I think that most of you, my readers, would agree with the people I've talked to: health care in our country is a nightmare. We spend more money than any other country. Logic would have us thriving. Instead, on a lot of measures like moms and babies surviving childbirth we're at the same level as impoverished nations. It's also inequitable with people leading diminished lives or dying for the crime of not having insurance or huge amounts of wealth to cover out of pocket costs. I think we can agree that something has to be done.
I'm pretty sure that many of you would greet my recommendation of a book explaining all the things that go wrong and what must be done with the joy of high school students receiving summer reading lists. But bear with me. Ricardo Nuila's The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine is THE book that explains the issue in very understandable language and organization...
...and holds reader interest while doing so. It's because of the format. It's as suspenseful as the mysteries I review. The heart and soul of the book around which all else revolves is the stories of very real people whose narratives intermingle throughout the volume. You get to really know and care about them. You may very well find one you can identify with. Since I almost died after childbirth I really felt for Ebonie, a mother to be with a high risk pregnancy. Wanting to know if she and her baby survive was one of the reasons I stuck with the book.
The discussion of each fault with the system follows organically from a complication in the life of one of the patients. When we read about the travails of Christian who bounced from medical facility to medical facility, even out of the country, desperate to get relief from disabling knee pain, Nuila says:
"What this tells us is that without trusted doctors to guide them, patients are left rudderless in an ocean of high-tech remedies. Science is a language, one that can be difficult to understand. Doctors should serve as sciences translator. But for those without good private insurance, and therefore without consistent access to a doctor with whom they can build trust, this important role isn't always valued: doctors are reimbursed for the services they perform, not the advice they give."
I have a primary care provider in a practice that welcomes people who are insured through Medicare. In the Bangor area we have two hospitals: a huge one that is a subsidiary of a system where stockholder profit comes first (which I'll call Goliath) and a small independent one (David). When I had a subcutaneous cyst I wanted removed she knew what I didn't--that David had better sanitation which means lower chances of acquiring an infection.
Nuila tells us a lot that's wrong with the American "health-care" system. But he speaks from a perspective of optimism. The hospital in which he has worked for more than a decade, Ben Taub, is a county hospital--the place that takes in the people other hospitals want nothing to do with such as the uninsured and the undocumented. It's the place where doctors think outside the box to help patients take care of medical and other needs. It's a place where patients are considered and treated as human beings. He believes that this hospital has a lot to teach us about better ways of providing health care.
I recommend this book to all people who are seriously concerned about the state of medical care in America and eager to see change. I consider it a must acquire for public and higher education libraries. I've just asked my library to order it. I'd ask people well enough to afford to do so to gift a copy to a library that can't afford it.
On a purrrsonal note, if Nuila ever gets as far (from Texas) as Penobscot County, Maine I would love to introduce him to our David hospital. I spent four days their right after spring semester with a kidney stone and an infection that resisted at least two antibiotics. I was treated like a human being who mattered immensely by everyone from the doctors and nurses to the techs and dieticians. The only time anyone asked about ways of paying was when we did the admissions paperwork. My care was determined by what I needed and wanted. For instance, when I had to go to the Goliath to have a stent put in (Because of the infection, removal at that time was not an option) and asked to be sent there long enough for the operation and brought back instead of transferred they made that happen. In determining when I could leave they factored in the large amount of family and community support I had available. Then a couple of days after I returned home I received a call from a woman who told me that based on my family's income she could help me get 70% of my bill for that hospital removed. All I had to do was submit several documents. She walked me through every step of the process. When she told me we had succeeded she was so happy and excited. I felt like I'd won the lottery.
A great shout goes out to my David and all the other David hospital that serve as true public servants and rays of hope in a truly bleak landscape.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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