From a letter
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My mother passed away on October 18 of last year. She had been physically ill with autoimmune hemolytic anemia, osteoporosis (caused by medication, not alcohol), arthritis, diabetes, sclerosis of the liver, severe aortic stenosis, and some minor problems for years (but mentally sharp right to the end). Did the above kill her? Indirectly, yes.
For example, Mother had swelling in her legs for the last 6 months or so. To get the swelling down, diuretics were prescribed for her. Of course, that meant that she was constantly having to go to the bathroom. Since she was already weak to begin with, after about a month of diuretics, she was just plain worn out. On October 14 she called me about 7 am to take her to the emergency room - she was concerned because her swelling was getting worse. The moment she got to the emergency room, two things happened. First, she received every conceivable test - both in the ER, and over the next three days. Second (and much more important), nobody ever coordinated one test to another, one department to another, one physician to another. Nobody talked to anyone else. It seemed that the medical practitioners were unable to communicate beyond each one's respective department. After 8 hours in the ER, my mother was a mess. She was extremely uncomfortable (Remember, she also had a severe curvature of the spine, which made it difficult for her to get comfortable. Of course, the ER only had hospital beds with a little pad over a steel plate, and it was against regulations to either get her a more comfortable bed, or move her up to a real room). We'll see you in the next section. |
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The next morning, she was upbeat and chipper. Then they started the real tests. We all know how hospitals operate - they schedule a test, come and get the patient, and then leave the patient somewhere because nobody ever bothered to call ahead to see if they were ready for the patient. Have you ever looked at what kind of bed patients are left there lying on? The same uncomfortable rolling bed as in the ER. One test after another; one delay after another; each time my mother ratcheted down a notch in health. By that evening, she had aged 10 years. She was dog-tired, uncomfortable, and just plain miserable. She finally got to sleep by about midnight. The next morning she was feeling quite a bit better again (but nowhere near as good as the morning before). However, another day of tests challenged the limits of her endurance. MRI, Cat Scan, Sonogram, God only knows what else. Same routine - no coordination, no effort to "take ownership" and no real effort to make Mom comfortable. We'll see you in the next section. |
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Don't get me wrong - each and every nurse or doc asked her how she was, and could they do anything. However, no one offered to contact other departments, and make sure that she would have as little stress and discomfort as possible. Why? Apparently that's "not the way it's done". By that night, she had crossed that fine line she'd walked for so many years. She'd lost what little resistance she had left. She was a shell of her former self, almost incoherent because she was so tired, and just beside herself. So, what did they do? In their infinite wisdom, they released her to go home. Maybe they hoped she would die peacefully in her sleep, I don't know. It took us over half an hour just to get her in the car, and her health was so poor my brother and I couldn't believe they had released her. We also had no idea what we were going to do, as she could obviously not get up and walk to the bathroom, etc. We took her home, spent another thirty minutes just getting her the few feet from the car to the house, and into bed. She immediately fell asleep. Half an hour later, my dad called 911, I am still devastated. I don't know which makes me angrier - the fact that she's gone, or the fact that she was lost to us way before her time. Did she have every conceivable test to see what was wrong? Yes. In my opinion, The United States may have the best training, the best drugs, the best technology. However, you will never convince me that we have the best health care delivery system - not based on my experiences with the system. *** Statistics say that 480,000 Americans are killed by their medical doctors or hospital errors every year. 1,000,000 Americans die each year from the effects of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. The quickest way of being locked up in a nursing home with more and more pills being poured down your throat every day is to be diagnosed as having dementia, where you don’t even know your own children. Quite often this state is caused by taking too many drugs, so the more you take, the worse it gets and the sooner you might be thrown into a nursing home against your will. "There is a better way" says Dr. Mark Stengler. He offers sound advice to help our readers protect their health and fight illness with natural therapies that can keep you OUT of the hospital. |
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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of". Click HERE for more strength training information