Our Community

Yesterday I saw two new patients RM and CT right after another. They were both very difficult. RM is an 85 year old man with blindness from macular degneration and dizziness who was sent ot me for peripheral neuropathy. He has been telling his doctors for years that he has a great deal of pain in his feet, in his back, and in his neck. No one seems to be addressing it. He tells them about it and they tell him that he's old. It was depressing. I can help him, and in all likelihood I'll get rid of his pain. But I was upset about the past: about his previous neglect.

CT came right after him. She is a 44 year old who can't walk. She lost her walking ability fairly quickly for unclear reasons. Her mother is a double-amputee diabetic, so her daughter, who is 17 years old, dropped out of school to help take care of the two of them. She has no medical insurance (of course). I don't think I'm going to be able to make her walk. I think she has sensory AIDP. I would normally try IVIG therapy on her to see if it works and it usually would. IVIG costs about $15,000. She doesn't seem like the type of person who has that laying around (she used to work at Albertson's before she lost the ability to walk). I was upset about the insurance issue - or lack of insurance issue, to be more accurate.

I know that I shouldn't get upset about these challenges; I am supposed to be optimistic in the face of disease. I try to like disease because of its tremendous positive effects on people. But this isn't about disease. This about the way that people are treated. We aren't treating each other properly. We aren't caring for each other the way that we should. The bonds of our community aren't right. Even doctors are a part of this - the ones that didn't listen to RM; the ones who didn't address his problems but just said, "You're old." What relevance does his age have? There is only one question: "Can I help make this better?" If the answer is no, then there is only one follow-up quesiton: "Who can help make this better?"

I don't understand why we have seventeen year old girls dropping out of school to take care of her mother and grandmother who both can't walk. What chance will she have as a high school drop out? What choice does she have? Why do we put a young girl in that kind of predicament? There were five people in large banks who make over 250 BILLION dollars while they ran them into the ground so we could bail them out. But we can't help this girl. It doesn't really make any sense.

I know I shouldn't be complaining and having a negative attitude. But this just really stinks.