Meds in the Water

Everyone should read this. All of it. Twice.

From the article: A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.‎ Full story...

Rats!

Reuters has the story of a young man who elected to have his surgery delayed due to the overwhelming stench of a dead rat in the roofspace above the operating room. Now if only we could get people to do the same about handwashing...

This is the rest of my post.‎ Full story...

Medical Record Request... Now You're Under Arrest!

Most institutions can be frustrating. We all hate bureaucracy. One of the most frustrating things about hospital care can be the sheer size of the organisation and it's layers of requirements and staff that can sometimes seem to be pretty unfeeling, uncaring, even though it's full of health care providers.

The Chicago Tribune has a story about Dorothy Tillman, a 60 year-old African-American woman who took her 86 year-old aunt to hospital. Frustrated by an overnight stay that she said yielded little treatment, Tillman requested the medical records when her aunt was discharged.

Tillman planned on taking her aunt to a different hospital. After being told the records were not immediately available, she pretty much put her foot down and demanded the records. Hospital security were called by nursing staff, security called the police, Tillman was arrested in the hospital by a policeman kneeling on her spine and threatening to Taser her, and she was subsequently charged with criminal trespassing.

Wow.

So, we have some itinerant older Black woman making a nuisance of herself demanding medical records from a medical facility.

Trouble is, this isn't any old itinerant Black woman. This is civil rights activist, friend of Martin Luther King Jr., former Chicago City Alderman Dorothy Tillman.

Arrested for requesting medical records.

The hospital spokesman told reporters "medical records must be requested in writing".

I'm sure Ms. Tillman would have written her request down while she waited.

Obviously this is not how most medical record requests are handled, but it makes a larger point:

WE WANT ACCESS TO OUR MEDICAL RECORDS.

NOW.

It's not a favour, it's not an annoyance, figure it out. We want our life-saving health information, we own it, we control it, we want it.

Full story here.‎ Full story...