Social Justice and Medical Practice by Merrill Singer Rebecca Allen

Author:Merrill Singer, Rebecca Allen [Merrill Singer, Rebecca Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781351621533
Google: HTJDDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-12-14T03:33:07+00:00

p.120

In another case, involving an 88-year-old man who was still working as a bricklayer, Bruce recommended a colonoscopy which led to a diagnosis of colon cancer, surgery, and a colostomy. A year later, the patient developed anemia, and Bruce had him have another scoping that found polyps, which were removed. The patient went home afterward, but a few days later Bruce found him and his daughter waiting for him in the parking lot of the Burgdorf. The man was complaining of abdominal pain. Bruce examined him in the parking lot and suspected a bowel perforation. He sent the man to the emergency room. When Bruce called the hospital later, he learned that his patient was being sent for a computerized tomography (CT) scan. Bruce felt the patient was in good hands but decided to drop into the hospital that evening to see how he was doing. He was startled to find his patient sitting in the corner of the emergency room receiving saline through an intravenous drip. Said Bruce, “They forgot about him. He kept getting bumped for the CT scan. The shifts had changed. And I had a tantrum. I don’t usually have tantrums, but I was really upset” (quoted in Meldrum 2010: 95). As a result, within the hour his patient was operated on for the perforation, an operation that was a success. But the man was never able to go back to work and wound up in a nursing home. Bruce subsequently wondered: “Should I have been more suspicious? I thought I had handed off [the patient to the hospital]. In fact I had. But someone needed to turn the light on. And it didn’t happen. He died a year later” (quoted in Meldrum 2010: 96). This experience affirmed Bruce’s belief that every patient needs an advocate if they are to successfully navigate our broken healthcare system. This perspective was further highlighted in his own life as he believes both his mother and Lisa’s mother would have died earlier than they did if he had not been their advocate, as they struggled with receiving good healthcare.

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