Scripting News: Saturday, September 21, 2024
Since I'm about to turn 70 (next May), and because my body is getting old in ways it never has before (of course) -- I've become a more active participant in the health care system. #
One thing I've learned is it can be hard to get the attention of the doctors. And once you see your GP about a problem it's almost certain they're going to send you to a specialist. So you go to the specialist and it's pretty random as to whether they put the effort into understanding your situation in full. And they aren't trying to solve all your problems, just the ones they deal in. #
An aside, a couple of years ago I had a condition that ChatGPT diagnosed in a second but it took the doctors who weren't paying much attention (my primary care doctor had retired and I was being shuffled between NPs and MDs until they could find someone to be my new main doctor) so they were all sending me to the wrong specialists, all of whom said there was no problem, yet I still had the symptoms which were getting worse. On the fourth try, someone sent me to the right specialist and they instantly diagnosed what ChatGPT had diagnosed at the outset. So when people say AI could hurt medical care, I don't think so, it would probably be a good idea to have an AI looking over their shoulders and asking if they've considered the Occam's Razor specialist. #
So you have to be alert, and push to get them to pay attention. #
And communicating with the system is ridiculous. Almost everything has to be done over the phone. They have email, but if you want to set up an appointment, you have to call. And wait on hold. And wait and wait. And then it's a dice roll as to who you get connected to. There are some people you talk to who seem to be trying to be annoying. It's a total pain in the ass, but you have to do it. (And since they have to ask for your birthdate to identify you they know how old you are and treat you accordingly.)#
All the health care for a person my age seems to be directed at finding the thing that's going to kill you and treating it. That's good, and that's a shift in perspective from someone who until recently had a young body which basically took care of itself. Or so it seemed (I did have emergency heart surgery at 47 that saved my life, although that's a fairly distant memory now).#
So right now I have a thing that needs to be looked into because it might be one of those serious things. And it's really hard to get the system to respond quickly, because if it's serious it's one of those things that you want to deal with asap. I don't think it is, but you have to act as if it might be. And it can be humiliating to say the least. #
But there's no law saying the doctor, or any of the others in the system, could go to jail or lose their license if they treat any illness I might have. I can now for the first time really understand what it might be like to have to deal with that in addition to all the other serious stuff you have to deal with. #
That's the point of this post. Throwing a wrench into the already broken wheels of our medical system is the crime. They should go to prison for doing this, the six Supreme Court justices and other Republican assholes who stick their noses where they don't belong. There should be a penalty for what they're doing, they should have the fear they're putting women through. They should worry about what happens when their decision is overturned. #
Perhaps they should lose their medical care as should all the members of their families. Then they might get an idea of how sinful they have been.#
Linkblog items for the day.
Pregnancy deaths rose by 56% in Texas after 2021 abortion ban, analysis finds. nbcnews.com
Trump: "If I win, you will no longer be thinking about abortion." threads.net
Cheney suggests conservative party split from Trump. thehill.com
Liz Cheney says GOP needs to 'recognize what it's done.' captimes.com
"We're not taking them from infested countries." -- hard to believe this is someone who many people feel is qualified to be president of the United States. salon.com
Jules Feiffer was just interviewed on NPR. He's 95 years old, and sharp as can be. Born the same year as my father, 1929 -- he died in 2009. wikipedia.org
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