Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To me, the really horrifying part of the article was that this woman's husband was a doctor, who noticed symptoms, checked with an outside expert, and begged for it to be taken seriously as her condition worsened...and her OB just stalled and insisted he couldn't be wrong until it was far too late. You couldn't ask for much better patient advocacy but it didn't help a bit. What does it say about medicine when even a nurse married to a doctor who tried to get proper treatment , both working at that hospital, is fatally ignored?
i still thinking about this woman and i think that the fact that both the mother and her husband knew the doctor privately (she worked with him; the husband also worked with him at some point prior) may have decreased their ability to advocate on their behalf. they certainly had the knowledge and knew people, but i think it might have hampered their ability to pressure him, and also, i think the doctor was more defensive and wanted to appear in control in front of his friends.
Sorry, I am going to disagree with this. As a patient in the hospital, even if you are a nurse and your husband is a doctor, you are extremely vulnerable. The medical staff is in the power position--the patient and their family are not. Both DH and I work in health policy and are very comfortable talking to clinicians and advocating for ourselves but I was stunned by my treatment in the hospital when I had my daughter. We had many, many issues with my care and our repeated complaints, requests, etc. were just totally ignored by the medical staff. The constant shift changes and endless stream of doctors, midwives, nurses, and residents involved in my care meant that no one person was keeping track of me. I think that case just goes to show that our current maternity care system needs a major overhaul--especially in the postpartum period--if even the most educated and involved patients and families cannot get good care.