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.
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"?
Texas. We left the People's State of Illinois in 2013. When we first moved here I was once asked for ID at the grocery store but there was no scanning. For hard liquor the closest store is in Arkansas. All they want is cash, and by now no one has to even pretend to not be sure I'm legal so no one asks for ID there, either.
Thanks so much for writing this Jessica! Such a great reminder to stay vigilant and to speak up. I hope you keep these inspiring stories in regular rotation. Here's an example from one of my early pushbacks:
In October 2020 I had a failed dental bridge with a pretty hardcore infection. I didn’t want to see my dentist because I knew there were going to be weird Covid protocols that I had no interest in playing along with. But I was in so much pain that I finally went. When I got into the office, they shot me with their thermometer and handed me a form to write down the temperature, and I wrote it—illegibly. The form also contained nine personal health questions all relating to beliefs about how Covid is contracted and spread, with a “yes” or “no” expected for each question, and a signature at the bottom. I got it in my head that I was going to write “decline” on every question, and I did that and handed it back to them. They then they led me into the office, put me in a chair for the examination and the discussion of the fairly drastic procedure I was going to need to undergo. I agreed to it.
It's a small office that I had been going to for 15 years. All of them I knew very well and liked very well and they liked me. But even so, the entire team spent 30 minutes trying to bully me into changing my answers on the form. I told them that I liked them all, and, privately I would assure them I would never come in if I were sick or felt I would put them in danger in any way—but that I had no interest in giving up my rights. I told them I thought it set a terrible precedent. They said the state makes the form a requirement. And suddenly I had had enough. I told them I was perfectly happy to decline the procedure and find a black-market method of getting the work done. The room got quiet. My doctor sat there for a minute and thought, then said, “OK, you won’t have to sign the form and we’ll continue with the procedure.
When I went back in to get the stitches removed, the receptionist, who I was pretty good pals with, handed me the form and said, “Here’s the form you can fill out the way you like to fill it out.” She defused the whole situation by doing that, which was kind of cool. I’m sure I was the only person who’s ever done that in their office.
Thanks for sharing this story, Jen. It's a good example of what people need to do (but shouldn't HAVE to do).
What makes a medical situation different from other contexts where rights need to be asserted (e.g., the grocery store https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/the-day-a-grocery-store-in-skokie) is the intimacy of the setting. The HCP has the upper hand and the feeling can be not unlike being held hostage.
Good point! We’re so dang vulnerable in these places. In pain, often sleep deprived, maybe fuzzy headed from some medication, and always alone once they take you back to their “sterile” spaces, and usually desperate for relief.
My final appointment with my last doctor back in 2023 was me sitting in the waiting room without a mask, going into the backroom as one of the first patients after lunch to see them "quickly don their masks." And then when the doctor finally demanded in the back room that I wear a mask, and the doctor went and got me one when I stated I did not have one, which I did wear for the duration of the backroom visit and then removed directly after.
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
The forced covering of the human face as a condition of pretty much anything - including medical care - is evil.
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"?
Not sure where you live, but in Illinois, grocery stores check ID for alcohol purchase (fine/good) and scan the ID (not fine/bad).
I encourage everyone reading my words to say NO to the scanning.
Texas. We left the People's State of Illinois in 2013. When we first moved here I was once asked for ID at the grocery store but there was no scanning. For hard liquor the closest store is in Arkansas. All they want is cash, and by now no one has to even pretend to not be sure I'm legal so no one asks for ID there, either.
Carding for alcohol purchase is fine and good. No issue with that.
It's the tracking aspect that's a big NO
Well done. Thanks for the information.
Wish my LTC residents can refuse to be covid tested when they are sent to ED for a broken hip and no symptoms...
They can't refuse testing at all, can they?
Thanks so much for writing this Jessica! Such a great reminder to stay vigilant and to speak up. I hope you keep these inspiring stories in regular rotation. Here's an example from one of my early pushbacks:
In October 2020 I had a failed dental bridge with a pretty hardcore infection. I didn’t want to see my dentist because I knew there were going to be weird Covid protocols that I had no interest in playing along with. But I was in so much pain that I finally went. When I got into the office, they shot me with their thermometer and handed me a form to write down the temperature, and I wrote it—illegibly. The form also contained nine personal health questions all relating to beliefs about how Covid is contracted and spread, with a “yes” or “no” expected for each question, and a signature at the bottom. I got it in my head that I was going to write “decline” on every question, and I did that and handed it back to them. They then they led me into the office, put me in a chair for the examination and the discussion of the fairly drastic procedure I was going to need to undergo. I agreed to it.
It's a small office that I had been going to for 15 years. All of them I knew very well and liked very well and they liked me. But even so, the entire team spent 30 minutes trying to bully me into changing my answers on the form. I told them that I liked them all, and, privately I would assure them I would never come in if I were sick or felt I would put them in danger in any way—but that I had no interest in giving up my rights. I told them I thought it set a terrible precedent. They said the state makes the form a requirement. And suddenly I had had enough. I told them I was perfectly happy to decline the procedure and find a black-market method of getting the work done. The room got quiet. My doctor sat there for a minute and thought, then said, “OK, you won’t have to sign the form and we’ll continue with the procedure.
When I went back in to get the stitches removed, the receptionist, who I was pretty good pals with, handed me the form and said, “Here’s the form you can fill out the way you like to fill it out.” She defused the whole situation by doing that, which was kind of cool. I’m sure I was the only person who’s ever done that in their office.
Thanks for sharing this story, Jen. It's a good example of what people need to do (but shouldn't HAVE to do).
What makes a medical situation different from other contexts where rights need to be asserted (e.g., the grocery store https://www.woodhouse76.com/p/the-day-a-grocery-store-in-skokie) is the intimacy of the setting. The HCP has the upper hand and the feeling can be not unlike being held hostage.
Good point! We’re so dang vulnerable in these places. In pain, often sleep deprived, maybe fuzzy headed from some medication, and always alone once they take you back to their “sterile” spaces, and usually desperate for relief.
Yes. The vulnerable circumstances are part of what make the ethical parameters so impt to define
My final appointment with my last doctor back in 2023 was me sitting in the waiting room without a mask, going into the backroom as one of the first patients after lunch to see them "quickly don their masks." And then when the doctor finally demanded in the back room that I wear a mask, and the doctor went and got me one when I stated I did not have one, which I did wear for the duration of the backroom visit and then removed directly after.
"I would like to be seen by a different doctor. I'll wait."