Examples of saying no
Not intended as virtue-signaling or heroism -- just encouragement as to what normal people can do
I went to a doctor this week for an issue related to my shoulder. The outpatient facility is operated by one of the bigger healthcare providers in the Chicago area.
During check-in, the receptionist said, “Are you experiencing any cold or flu symptoms?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. 🤦♀️
Can we see what she was doing—no doubt because the protocol prompted her to do so?
This is the healthcare system screening for “respiratory illness things” as an excuse to try to “test.” The results of that test, whether positive or negative, are then reported to the public health surveillance system and — as we all now know — used to pretend that the “behavior” of certain pathogens is being tracked in some scientifically or medically honest and meaningful way.
Unless I am going to a doctor because of “cold or flu symptoms” — which I don’t see why I would ever do again, unless it was a true emergency or I’d developed Actual and Problematic Pneumonia — there will never, ever, ever be a reason to say “yes” or to submit to any kind of testing purported to be “diagnostic,” even if I were experiencing those symptoms.1
If you live in Illinois, you should be aware that a healthcare provider CANNOT make you take a COVID test (or any other kind of test, as far as I know). Regarding the former, a nurse tried to get me to take one last year and I was super direct about refusal. The interaction went something like this:
Me: “No, and state law says you cannot force me to take that.”
Nurse: “Okay, well I’ll check on that.”
Me: “That’s fine, you can check, but I know I cannot be made to take it and I’m not taking it anyway.”
[Nurse returns 10 minutes later…)
Nurse: “Okay, so you don’t have to take the COVID test.”
Me: “Yep, I know. Thank you.”
Getting back to this week’s visit…
The receptionist also asked me about the visit being recorded versus a doctor taking notes on the computer. I don’t recall the exact phrasing, but I had encountered an Actual Consent Form in this health system last year when I took my daughter for a visit, so I knew this was about consenting to input for training an AI system. I refused to let my daughter’s visit feed that beast, and likewise refused what sounded like the same thing for my visit.
Why wasn’t I being presented with the form I’d been given for my daughter? Perhaps because there isn’t a form anymore and patients are simply asked verbally - with most saying yes, without being asked or truly informed? I’m not sure but the ethics of this approach are highly questionable, at best.
I share these instances not to trumpet my “virtue” — or to suggest I’m doing anything heroic — but because they are concrete examples of how regular people can help disempower continued efforts by the U.S. government and other industries who seek to create pretend emergencies and threats.
When as many individuals as possible stop committing daily participatory acts urged by government health and military authorities — as
has put it (and I’ve endorsed) — it sends a very loud message to The Overlords:You do not have the authority over our bodies to do what you are trying to do. We see your game and refuse to play or be your pawns. Leave us alone. Thank you.
Related article added post-publication
I can see wanting to be tested for strep throat or another suspected bacterial infection, if it’s the only way a doctor would agree to prescribe antibiotics or necessary treatment otherwise inaccessible.
Jessica,
I will not be satisfied until all these sadistic monsters, aka 'healthcare providers' are arrested and thrown into prison. Their corporate industry must be destroyed and rebuilt from the ashes.
Back in 2020, I dislocated my knee and when I sought care from my fellow physicians, I was denied. Because I refused to wear a face diaper, refused to get tested for covid, refused to take the vaccine, I was told to GO SUFFER AND DIE. I was their public poster child of the punishment all would receive should they defy orders.
I will never ever seek help from those who openly claim to want to torture and murder me.
Laura Kragie MD
It has to start with every individual taking control of every aspect of his health, and that means questioning and refusing the stupid, irrelevant hoops "providers" try to make you jump through. No, I will not scan your QR code, whatever the hell that is. For all I know it data-sucks everything in my phone onto your computer system and then uploads it straight to the NSA. No, I will not get your goddamned app, and no, I will not use your stupid "patient portal," which is just another way to say "easily hackable personal information."
Yesterday I had a screening at the local hospital, and at check-in they slide this little lighter-sized device at you and want you to sign it. "This first signature is to confirm you've been informed of your HIPAA rights." Well, I haven't been informed of jack because you haven't showed it to me. The receptionist was surprised that I asked, like 99% of the time people just sign something completely unseen. Yes, I know it's bullshit and that HIPAA isn't really a privacy act and that reading it just raises my blood pressure, but that's not the point. I said I wasn't signing anything until I'd read it. Same with the consent and payment signatures: Let's see what I'm agreeing that I saw. It sounds like I was being a dick but I was nice about it, and it's just insisting on what any sentient adult ought to insist on before signing a legal document.
And you know what they'd written on the very first line at the very top of the very first page? "PLEASE REVIEW [THIS FORM] CAREFULLY." How do they square that with "Close your eyes and sign here"?