For a Healthier and Happier Life, You:

• Don’t get sick in the hospital or rehab

• Stay away from the GERMS

• Don’t let a poorly paid staff person or professional person affect your health

• Know what each medication looks like and what it is for

• Make sure the medical staff knows who your Health Advocate is and that they will make all of your decisions

I want you to take the above 5 items very seriously. In any situations you experience, think back to these 5, and act accordingly. It’s your life and health.

Situation 1

One morning at about 5:00 am while I was in the hospital, I called my wife and told her they had me on a gurney in the middle of one of the heaviest traveled streets in the area. Please come get me right now. My wife figured I was really drugged up on something but the longer I talked the more she wondered what the true story was. When I finally hung up she immediately called the floor nurse and explained what I had done and would she please check and see if I was in my room. The nurse said she would and she would call my wife back right away. The nurse called my wife fairly quickly and said not only was I in bed but after just talking to her I was already asleep.

Later that same morning I had an early visitor. While she was talking with me a woman came in and said a doctor wanted my permission to amputate the second toe on my right foot. I said OK. My visitor later told me she wondered if Penny, my wife, knew about this and who was the woman asking for my permission. She decided Penny must know and wouldn’t bother calling her.

I didn’t know any of the above part of the story until after I went home almost 2 months later. Fortunately they didn’t amputate the toe or anything else.

Solutions for Situation 1

• All patients in a medical facility MUST have a Medical Advocate

When I checked into this same hospital after the above event I told them I wanted to tell them who my Medical Advocate was. They said I had already signed a form saying I had a Medical Advocate. I asked to see it and they said here just look at this blank form. Nowhere on the form was there a place to put a name. So I told them the above story and said so you just ignore the whole form. No reply.

• Make sure the staff taking care of you knows who your Advocate is and that they make all the medical decisions

• If there is no place for your advocate’s name and contact information on any existing form or there is no form, ask to see or talk to the top administrative person at the hospital to get that corrected

• Write to the top official of your State Medical Association and ask that they make sure there are proper Medical Advocate forms any place medical procedures are done in your State. This will assist patients tremendously and save the insurance companies a lot of money.

_____

Situation 2

At one point I was put in an isolation room because they didn’t know if the infection I must have was contagious or not. Roughly half of the staff that came into my room never took precautions like they are supposed to in these isolation rooms. Gowns, masks, and the use of sanitizer and gloves are the normal procedure, I am told. One visitor was informed what he was supposed to do. The rest – nothing.

Solutions for Situation 2

• Stay away from the germs

• Don’t get sick in the hospital

• Make sure the top administrator in the facility knows about this lapse in procedures (he or she will probably almost fall over because they think all procedures are always followed)

• Again, contact your State Medical Association so they can remind their physicians and Statewide medical facilities how important procedures are in slowing down and eliminating the progress of germs. This will save money because fewer medical admissions for both the insurance companies and medical facilities means costs will go down.

  ____

Situation 3

I had one roommate who was in the hospital because he didn’t eat much and had diarrhea for over 2 months. He had lost 70 pounds and his doctor told him he was going to die because of malnutrition. He had to wear a diaper. Yet, two techs told him he would have to wait to get his diaper changed because they “thought” he could control himself. He frequently had to wait two hours and once it was almost 4 hours before they changed him.

Solutions for Situation 3

• Don’t let a poorly paid staff person affect your health

• Don’t get sick in the hospital or rehab. Cleaning up after a person who has had a bowel movement is probably the worst part of the job for these techs. But, it is part of the job, so let’s get it done and over with and help out the patient

• Again advise the top administrator of the facility. It will save the institution money on acquiring patients because there will be more good word of mouth about that very competent facility.

_____

Situation 4

I had a nurse bring me some pills. One looked different than any I had taken before. I asked what it was and what it was for. He said he would have to go to his cart in the hall to find out. When he came back he said oops, wrong pill.

Solutions for Situation 4

• Know what each pill looks like and what it is for. YOU have to monitor all facets of your health care

• Don’t be afraid to ask the medical or tech staff anything. It’s your life and health at stake

_____

Situation 5

Several years ago, I had a double knee replacement surgery that turned out to be absolutely perfect. The only problem was that the hospital gave me a medication I said I never wanted. My doctor had recommended it for pain before the surgery. I took one pill and felt horribly drunk for over a day. I told him I never wanted it again and he said OK. It was also on my admissions information when I checked into the hospital, but I was given it in the Recovery Room anyway. I wound up with my head falling back and my eyes rolling back and up. My wife went out to get the nurse. When she came in I was sitting in bed normally. She said, “He looks fine.” Later I fell asleep into my food and I had very slurred speech. Five (5) days later they determined I had had a stroke. To this day I blame the medication I said I NEVER wanted again. When I asked ANYONE on the hospital staff, “How would a lay person know to come to the hospital because if they get there within 2 hours of having a stroke it can be at least partially reversed and it took you 5 days?” They ALL told me, “Actually it’s within 3 hours and the rest is a good question.” That’s all I ever heard from anyone, that’s a good question. It seems to me they were just covering their you know what.

During this same hospital stay after I was out of Recovery and into rehab (before I was sent to Intensive Care) When I was brought some pills I asked if 1 wasn’t the pill I didn’t want? They said if I didn’t want it they would throw it away and did. A little while later (at least it seemed like just a little while) they brought another one of the pills in question and told me what it was. I said that’s what I don’t want. They then threw that one away. I asked if they could throw it away? They said sure. It was a narcotic and I thought we had strict control over narcotics in hospitals.

Solutions for Situation 5

• Don’t get sick in the hospital or rehab

• Know what each pill looks like and what it is for

• Don’t let a staff person affect your health in the wrong way

• Advise the top administrator of the medical facility and your State Medical Association of all the procedures (at least what would seem reasonable as procedures) not followed and harmful to you the patient

• I won’t mention any legal remedies here or in other locations of the book for obvious reasons.

Footnote to this situation. When I left the hospital I couldn’t even sign an “x” for a signature on my discharge papers. Today I write better than before my stroke, but a little slower. I have fully recovered except for a small reminder in my right shoulder. Those physical therapy people were just the greatest.