lonely people don't deserve healthcare?

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Peaches

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Well, as apparently what started as a flu and without any cures became pleurisy is after one month, because of continuous lack of cures, becoming pneumonia, so finally I tried to reach out again to the ultra crappy healthcare system of where I live to try and get a doctor to my home.

The reason for not coming, for all the doctors, was that "if I had the strength to call, I also had the strength to go to the hospital" (except that going around with fever and probably pneumonia is going to make that pneumonia guaranteed).

I tried to explain that if I didn't call myself no one would call at my place, and they hung up on me. Twice.

So now I am really really lucky that my mother is coming in a couple of days to make sure that I can get medical care (and bringing a big box of antibiotics that are not used in this f%$&g country), but what if I didn't have that? Actually, what will happen WHEN (she is 73 already) she won't be there anymore?

Are lonely people left alone to die? This is so incredibly depressing
 
I try not to worry about that myself...

It's strange to know that at one point in my life I had enough of a social network to get help with things that needed to get done. Now that I don't know anybody, it's kind of scary, the thought of being older and in a bad situation with no one to help.
 
Peaches said:
I tried to explain that if I didn't call myself no one would call at my place, and they hung up on me. Twice.

Are lonely people left alone to die? This is so incredibly depressing

+1 to your doctors for empathy and doing their jobs.
^Sarcasm.

Shouldn't the "do your ******* job" speech come into play during these moments? Unless you're out of their jurisdiction, which I assume you're not because you're calling them, they don't really have an excuse not to help you. Even if it's an out of their way thing fitting your customer or patient needs is part of doing the job. If someone's going deaf and can't hear, you don't tell them to get a hearing aid, you adjust and speak louder. Tom Hansen was dying in his bed from a Heroin OD and managed to use his phone. Doesn't mean he could get up and walk to a hospital.

You should watch Donnie Darko at times like these.
 
That is disgusting. Having the strength to make a phone call in no way means you also are strong enough to go to the hospital yourself. I am so glsad that your mum is coming to help you.
It is so frightening that many of us here have no support network for times of crisis. Tropical Starfish, I am in the same position as you. The world is a scary place when there is noone to rely on.
 
I'm not sure where you're from, but if it's from the United States, it's more about money than loneliness. If it was an emergency an ambulance would come and bring you to the hospital. Otherwise the health care system just can't afford to send doctors around for people calling with a fever, and possibly pneumonia. However there are private practice doctors who would make a house call if you were willing to pay enough. In the end it's all about money.

I know certain countries like France public doctors do make house calls.
 
where I live (the netherlands) it is not possible to pay for private visits, so I think even the rich people are in the same situation, I d have been very happy to pay at this point. This system is the only one in the world worse than the US system, which I hear is pretty bad :)
 
I know certain countries like France public doctors do make house calls

Yes they do - my doctor (also my parents' doctor), called regularly to see my Mum when she was too ill (Alzheimer's dementia) to go to the surgery for check-ups etc. ...
A call to the emergency services for a sick friend brought them and an on-call doctor to the house, and she had her husband with her so was not even on her own...
I broke my ankle and a nurse came every day to my home to give me an anti-phlebitis injection, until I decided to learn how to inject myself 'cos the nurses kept turning up really early in the morning (not a morning person!!!)

Sounds like Peaches got a really bad service from her health 'service'.
 
jaguarundi said:
Yes they do - my doctor (also my parents' doctor), called regularly to see my Mum when she was too ill (Alzheimer's dementia) to go to the surgery for check-ups etc. ...
A call to the emergency services for a sick friend brought them and an on-call doctor to the house, and she had her husband with her so was not even on her own...
I broke my ankle and a nurse came every day to my home to give me an anti-phlebitis injection, until I decided to learn how to inject myself 'cos the nurses kept turning up really early in the morning (not a morning person!!!)

France is onto something worth noting. It's no wonder every French person I've met was baffled by how we prioritize things.
 
France is onto something worth noting. It's no wonder every French person I've met was baffled by how we prioritize things.

Well I am not actually French, but have lived here since 2001, and altho there are things here that drive me mad, on balance the French are still more concerned about family and society than me, me me and yet again ME all the time. Which would categorize as the American way (sorry if I am being harsh, US people, please feel free to give me examples of this not being the case as I would like to hear them).
 
jaguarundi said:
France is onto something worth noting. It's no wonder every French person I've met was baffled by how we prioritize things.

