My father entered a hospital with a knee fracture, got a hospital acquired urinary track infection, that continued to worsen with little recognition, and ultimately suffered a cardiac arrest. Somehow, despite being 83 years old, he survived this substandard care. But here’s something you might find equally unsettling, every medical person that I have spoken with who has had a family member in a healthcare setting, has stated that they have needed to be intimately involved in the healthcare of their loved ones.
Why have these medical providers felt that they needed to insert themselves into the healthcare of their loved ones? Because they repeatedly felt that the care of the people they loved needed someone who could watch every aspect of the care provided for the people they cared about. This is because healthcare is fragmented, the teams turnover frequently, communication with the team is limited, and only the family can act as the historian for what has come before. It is also the family that must fight for the fact that even an older person was active and engaged with their family and community. The healthcare system may be inclined to write these people off because healthcare providers see so many elderly people who are at the end of their life, that they sometimes forget that many elderly people still have plenty yet to contribute. They were active, productive and gave back to their community prior to this current illness. They deserve every opportunity to return to their previous life.
So, it begins to feel that every person in a hospital should have their own physician who does nothing but make sure that the right thing is done for a patient in the hospital. And in many cases this ends up being a medical person who also happens to be a family member. Yet, that’s not the way things are supposed to work. The health system is supposed to be able to care for people safely.
Sadly, at least for now, the lesson is that every person who enters a healthcare system should have an advocate available to make sure that what should happens, actually happens. Reach out to friends or family members who can help engage with the health system, ask hard questions, and help be your wingman.