You'll recall my adventures with medical bureaucracy last month. My pain management specialist very kindly agreed to prescribe another myelogram for me. The first appointment was canceled on the morning of the procedure by the hospital, because they "had the wrong paperwork" and couldn't proceed without correction. Turns out the problem was one single word that had not been inserted into the relevant form: and without that one single word, everything ground to a halt. At any rate, the missing word was duly provided, and a new appointment was made. This morning it's off I go to the hospital again for another lumbar puncture, a CT scan, and sundry X-rays. Hopefully this will be enough to persuade the medical bureaucracy to let me proceed to the next step.
(Why is it that medical bureaucrats and departments can't talk to each other? I've already electronically checked in to the hospital, and provided my co-payment, and confirmed date and time. Despite that, I received no less than five e-mails, text messages and phone calls, all reminding me to be at the hospital on time, and do all the pre-procedure processing I've already done. Do these people have nothing better to do but to waste their patients' time with all this duplication of effort? And what does it add to our costs as patients to have to pay for it all?)
I'm thoroughly frustrated with the hospital before I even show up there. To cheer me up, and spare you from listening to my complaints, here's some light relief from Stephan Pastis. Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.
And, to compare and contrast two of our largest states:
There. A midweek humor break to relax me before getting poked, prodded and photographed, inside and out.
Peter
A system.is what it does. Its not designed to make you healthy?!?! Its designed to extract as much money from you, over as much time as possible. They will only prolong your death so long as it is profitable for them. The day you stop paying for all the stupid tests is the day they stop treating you, haven't you noticed? You are a cow being milked, wake tf up old man.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter
ReplyDeleteFor variety
FWIW
"WHAT PART OF HAMSTERS IS GREAT BRITAIN NOT GETTING? On Hamsters."
"On Hamsters"
"A UK cabinet minister, Rt. Hon. Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (“DSIT”), discussed the infamous “hamster e-mail” I sent on behalf of my client 4chan on national radio today in the UK.
My father always told me, when I was growing up, “when a cabinet minister holding the technology policy brief for a G7 Member State is talking about your e-mailed jokes to an audience of millions on national broadcast media, that is the right time to explain the joke, especially if the cabinet minister didn’t get the joke.”
That explanation follows."
More at
https://prestonbyrne.com/2026/06/16/hamsters/
They can’t overrule our first amendment. They can tell it to the hamsters.
https://instapundit.com/804308/#disqus_thread
"The sun never rises on the British Hampire" - Princessa Chunkita Flaquita Microchanchita y Tweakytail
DeleteBased on a true story, for those who aren't aware.
ReplyDelete- Texas Mike
When I started at the local cancer center, I received the same sort of multiple texts and phone calls over multiple days, and chatted with the receptionist about the annoying waste of time and effort to "remind" me of my appointment with such annoying frequency. She then told me tales of patients just...ignoring...their appointments, with one (in)frequent flier missing a office-record string of eighteen appointments in a row. She opined that people actually showing up on the right day, and at the correct time, were more of an anomaly than a standard. Unsure if that was a modern cultural thing or a issue with people just not...wanting...to go do "medical stuff," this clinic had decided pestering people with reminders worked to cajole a noticeable increase in attendance. She told me my annoyance was less costly than a string of no-shows :D
ReplyDeleteBy way of a heads-up there is a retrospective (graphic) included of BRM and MRSBRM on Virtual Mirage coming this Friday. Many may not appreciate the totality of your adventures in Africa (June 19 and all that).
ReplyDeleteEr . . . ah . . . It's all a lie! We're just good friends! I was never there - and you can't prove it! :D
DeleteIt was actually a Ruger LCP .380 with a laser. Which actually makes it even funnier.
ReplyDeleteWell, the insurance companies are 'paying' for it, with our money... And a lot of places now charge for missing an appointment.
ReplyDeleteI suspect part of the problem of “forgetful” patients stems from the age of many patients in certain practices, combined with language difficulties (in some cases), and having multiple appointments with multiple offices. RedQuarters has a master calendar on the wall, so all in the house know who is to be where, for what, when.
ReplyDeleteTXRed
Sounds like your hospital and its associated Doctors/staff are totally into DEI hiring practices, based on the nightmare of paperwork they are insisting you struggle with. Until we get back to hiring educated Americans (people that speak fluent English and have actual experience in the positions they occupy) not much is going to change.
ReplyDelete"Doctor's Office/Hospital Calling to Cancel The Same Day" (HC2C) has happened to my wife three times since 1 Jan.
ReplyDeleteIDK!
They played this game with me once ~5 years ago: I showed for the appointment anyhoo. The desk person informed me that my appt had been cancelled due to an error in paperwork and I smiled at her.
I haven't had an HC2C in the past 5 years.
We've allowed the the administrators (the bottom quintile of your high school graduating class) to take control of (not only) hospital admin and have gotten the result we should have expected and didn't look for (it crept up on us).
ReplyDeleteDEI means that various institutions (not just hospitals - look at your local Institution of Higher Learing) around this country have hired people who have attained their Peter (as in "Peter Principle"); it's not only that, but the behind-the-desk people just don't care (or have the slightest inkling) that they've not only wasted your time but irritated you (and the people who may have to drive you and/or care for you in other ways): the institution (to put it in my usual delicate way) is constipated as well.