Well I am not actually French, but have lived here since 2001, and altho there are things here that drive me mad, on balance the French are still more concerned about family and society than me, me me and yet again ME all the time. Which would categorize as the American way (sorry if I am being harsh, US people, please feel free to give me examples of this not being the case as I would like to hear them).


Lets not forget France's 35 hour work week. That country is just kicking up their feet and relaxing all over the place.
 
hey, 35 hours is still a lot of work :D it's the 40, 50 hours that are just crazy and take away everything good in life, unless you are an entrepreneur who lives for his/her job. Many people mistake the interest of a company for their own interest, and they think that they need all that money when they can never enjoy it.

 
Lets not forget France's 35 hour work week. That country is just kicking up their feet and relaxing all over the place

Actually you are a bit out of date on this one - this hasn't been the case since Sarco. And French people are not just swinging in hammocks under coconut trees, doing nothing. I am sure that the last time you came here you surely noticed that French people spend their downtime visiting elderly relatives, having big family meals that are not only delicious but include the youngest and oldest of the family, preserving their 'patrimonie' ie the historic buildings and landscape of the country.... I could go on....

Also - working less hours should mean more employment, not less, since things don't just close down on Friday lunchtime (mostly). I am sorry if you US citizens feel that you are being attacked by my comments, and I have been to the US both for work and leisure, and found many, many wonderful people. But being a European I simply cannot see how anyone benefits by employment strategies that mean 50 hour weeks for some, unemployment for many more, 5 luxury homes and a private jet for some, death for a kid whose parents can't afford cancer treatment for others... a city plunged into bankruptcy to try to avoid paying public servants who have served for years, ... and so on. This is political stuff so I won't continue, but my signature quote means a great deal to me...
 
This-
lostatsea said:
Lets not forget France's 35 hour work week. That country is just kicking up their feet and relaxing all over the place.

Is wayyy more offensive than this-
jaguarundi said:
The French are still more concerned about family and society than me, me me and yet again ME all the time. Which would categorize as the American way.

So no worries, I don't mind, foreigners have just as much right to criticize the US for their short comings. This country is built on the illusion of wealth; credit and debt. Humanity as a whole is fairly selfish, it's human nature, but it's so out and about here it's probably more accepted than we can measure. I don't like being measured for worth by the dollar, and I've talked to people who clearly put themselves before others, and they don't have any notion that it's a terrible way to think. I work between 35 and 40 hours with no problems. Works been telling me I should invest in working more hours, so I can make more money, and I keep asking what's the point of being young with money when you have no time to do anything with it? Sacrifice a years worth of tiny significant memories for an expensive week off in Florida? fresia that.

Politics and Ethics are severed at the waist of Capitalism.

On top of that I know people who've traveled and I've met people from around the world. Nicest, non-discriminating, people I've spent time with. My ex-girlfriends adoptive parents from Germany accept her as part of their family so much they've come here twice to visit her in the hospital. Margo, a French exchange student back in high school, was instantly everyones friend because she was so nice and had a great sense of humor. Also, one of my co-workers from India moved here with her parents when she was young, which he did solely to provide for his family back home. He's purchased them all houses in India, he sends them money for food, he takes care of them along with his family here. It's kind of incredible. I don't know anyone who would do that for their family here including myself. Go out of their way, sure, but selflessly devote your life to helping them and changing everything that's comfortable around you? Admirable insanity

Not that EVERYONE's that way, ******** exist worldwide, but there seems to be a pattern at least.
 
Works been telling me I should invest in working more hours, so I can make more money, and I keep asking what's the point of being young with money when you have no time to do anything with it

I worked for many years in the IT industry, in what would be called a successful way, getting up in the morning at 5 a.m very often, to drive 2 or more hours for breakfast meetings with IT senior VPs, heads of Ops etc etc. And what did it ever get me?? Ill health, few friends (too busy working) and altho I lived in London(great restaurant, theatre, music and all) too bloody tired to go and see any of it, most of the time.

Life HAS surely to mean more than this, people surely must mean more than a dollar/yen/pound/euro put upon them, or we are all just prostituting our lives for ..... nothing.....
 

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