You have an accident and break a bone. You go to the emergency room, they set the bone, put you in a cast and send you home, right? Apparently not.
I have an aunt who lives in Waycross. She is unemployed and on disability and Medicaid. Last month, my she fell while while getting out of her church van, and landed on her hand. At first she didn't think there was any need to go to the doctor, but when her hand was still hurting after a week, she asked me to take her to the emergency room. We've all heard stories of people spending interminable hours at the ER, so I was a little concerned, but luckily we didn't have to wait very long. They x-rayed her hand and wrist and came back with good news - it wasn't broken, only sprained. They gave her a rather loose splint and told her to wear it until the pain went away. She took it off the next day. A week later, the ER called my aunt to say that they'd taken another look at her x-ray and had discovered a fracture. Ridiculous! So, we went back to the ER. They didn't put a cast on my aunt as you might expect. Instead, they gave her a more tightly wrapped splint, with instructions not to remove it, and gave her a referral to a local orthopedist. My aunt called the orthopedist and was told that he didn't accept Medicaid UNLESS she had a referral from her primary care physician - the referral from the ER didn't count. So, she had to go to a primary care physician for said referral. By this time another week had passed. The primary care physician did nothing other than find out what happened and make the referral. By the time my aunt got in to see the orthopedist, a full month had passed since she'd broken her wrist. At that point, the orthopedist said that luckily, her wrist was healing just fine. He re-wrapped her second splint and told her to keep it on for three more weeks.
Just doesn't seem like what you'd expect from healthcare in the US. Or does it?
3 comments:
This is pretty much the norm, I think. When I was young, we were on Medicaid and I thought that's why we were treated so poorly, but now I have very good insurance and am treated the same way. The health care system needs a serious overall. By the way - this story is nearly identical to what my coworker is going through at the moment and I am also going through something very similar (though my thumb is not broken, the orthepedist is not really sure what's the problem with it and just told me to wear my splint that I bought from Walgreens and to take OTC medicine and if that didn't work he would write a perscription for pain medicine. It's crazy that the health care system in the US is so messed up!
Melissa
My story is the same. I broke my wrist last Tues while ice skating. I went to my regular dr. He ordered xrays and showed me the two breaks and the joint completly dislocated. Sent me to an orthopedic group who were to get back to me in an hour. It was after 5 when they called and set up an appt for Fri. I was furious as it should have been looked at sooner. Had I kept that appt, the surgery would not have occurred until Monday. I ended up going somewhere else and am now recovering with a lot of metal in me. Next time I will skip my regular doctor.
Aunt Mary
I would also like to mention how bizarre it is that both my aunts broke their wrists one right after the other!
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