Category Archives: Medical care

Jamila and Enoch’s Walk

Posted on June 16, 2013 by

I kinda-sorta have an agreement with the VP for Parking that I won’t write about the patients.  We have no such agreement about the staff, so let me tell you about Jamila Kafi.  She’s a tall, light-skinned African-American woman on the housekeeping … Continue reading →

Posted in American medical industry, Medical care, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

For Melia

Posted on June 15, 2013 by

A new day dawns and with it new learning, new understanding. Dying is a business to be learned.  I was three hundred miles away from my parents in their final years.  I talked to them on the phone every week, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, God, Medical care | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Absence of Roses

Posted on June 14, 2013 by

Here at Crouse Hospital, I have requested an immunology consult.  The hospitalist has told me that he doesn’t do things like that.  I have sent messages via three different routes to the Director of Hospitalists.  She has chosen not to see … Continue reading →

Posted in American medical industry, Depression, Health Care, Medical care, Powerlessness | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Search for the Roses

Posted on June 11, 2013 by

I am dreaming that Melia and I are wandering around downtown, particularly in the Armory Square section, where there are outdoor vendors.  Down every little alley, in small brick courtyards and on fire escapes there are people selling hand sewn … Continue reading →

Posted in American medical industry, Depression, Health Care, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, Pharmaceuticals, physician | Leave a comment

Crouse: Grownups and Quietude

Posted on June 9, 2013 by

Excerpt of email from Crouse’s erstwhile VP of Parking:  “I will, however, take one exception, and that is referring to our staff as ‘foolish’ (#7). You are more than entitled to your opinion (duh) and, as you know, I support … Continue reading →

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Fighting back: Roger Levine, M.D.

Posted on June 8, 2013 by

I awoke at 3:30 a.m. with a terrible need to say what happened on St. Joseph’s inpatient psychiatry, Unit 3-6. I attempted suicide for two reasons:  first, it was a rational choice that I’d been considering for months based on my … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, advocacy, American medical industry, Inpatient psychiatry, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, physician | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

It’s about the Coffee

Posted on June 7, 2013 by

Sorry, just discovered I re-posted the first half of this. Thomas Falci just came to my bedside with a medical student. I refused to shake his hand but did shake hers. I’m not a hypocrite. Rude, maybe, but not a … Continue reading →

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That is All

Posted on June 3, 2013 by

As a child, I learned that if I wrote down my feelings then they were externalized and ceased to cause pain.  Why else do you think I became a writer?  Over time I came to understand that my feelings were in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Government Services, Recipes, Health Care, Death, Mental Illness & Health, Holistic, Values, Spirituality, Power, Sex, disability, disability rights, power wheelchairs, Fraud, advocacy, activism, Humor, Nature, Medical care, American medical industry, God, Depression, Powerlessness, Housing, Pharmaceuticals, Poverty, Medicaid, Medicare, Inpatient psychiatry, drugs, physician, Onondaga County, Republican Party, political corruption, Transportation | Leave a comment

The “Falci” Psychiatric Interview

Posted on June 1, 2013 by

Friday afternoon I had the biggest laugh in weeks—I read my psychiatric report. When I was in the Emergency Department requesting palliative care, Dr. Jishi told me that first I would have to be screened by psychiatry.  She didn’t say … Continue reading →

Posted in American medical industry, Death, Depression, Health Care, Inpatient psychiatry, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Life in the 467th Group

Posted on June 1, 2013 by

Anonymous has commented “You are not costing the government any money. Hospitals are paid on a DRG basis. Which means the hospital you are in is eating the cost of your stay beyond any diagnosis related treatment days.” In the first … Continue reading →

Posted in American medical industry, Government Services, Health Care, Medicaid, Medical care, Medicare, physician | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment