All I'm judging is the continual increase in the propensity of cops to throw people in jail for the slightest thing.
The women was dying, she knew something was wrong, and they arrested her, threw her in the clink, where she, surprise, died.
I don't have all the answers, never claimed to have all the answers and never claimed sainthood either.
I'm just sure of one thing: I don't like the idea of people being thrown in prison for making a scene because they're dying and nobody seems able or willing to help.
If that makes me a communist or some such, well, so be it then.
Not to mention, my family just came through an ugly, close encounter with the hospital/medical/police complex and it's left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I understand. What I have found up here is that more and more hospital staff are using personal judgement calls rather than medical judgement. My bf, for example - he looks like a rather rough and tough dude (he was 20 years ago, but not anymore lol) and he was burned in a FIRE in November last year. His arm was a total mess, and he had burns on his face stomach and legs as well. Second and third degree covering large patches (fuel fire, fuel that burns at 2000 degrees C). He was given morphine by the ambulance staff, and morphine in the hospital to dull the pain - but send home after they wrapped up his hands... with NOTHING. No pain killers. He was not in his right mind after 4 hits of morphine and when we were on the way home, I asked him what prescription he got. None. WTF? They had told him to use tylenol. WTF? I called the hospital to phone in a pain killer prescription at my pharmacy and they prescribed --- tylenol 3. Are you fricken kidding me? Would any of the people treating him want tylenol 3 as a pain killer?? When the morphine wore off, he was in agony. I cant prove it, but I really felt like they judged that he was a person who could become addicted or abuse something like percocet and would not give it to him. I was furious.
Two other times last fall, before the fire, the same kind of thing happened. He developed an infection in his neck where a huge lump grew and it was very painful. He was told to take ibuprophen. When being treated, one nurse literally ripped the packing out of his neck (after the doc had cut out a yucky growth) and gave him no warning. I was there, I saw it happen. All the doc had told her to do was put a new poultice on it. He almost hit the ceiling from the sudden shocking pain. She said his pain killers should have dulled the pain. he said 'what pain killers? Ive been here 5 days in a row and no one will give me any'. She just said 'oh'. It was bizarre. But after the fire incident, I was enraged. I could post a photo here of his arm to show you that it was not a normal little burn, his whole arm was disgusting and horrible - but I think it could actually make someone ill. It was bad. But no pain killers - why? Because he looks like a biker and might do something bad with them?
During both of us having medical issues at ER, we witnessed homeless people coming in and complaining of various ailments. Our nurses, both times, confided that this happens all the time and rolled their eyes. I know it's something they deal with - homeless people coming in to complain of illness so they can get a bed for the night, but it's almost like that makes them lump everyone together. you cant do that because that is a personal response, not a medical response. Yes at least one hospital did an ultrasound on the woman in this story, but by their own admission that does not always find clots, yet it does not appear that more was done. Not that they stated in the article. No the woman was not being sent a bill for her tests, but I have heard RP numerous times talking about how before medicare and medicaid, there were not people wandering around the streets being denied medical care... and yes there are people who abuse the system but guess what - i just told you about how people at my small hospital in an area servicing only 100,000 people gets homeless people looking for beds and they are TURNED AWAY too. Why? Because even in Canada with our 'free' healthcare - IT'S NOT FREE. Having universal health care does not give homeless people a bed because, for example, most hospitals have empty wings and beds in them that no staff are hired to watch over, so they say 'we have no beds'. That's not true, ever. It's 'we are not allowed to have the staff to open all of the beds in this hospital'. That is the true reason. So while everyone in here combats back and forth about whether this woman should have been treated or not - she probably would not have been in my canadian hospital either. I dont know if they would have called the police, but they have security guards now that may have escorted her from the building and if that wasnt working, they could call the police too. To me the issue is the personal judgement calls of hospital staff as opposed to medical calls. That's dangerous business. Ive had to go to the nurse's desk in the past and BEG to be moved up on the triage list, trying to explain that I was in severe pain and had never felt like that before, explained to look up my hospital records because I rarely go to ER unless something is really wrong, before finally getting moved up a few spots. It's a precarious situation at the best of times.
I have also learned in the past couple of weeks that medical staff are using their personal opinions to influence others. First Aid is needed at my job and we update it every 3 years. This time, I think the paramedic teacher was an idealist on the loose. He actually sat there and told everyone in class that if you do not get a hepatitis shot before going on holiday to certain places, and get Hep and come back with it, you will not be treated in Canada for 'free'. WTF? that is absolutely untrue. What about people who are allergic to the shots, let alone those who choose not to take them? He also told everyone that it is a law to get those shots, so it's illegal to go to mexico, etc, without the shots. If this is true, it hasnt hit the news and I cannot find info about it anywhere. we have ads on tv all the time trying to get people to take the shots, but no mention of it being a legal requirement. It's bonkers that this guy was sitting there spouting off.
But then he also went on about how when he was a medic in calgary, a homeless diabetic would habitually lay down on the train tracks, someone would call 911, and the ambulance would show up and take him to the hospital, where he would tell them he was diabetic, they would test him, and he would be given insulin and a short supply of it to take out with him. When those ran out, he would do the train track thing again. I guess our universal system aint that hot after all, eh? It costs the taxpayers $300 a shot to pick up a patient, plus mileage to the hospital, and this particular man gets it on a regular basis without contributing. But there are many who do not. Ive seen/heard it with my own eyes. He probably learned that going directly into the ER didnt get him anywhere, so he tried the more drastic route and found that it worked. The medications are SO expensive up here (not as bad as the US I gather, but still really high, I think over $100 for the test strips for diabetics let alone the insulin itself), so the guy found a loophole. Most people cannot find one.