By Rhona Canoy
First part
SO… Before I get into the meat of today’s mental regurgitation, let me state for the record that this is a reaction to klasmet Egay Uy’s most recent column. And before I start, let me publicly express my sympathies for his and his family’s precious loss. But klasmet Egay has chosen to pick a fight and I have chosen to enlist in his battle.
His grievous hospital experience is not uncommon. As a matter of fact, it is the practice, with some hospitals being more mercenary than others. And I completely echo his frustration and anger at the atrocity and the Department of Health’s apparent lack of concern over it. Private hospitals are, after all, a business first and foremost and a humane service only secondarily.
For what is more secure than that? The two really most secure investments are those which have to do with the preservation of life, and the honoring of life ended. Because no one will escape these two. Hospitals being the more profitable because we all will keep going back to them as many times as we feel we need to, for as long as we’re alive.
Don’t get me wrong. I love hospitals. They are my refuge when my innards protest my lifestyle. And our family has been so lucky to have always lived within convenient minutes of one. I love them for the service they provide, and for the peace of mind that comes with it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t find some of their practices abhorrent.
Yes, it’s true that hospitals will gouge the patient/customer for every centavo when it comes to admissions. And doctors, too. I learned so much from my mama’s final admission to a well-known private hospital towards the end of her life journey. As customers, we expect that the hospital should provide ALL the accouterments that come with medical admission. The supplies, the medications, the availability of nurses. Just let me tell you the detailed process so that the picture is painted crystal clear.
When you come to the emergency room, which is where medical admissions start, the patient must lie in bed while someone (conveniently called the watcher) does all the legwork. If there is a room available, which these days is rarer than a navy blue diamond, one gives all the necessary information which includes one’s capacity to pay the bill. At least, now they can’t ask for a deposit anymore before admitting.
Now, I don’t know if all hospitals do this, but there is one hospital which will always tell you, upon first inquiry, that all they have available is a suite which (of course) costs as much as a well-appointed hotel room of equivalent title. If you’re in dire need, the instinct will be to say, “We’ll take it, but can you transfer us to a more affordable room as soon as one is available?” For if the need is urgent, then what other option is there? You will get that more affordable room but, trust me, they’ll gouge you for the suite for a couple of days. At least that’s our experience.
Let’s talk about the meds. As soon as you’re situated in the room and the patient has been safely attached to the drips and drops, the station nurse will walk into your room and give you a prescription sheet enumerating the medicines which need to be given to your loved one, usually accompanied by the words, “These are what you need to buy.” And the journey to hell begins.
Of course, you NEED to buy these meds. Life depends on them. People will always choose to buy them because we all know how expensive it will be to have the hospital pharmacy supply them. Now, here’s the thing. If for some reason, the patient has no watcher available to run the errand, then the obvious but sad alternative will be for the hospital to supply them at that time. If you start your admissions with pharmacy charges, be very careful when you get the bill. I’ll get into that later.
As a rule, those prescriptions are only made for one day’s worth of dosages. I do understand the reason for it, and I agree. They don’t give you an extended supply purchase because the doctor’s orders may change at any given time and the patient may need another kind of medication. That makes sense. And everyone will send their watcher to buy the meds because EVERYONE knows hospital meds cost so so so so so much more than what they cost at regular retail. Even the nurses will encourage you to buy outside. Our station nurses during mama’s final admission were whispering to us that it would be to our benefit if we bought the medicine ourselves because the hospital in which we were in charges at least double. At least.
Of course, mama’s situation demanded that she be given meds immediately upon admission, so we had little choice but to let the nurses get her first dose from the hospital pharmacy while my daughter Carmen (the hero of this story) left to get the remaining doses for the day, and the long list of supplies which the nurses were kind enough to tell us where we could get the better if not the best deals.
And that became a daily ritual. First thing in the morning, Carmen would go to the nurses’ station and ask for the first purchases. Because of mama’s critical condition, more often than not, there would be additional purchases at any given time during the day or night. Thank God for 24-hour pharmacies because we did have to make a few late-night trips. Although, it was unavoidable that there were critical instances when we couldn’t afford the time because of the urgency of the need and we had to depend on hospital supply.
After the purchases were made, she would endorse the medicines to the nurses’ station. Being the supreme leader of the Commission on Audit in our family, she carefully made sure that each item on that prescription was endorsed and checked off the prescription list, and that the duty nurse religiously sign the bottom of the scrip (which was stapled to the receipt to ensure that every item was purchased) that she received the items on that date and that time. After this, the signed documents would go into their assigned brown envelope, filed for future reference in order of time and date of purchase. You would be well advised to do the same, should the situation arise.
Like every worthwhile teleserye, abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
