It’s not that we don’t understand the hospital/clinic/outpatient center perspective, it’s just that understanding it doesn’t solve the problem.
If you have to have a relative/friend level of chaperone for a medical test and you don’t have one available to take you home that makes it rather difficult to get said medical test, doesn’t it?
So what’s the answer for the people in that situation? Don’t ever get a test or procedure and wind up dying from something horrible that could have been prevented?
The answer for the place doing my colonoscopy is “approved medical transport service.” I’m sure that’s a hassle, but so would being left at your door by an Uber driver when you were too woozy to care for yourself be a hassle, or worse.
While being sued might be a secondary concern, I presume that their first concern is the possibility of someone having a bad outcome from not having someone available to help if it turns out to be needed.
Personally, I generally have a pretty good reaction to sedation drugs, but I have had a reaction that could potentially have caused problems if I had been alone and I’ve been the responsible person for another such incident.
Once, after dental surgery, I was vomiting uncontrollably for a couple of hours after I got home. It was excruciating due to having stitches that were getting pulled on each time. I was also woozy and was falling asleep between bouts of vomiting. My partner was able to call on my behalf to get instructions for what to do.
When I was the responsible person, my partner at the time got her wisdom teeth out under sedation. I was able to hear the after-care instructions. My partner was given a sort of papery cold pack to hold against her cheek. The whole ride home, she would ask every 3 minutes or so why she had a sandwich in her hand. I’d tell her, then she’d forget and be confused again. She also had no memory of the care instructions at all.
Certainly in the latter case there’s also the problem of the person getting confused enough that they might not make it home, and if not accompanied by a trusted person, potentially being taken advantage of in some way. They also might have a bad outcome because they could not take in or remember any instructions.
That the hospital isn’t advertising an available transport for people, doesn’t mean they don’t have access to a service provider or service organization that can help. Sometimes you just have to ask though. If other such patients have found creative work arounds, they’re the people who will know, and may offer advice. Just a suggestion, of course.
If you use a straw, and shove the straw far into your mouth, you can barely taste the solution. I highly recommend this.
Dunno your circumstances, but i had a bad reaction to the sedation, and managed to have them do it without sedation last time. It was a little crampy, but not terrible. And i could drive home safely as soon as i was dressed and got the report from the doctor.
For what it’s worth, that morning I did ask about alternatives - and the staff acted as though I were the first person in history with this problem. Now I’ll know to call ahead and see if they will accept this type of transport.
Did I mention that the paperwork I was sent about how to prepare only stated that I would not be allowed to drive myself. I’m still seething about that.
I’d be looking into going somewhere else, if possible. They should not be making anyone feel bad or weird about this, and they should definitely be letting people know ahead of time. Even if you had someone who could do it, you might have not made those arrangements if you didn’t know it was required.
So much this. As a single person, this assumption that I have someone on automatic call drives me nuts. For a tooth pull, I had a friend drop me off, while my brother was driving in from afar to pick me up and spend the day at home with me. But they wouldn’t let me proceed because there wasn’t someone in the waiting room every minute of my procedure. I arranged it this way because my brother would have had to cross town in morning rush hour, which would more than double his drive time. He was halfway across town when I called him to turn around because the dental office had cancelled me after I arrived. I then took an Uber home again. I’m with a different dental company now because of that and other mindless corporate self-defense that never allowed for customers who needed flexible solutions.
It isn’t a stupid rule, there are sound reasons behind it that protect the patient.
I agree that places should understand that some of us don’t have some one who can be there and they need to offer some resources and flexibility. In my area the DAV and American Legion can be called on, for instance.
They can often also improve their explanations and pre-op instructions to avoid misunderstandings. Many places are less than stellar about that.
Except there are no workarounds. If there are hospitals out there who hook up patients with service providers/orgs that can help, I’ve never found one, and I’ve had surgeries in 4 states. (Look for my new coffee table book, OR’s of the U.S.)
I had to have eye surgery at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I lived almost 500 miles away and knew nobody in Utah. I asked the hospital social worker: nada. I asked a nurse: nothing. I called service groups. Big nope: liability issues. So I tried churches. Same deal. Finally in desperation, I called the local Lupus Foundation. (I have lupus.) They also didn’t provide that service, but the very kind woman I spoke to volunteered to take time off work to help me out.
Had it not been for her, I could not have had the surgery.
