I’ve been hospitalized nearly every year of my life since 1998. I’ve averaged at least ten Emergency Room visits every one those years. In general, all of the nurses and doctors I’ve seen did an excellent job giving me the best care possible with the resources they had at their disposal. Nonetheless, I learn one very important thing:
Have a patient advocate present at all times.
What is a patient advocate? A patient advocate is any person you feel is able to argue with insurers, doctors and staff on your behalf to get you the best care possible. That person can be your mother, any relative, a friend or even a stranger you trust to argue on your behalf.
Here are a few things my friends and family have done for me:
- Stopped nurses from accidentally giving me extra doses of medication that could have been lethal.
- Argued with doctors for pain meds on my behalf when I was too weak to do so myself.
- Demanded second and third opinions from hospital staff when the attending physician felt it was a waste of time.
- Moved me to a single room when risk of infection made it an absolute necessity.
- Refused discharge because no medical plan was provided for continuity of care.
- Helped overburdened nurses keep my meds on schedule.
- Communicated and resolved issues with insurance that would have limited my care.
- Contacted outside providers to ensure I got proper care after discharge.
- Helped to monitor the effect of meds when nurses couldn’t.
- Argued for better pain management on my behalf so I wasn’t labeled “drug seeking,” by doing it myself.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having an advocate present at all times. Even the most dedicated nurses and doctors struggling to do their best to provide you and all their other patients the best care they can make mistakes. They are human just like the rest of us’; they make mistakes, they get tired and they get frustrated. You might be the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, but you might also be the squeaky wheel that annoys everyone to the point of losing their cool. An advocate can step in when things aren’t going as smoothly as they should so you don’t have to.
Some patients are surprised to learn that all patients have certain rights that providers are legally obligated to respect.
Here’s a quote from the American Medical Association Website, though every hospital and clinic has additional rights they’ve added to this list:
Physicians can best contribute to a mutually respectful alliance with patients by serving as their patients’ advocates and by respecting patients’ rights. These include the right:
(a) To courtesy, respect, dignity, and timely, responsive attention to his or her needs.
(b) To receive information from their physicians and to have opportunity to discuss the benefits, risks, and costs of appropriate treatment alternatives, including the risks, benefits and costs of forgoing treatment. Patients should be able to expect that their physicians will provide guidance about what they consider the optimal course of action for the patient based on the physician’s objective professional judgment.
(c) To ask questions about their health status or recommended treatment when they do not fully understand what has been described and to have their questions answered.
(d) To make decisions about the care the physician recommends and to have those decisions respected. A patient who has decision-making capacity may accept or refuse any recommended medical intervention.
(e) To have the physician and other staff respect the patient’s privacy and confidentiality.
(f) To obtain copies or summaries of their medical records.
(g) To obtain a second opinion.
(h) To be advised of any conflicts of interest their physician may have in respect to their care.
(i) To continuity of care. Patients should be able to expect that their physician will cooperate in coordinating medically indicated care with other health care professionals, and that the physician will not discontinue treating them when further treatment is medically indicated without giving them sufficient notice and reasonable assistance in making alternative arrangements for care.
Unfortunately, medicine can sometimes become adversarial. It’s you against the doctors or the insurers.
A patient advocate can help to make it clear to everyone involved it’s really about everyone being heard and the reality that everyone has limited resources they can contribute bring about the best results. Everyone is doing their best, but the patient’s and the doctor’s rights must always be respected as the search for a solution is pursued.
