MY FRUSTRATING JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY THROUGH THE US HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
If you’ve landed here I can guarantee you some interesting reading. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is John and I live in the small town of Cave Creek, AZ. about 20 miles North East of Phoenix. I was born and raised in Southern Africa, moved to the United Kingdom in my teens and then to the United States in my twenties. I have lived on both the East coast and West coast but have now call Arizona my home for the past 25 years. I became a naturalized citizen in 2008 and it was around the same time that I met the love of my life, now my second wife.
I decided to write this blog to chronicle an almost surreal series of health related events that started in 2008 and have plagued my life ever since. As you read through these blogs you may form an opinion that there is no way these things could have happened to one person in such a methodical way. I can assure you these accounts are all 100% factual and accurate.
The underlying theme to my story is the incredible frustration and uphill battle I have had dealing with the US healthcare system and the illusion we have that the medical professional is either willing or capable of helping us. We become aware of a change in our bodies, aches or pains, ailment etc. and we immediately run to the doctor with the misconception that we will be ‘fixed’. This rarely happens. Doctors are no longer trained to ‘diagnose’ conditions. They are trained to read lab results and radiology reports. Doctors don’t listen to patient opinions about their own conditions. In fact self diagnosis is frowned upon, yet anyone with a grain of intelligence and the use of the internet can diagnose themselves with a relatively high degree of accuracy. People are innately aware of their own bodies but the medical profession dismisses this concept. Why is it that a doctor’s diagnosis is always considered ‘the gospel’ when you can consult with 4 or 5 doctors about the same condition and end up with 4 or 5 different diagnoses. Think about that. With 5 different diagnoses, at least 4 must be wrong (but it’s usually 5).
With the more recent emergence of patient centered medical ‘care’, the medical profession would be well advised to take this into consideration when ‘listening’ to a patient’s account. My own experience with the US health(don’t)care system over the past 10 years has been nothing short of catastrophic. In fact not only wasn’t I helped by ‘the system’, I have been consistently ignored, dismissed and discredited. On numerous occasions I have walked away from ‘medical professionals’ injured or harmed way beyond my original condition (which wasn’t resolved either). What happened to the doctors Hippocratic oath – Do no harm. It doesn’t apply any more. It’s no wonder the United States rates #37 out of the WHO top 50 country healthcare ratings in the world. 37 out of 50 ?? That’s worse than countries like Colombia, Morocco, Cyprus etc. Can you believe it ? I can. I can honestly say if I had never visited a healthcare provider once since 2008 I would be a much healthier and happier man today (not to mention wealthier).
Now I am not saying this applies to all medical professionals. There are rare exceptions to the rule. I have encountered certain doctors that stand out in their profession and still maintain old school standards of practice, ethics, compassion, attentiveness and integrity. They should be proud. Unfortunately they are in the minority and the very fact they can so easily be singled out means there is some rotten at the core.
This blog is not intended to dissuade people from seeking medical advice. It is simply a factual chronology of my own experiences. It should resonate with many people out there and perhaps prompt some to think a little more carefully before taking a healthcare professional’s diagnosis as the final word, or undergoing a medical procedure without a number of opinions. Knowledge is power as they say. DON’T rely on what a doctor tells you without doing your own research and be prepared to challenge doctors if you disagree with them even if it means confrontation. I have got up and walked out of doctor’s offices many times after I realized they were speaking nonsense.
I will be creating these blogs over a period of time so they may seem fragmented at first but eventually the pieces will start to fit together.
Stay tuned …