Granted, my anecdote is more than 20 years old, but a simple blood test almost put me out because the intern taking my blood had to try 5 times, in two veins, just to get the few ml she needed, after exploding the first vein
That can happen anywhere. I’ve had phlebotomists sink a needle without even feeling it, while others are butchers.
I ALWAYS ask, in a joking manner, if they’ve done this before, but I am actually serious. If they act like it’s a dumb question, I can relax a bit, if they are young and aren’t super confident, I’m on alert.
If they get it wrong the first time, I tell them they have one more chance, and then we’re calling in someone else. And I mean it. I don’t care if I hurt some young nurse’s feelings over this. I respect nurses like crazy, and always defend them in strikes, wages, etc., but I’m not going to just let someone practice on me like I’m a cadaver. I can FEEL that, and it HURTS! Get it right, or get someone who can get it right.
That can happen in privately run care, too. The point was more that a then-leading conservative admitted he doesn’t actually believe that socialized health care can be of good quality, but the common people just don’t deserve to have access to it.
Also, there are other, better examples. Messing up a blood draw is a known and acceptable risk that can happen anywhere. Everyone has stories about someone’s bad experience and nobody is calling for investigation and change, much less calling it ‘bad healthcare’. It just happens sometimes. Your experience sucked, and I get that - nobody likes it when acceptable risk rolls less favorable.
It wasn’t too long ago that unresponsive patients in the VA were suffering from bedbugs and made national news. That alone speaks volumes about what was wrong, medical and non-medical, that just should not happen. And that it happened to multiple people at the same time, in the same place, showed it was systemic. Investigations needed to be done to determine cause and if any criminal activity took place. So if we really want to discuss bad healthcare, there are much better hard hitting examples.
A single phlebotomy is a useless data point when talking about anything at scale. Especially when you yourself say it was the only one you have had a problem with.blem with.
When my daughter was an infant she needed a blood draw, I forget why, but the three people working in the hospital had no idea how to draw blood from an infant. They were trying to do it like you would an adult… and failing. Finally I told them to stop and went and found an older nurse. She came in, pricked her heel and all was done.
Honestly I haven’t heard an American healthcare, active duty, va, or private that was good. Including my own experiences.
The insurance model, tons of regulatory capture, and low investment in quality or even availability makes it just kind of shit. Way too much time and money spent on avoiding helping people.
First class? HAH!
Granted, my anecdote is more than 20 years old, but a simple blood test almost put me out because the intern taking my blood had to try 5 times, in two veins, just to get the few ml she needed, after exploding the first vein
That can happen anywhere. I’ve had phlebotomists sink a needle without even feeling it, while others are butchers.
I ALWAYS ask, in a joking manner, if they’ve done this before, but I am actually serious. If they act like it’s a dumb question, I can relax a bit, if they are young and aren’t super confident, I’m on alert.
If they get it wrong the first time, I tell them they have one more chance, and then we’re calling in someone else. And I mean it. I don’t care if I hurt some young nurse’s feelings over this. I respect nurses like crazy, and always defend them in strikes, wages, etc., but I’m not going to just let someone practice on me like I’m a cadaver. I can FEEL that, and it HURTS! Get it right, or get someone who can get it right.
That can happen in privately run care, too. The point was more that a then-leading conservative admitted he doesn’t actually believe that socialized health care can be of good quality, but the common people just don’t deserve to have access to it.
Like I said… anecdotal. I’ve never had that problem with any other blood draw, ever.
When I was enlisted, the care sucked
Also, there are other, better examples. Messing up a blood draw is a known and acceptable risk that can happen anywhere. Everyone has stories about someone’s bad experience and nobody is calling for investigation and change, much less calling it ‘bad healthcare’. It just happens sometimes. Your experience sucked, and I get that - nobody likes it when acceptable risk rolls less favorable.
It wasn’t too long ago that unresponsive patients in the VA were suffering from bedbugs and made national news. That alone speaks volumes about what was wrong, medical and non-medical, that just should not happen. And that it happened to multiple people at the same time, in the same place, showed it was systemic. Investigations needed to be done to determine cause and if any criminal activity took place. So if we really want to discuss bad healthcare, there are much better hard hitting examples.
A single phlebotomy is a useless data point when talking about anything at scale. Especially when you yourself say it was the only one you have had a problem with.blem with.
When my daughter was an infant she needed a blood draw, I forget why, but the three people working in the hospital had no idea how to draw blood from an infant. They were trying to do it like you would an adult… and failing. Finally I told them to stop and went and found an older nurse. She came in, pricked her heel and all was done.
Mistakes can happen anywhere.
Honestly I haven’t heard an American healthcare, active duty, va, or private that was good. Including my own experiences.
The insurance model, tons of regulatory capture, and low investment in quality or even availability makes it just kind of shit. Way too much time and money spent on avoiding helping people.
If you want an opposite anecdote, the VA took pretty good care of my granddad, especially as he needed end of life care, so, I guess ymmv.
I go to the what some considered one of the best VAs in the country in Asheville, NC. I will pick it over any civilian doctor any day.
I hope you’re able to get the care you need. :)