When I had to have a procedure (ultrasound camera had to go into my stomach to examine the pancreas) 100 miles from home, I was lucky enough to get a friend’s husband to take a day off work to take me. He could not leave the hospital. They said they’d page him when I was in the OR, and if he wasn’t there, they’d cancel the procedure. They meant it: he was paged.
While few such organizations can probably accommodate a 500 mile trip (that’s a big ask!), it’s still worth asking. I’m sorry you couldn’t be accommodated, but that doesn’t mean everywhere is the same. Many places WILL try to help, if you reach out and make some inquiries.
And if they can’t/won’t help you simply won’t have the test. Or worst yet, you won’t have the treatment or surgery. Which could have severe consequences.
No, I’m sorry, you misunderstood. I flew to and was staying in Salt Lake City. I needed to get from the hospital in SLC to my hotel in SLC. The only reason the 500 miles from my home was relevant was that it meant I couldn’t just ask a friend from my hometown to drive me between the hospital and my hotel.
And I DID reach out and make inquiries. As I said, I called a whole lot of places and was at my wits’ end. I don’t blame those beneficent organizations, churches, hospitals, etc.: liability IS an issue for them. Oh, how I wish it were just a matter of reaching out.
I’ve got a colonoscopy scheduled for December. And I’ve got transportation arranged. And a Covid Test arranged for a few days prior.
But I’m still a little crabby that the scheduler didn’t mention the prep, need for a driver, or the need for a Covid test until after we had an exchange like this:
Him:
Do you care about morning/afternoon? (Me, No, (thinking although let’s get this over with, morning might be better)).
Him: How about Monday . . .
Me: (Cringe) Could it be any day other than Monday?
He talks to the other person for a minute. then to me: Thursday?
Me: I can do Thursday.
Him: You need a Covid test on Monday.
Me: (Mentally) ARGH! Last I knew, I wasn’t supposed to be at work if I’d had a Covid test and hadn’t gotten the results yet. Me missing the entire weekend would NOT HAVE BEEN GOOD (Grocery store employee).
Today I got the prep, and the instructions from the place I’m supposed to have the procedure, and I’m even more inclined to leave work early on Monday for the Covid test, and just stay home the next two days. I am SO not looking forward to this.
And then a couple of weeks later, I’ve got a mammogram scheduled, also on a Monday.
I just back from the GI doc, and a couple of surprises:
The doc, who is very young, was great and did an incredible job in explaining everything that will be done and what she’d be looking for. They will remove any polyps, if any, and also take some random biopsies. Based on these tests, they will determine when the next colonoscopy would be needed.
I mentioned that I have no one to drive me, and her response was: “Oh, don’t worry, we have a medical van that will pick you up and drop you home. It’s a service for our patients, so no additional charge.” Amazing, and had I known this, I would’ve gone sooner.
When scheduling, the assistant asked me if I’d prefer the drink or the pills. Based on prior threads on the topic, I didn’t know there was a pill option. I chose the pill option so will have to take 12 small pills with water at 5pm, followed by the same again at 9pm, the night before the procedure.
But they never even ask if the person who is driving me is going to stay with me. Depending on where/when the procedure is done ( pre-COVID was different from post-COVID) the staff wanted to see the driver bring the patient in , required the driver to stay on premises , wouldn’t let the driver into the area or wouldn’t allow the driver to wait on site. In one case, when I actually did have someone picking me up who couldn’t find parking, they allowed me to leave the hospital unescorted ( when I asked, I assumed they would have someone transport me to the entrance ). There were three things I have never encountered with colonoscopies and other procedures, either as the driver or the patient
No identification needed from the driver
The driver doesn’t sign anything
There were no instructions given to either the driver or the patient that someone needed to stay with the patient for a certain amount of time. And if that’s necessary, you really do need to tell people - because just like the Uber driver will just drop me at the curb and leave, so might my husband if he gets me home at 3:30 and has to be at work at 4.
I had to have a procedure canceled and re-scheduled once because I didn’t have a driver. The next time, I got my brother to drive in from 3 hours away to be the driver.
Now I’m in an apartment, 40 minutes away from my HMO facility. I now have a pact with a neighbor that we will drive each other for procedures like this – which we have each had to do for the other at least twice each in the last 6 years. And a few other neighbors have mentioned that they would do this too if needed. (It helps that we’re all a bunch of retired old farts here.)
