My father tells a story about one visit to his doctor. He sat in the waiting room watching the appointment time come and go. Nobody else in the room. He just sat and patiently waited gritting his teeth like a Slishman. Eventually he asked the receptionist the status. She had a gander at her computer and she said it listed him as a “no show”. He said, “that appears false”. If you know my dad you can picture his face. He’s been telling that story for years now, and for him it epitomizes US medicine.
I had a similar experience in an airport. Sound asleep in front of a gate I awoke to the sight of my plane backing out. The agents said they paged me overhead, but my feet were dang near propped on their counter. I guess at least they tried.
A friend got me thinking along these lines after his recent hospitalization following a hip fracture.
He says his care was impeccable, but his main gripe was that his nurses couldn’t do anything without an electronic order on his chart plugged into computers by docs nowhere nearby. Removing his pulse ox to pee in a urinal needed and order. Wacky I say.
It really seems computers are gradually displacing thought and autonomy, and how far we’ll take it is anybody’s guess. Frankly, I worry about it for Pre-R too. We’ve embraced tech, but hopefully we’ll resist the technoidiotic abyss. We’ll see. The force is strong. That said, if you have an iPhone, please download “Care Circles by Pre-R” … if you dare 🙂
