than go to the ER. I probably would die rather than go to the ER. Several months ago, I had a series of symptoms that caused me definite concern and that worried Nick as well. "I'd better take you to the emergency room," Nick said. But there was no way I was going, unless I was hauled off unconscious in an ambulance. A couple of past experiences of sitting on their cold straight-back naughahyde chairs in a room with tile floors where you couldn't get away from the TV no matter how ill you felt....those were enough.
Why can't they do better for the pathetic souls who have to sit and wait---either to receive care themselves (miserable) or for a family member who is in the hands of the medicos (even more miserable)? Why don't they take steps to make what is already a stressful and painful experience just that little bit more bearable? It would be so simple: put a carpet on the floor to muffle the noise; either set aside a space where people can watch TV or else set aside a place where they have the option not to hear it would be a good start. (Listening to Fox News doesn't exactly alleviate stress for me).
And why NOT somewhat more comfortable chairs---chairs that would allow you to lean backward wearily and take a nap if you need to---along with some straight backed chairs and a table or two for people with laptops who want to use the time they'd otherwise be killing? Why is that so much to ask?
Why not lease space to a Starbucks or a bookstore or something? Yes, I said Starbucks. In a place where a single aspirin runs the patient $5, paying that amount for a cup of coffee to a giant corporation has a certain symmetry. At least it's good coffee.
If I lived somewhere like England or Canada where I didn't have to pay for health care, I'd be less bitter and resentful of the treatment (or nontreatment) that patients receive. But today's procedure---which, mind you, is covered by insurance---cost us personally a whopping nondiscretionary after-tax $390 that we can ill afford. For $390, an airline would treat us just as shabbily, but would at least take us someplace we wanted to go and had a choice about traveling to.
In fairness, the place where I waited today wasn't anything like as bad as the emergency room in the same hospital. Perhaps the fact that we had an appointment is considered by the hospital to entitle us to somewhat better waiting facilities. True, the TV was blaring loudly in the background and the chairs were terrible, but there was a carpet and some attempt at 'decor.' It wasn't a horrible cold white vault. There was a refreshment room with a table off to the side where I could have used my laptop. So that's a start.
And although Nick's doctor was pretty unconcerned about making it clear how little he cared about pretending this trivial little procedure mattered to him, the nurses and other personnel were amazingly friendly. I was really surprised because my own experience with ER personnel at this hospital is that they are pretty fucking unconcerned with either patients or families. This lot were wonderful.
In an entirely different emergency room in another state, I sat and waited for four hours in a cold white hell while my mother was undergoing tests. There was a young girl sitting near me who was slowly crying into her hands. I think she was waiting for care. Not a single member of staff so much as asked her if she was in pain or needed to lie down somewhere. Disgusting. I'd have complained, except my mother---who still intimidates me!---shook her pointy little finger at me and said, "DON'T YOU DARE." It's her town and her hospital and she has to go there a lot. I didn't want to ruin it for her, so I kept my mouth shut.
I think patients of medical facilities need to be much more vocal about ill-treatment by the operatives and by the implied insult of horrible uncomfortable and cold surroundings. Doctors need to get over themselves. They are highly paid technicians who provide a necessary service. And hospitals are expensive waiting facilities. They all ought to pretend to care about the comfort of both patients and families and yet they don't. And they couldn't care less whether the people to whom they provide service mind
It's up to the consumers to start letting these places know they aren't satisfied with the standard of service. We pay a lot of nondiscretionary income for these services that NOBODY wants. At least we could insist on the dignity of moderately comfortable surroundings in which to suffer.
Comments