Knowledge Can Save Your Life!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hey say ignorance is bliss, that what you don’t know can’t hurt you. Oh yeah?  A recent visit to the out-patient clinic of Victoria Hospital with an elderly friend highlighted the fallacy of both clichés. My elderly friend describes her primary care physician as friendly and caring. She sees this physician as an extension of her family. At end of the recalled hospital visit, she reached out and kissed her doctor—without the smallest idea what would soon follow.

I hesitate to blame my friend’s age but her concept of friendliness is rather bizarre. I watched closely as she communicated with the doctor and at no time did I see a smile on her face. The doctor hardly made eye contact with her elderly patient. Her face seemingly set in stone, she asked a barrage of questions, most of which my aged friend could not usefully respond to. She had been hospitalized for three weeks before our visit. You would think the hospital had a file on her, that the doctor would consult it. Regrettably, the doctor had no information on her recent medical history. And even when my friend mentioned the time she’d been at the hospital, no attempt was made to access related paperwork. Moreover, she depended on whatever my elderly friend remembered about the period of hospitalization.

I should’ve said something; regretfully, I did not. Had I insisted on a check for my friend’s files, chances are it would have revealed my friend’s blood sugar level was very high and appropriate medicine might’ve been prescribed. Luckily we had my friend’s last prescription. We presented it to the doctor and she immediately prescribed a new one. She said the old one would only worsen my friend’s condition.

It occurred to me, as it had not before, that an electronic database would greatly reduce the number of mishaps about which we all hear so much, always when it’s too late to do anything about the consequences. Perhaps my friend’s doctor was too overworked to go looking for medical files not readily available; maybe that is why she chose to depend on a sick old lady’s sense of recall. The point is, laziness, misinformation and weariness could’ve cost my old friend her life. I strongly advise the elderly in particular, before your next visit to a local clinic or hospital, to keep in mind this, from the National Institute on Aging of the United States Department of Health and Human Services: Make a list of your health concerns; take all medical information with you; consider taking along a family member or friend; request an interpreter at the hospital, if you need one.