I'm convinced that "healthy" people who don't need to spend time in hospital truly believe that if they need it the experience will be quick, pleasant and infection free.

Unless you interact with the healthcare system regularly - you really can't understand how bad it's become.

Hallway medicine, overworked staff, long waits, nosocomial infections, risk of mistreatment, malpractice and worse.

If you have complex chronic illness and need a specialist - good luck. It can take years to get an initial appointment in Canada - and you don’t even get a say in WHO you see. If you don’t like them? If they treat you badly? You’re back to the bottom of the pile. Many of us can’t wait that long.

I write this because I shared a story yesterday about a doctor demanding I remove my mask and saying they were “in control” and I wasn’t “dictating care”. A lot of people told me to lodge a complaint, that I should have just walked ok or gone straight to patient relations etc.

For the record I DID lodge a complaint - and sadly I also walked out albeit on ankles that were weeping fluid and had been dislocating because they were so swollen. I complained to nurse manager on the way out as well.

The problem is - especially if you have rare conditions - you’re completely dependent on the system. You can’t just “get another doctor”. Many won’t even take us because we’re “difficult”. Complaints often go nowhere. It shouldn’t be the case but it’s 100% been my experience.

We are normalizing some appalling behaviour - and I worry that with rising rates of chronic illness from unmitigated COVID - and continued strain on the healthcare system - this will only get worse.

I don’t say this to discourage people from lodging a complaint - but rather to level set expectations. I’m sure some complaints are taking seriously and the issue rectified - but many are not.

TW for this - but I encourage people to look up the case of Dr Duntsch. Look at how many complaints were lodged with the hospital and state medical board. The system protects its own - it always has. They covered their asses and allowed him to keep harming and killing patients until law enforcement stepped in.

There was a case in Canada of a doctor who was sexually assaulting patients for nearly two decades. Countless complaints were lodged - nothing was done. Patients were gaslit and asked “why did you keep seeing him” despite the hospital administration KNOWING it was a 2-3 year wait for another doctor.

This can’t stand. Patients end up abused with no recourse. Make no mistake that these traumatic situations 100% prevent people from accessing needed care. They cause them to become scared and distrustful with good reason.

If I were to write an article about the Canadian doctor - what happened, why it wasn’t addressed, how and why he finally did lose his licence - would people be interested?

In the interim - if you want to better understand how little autonomy disabled patients (and women) have over their bodies … please read this article I wrote about being denied a medically necessary hysterectomy.

I had a ferritin of zero. I was getting regular blood and iron transfusions. I was practically living in the hospital. I lodged more complaints than I could count. Spent years too sick to do anything and saw countless doctors. No one would help me because of patriarchal and misogynistic bullshit.

The surgery was finally performed but only when I was literally bleeding out in the ER. Years of my live gone and many awful experiences with doctors in the process.

We can and must do better - and my hope is that by sharing stories we will encourage others to speak up so people realize how common this behaviour is.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/pregnancy-will-likely-kill-you-but

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