Health Care is a right

Nurses Activism

Published

I would do a poll on this, but I do not know how to - or maybe you need to be a premium member.

At any rate, I would like to hear some discussion on whether you feel health care is a right or not.

I personally do.

I support H.R. 676 . Healthcare is a right...no doubt about it in my mind.

I am going to tell you a story just to raise awareness about some issues that are ignored..

I have a friend who has been an RN for over 20 years. She loves what she does and gives great nursing care, never places judgement on people, and always gives the same care to each of her patients REGARDLESS of their age, race, financial ability to pay...and so forth. Most nurses do this everyday, right? She is an OR nurse.

Well back in 2000 she started not feeling so well and was kind-of dizzy so she went to her PCP who told her it was likely a virus. She didn't seem to be getting better so she had a head MRI which came back as negative. At the time she worked in a peds/gyn OR and the nurses carried the peds patients to the OR. Anesthesia would breathe/mask the patients down and she would start the IV on them. She noticed that she devoloped and intention tremor and was concerned but continued to get the job done.

Because she was dizzy she didnt feel comfortable carrying the patients so she divulged this to her nurse manager. She explained the situation and requested to do gyn cases for a short while. Her nurse manager asked her if she was refusing to do her job.

Anyway as her "punishment" she did peds cases for the next year- BUT she never risked a pt. She went to anesthesia everyday and explained that she had an inner ear problem. He coworkers? Well they treated her like a malingerer.

She had another MRI (ordered by a neurologist) because she had lost 25 pounds and was so tired and dizzy all the time. This MRI was also read as negative.

She continued to work and drive because, you see, they were telling her she was OK....

One day after work she went to her PCP because she just couldn't stand it anymore. He did a fundoscopic exam on her and told her that she needed to go to the ER. He explained to her that she just needed to go to the ER and give her name and they would take it from there. She went to the ER and went up to the triage nurse who scoffed at her and told her "we don't know you or have any idea why you are here".

She was soooo upset at the way this nurse spoke to her..she turned away and left.....She told herself that she had TWO brain MRI's read as negative so nothing could be wrong.

The next day at work one of the anesthesiologists she worked with pulled her aside and told her she had anicocoria. She called her PCP about his and he asked her if she went to the ER because she had papilledema the day before.

Well, a third MRI showed a brain lesion in her right CP angle. It explained all the symptoms she had experienced ...AND it turns out that the lesion was present on both prior scans... The lesion was at her brainstem (pons) and her hospital's neurosurgeons were not comfortable operating in that area of the brain...so she had to "request" to go outside of her hospitals insurance plan.

Well, this was done swiftly and quickly and she had a right posterior fossa crani to remove the lesion...It was benign. The doctors who missed the lesion told her that the lesion was cystic which made it more difficult to see on the scans.

After the craniotomy she felt great. Post-op she had a few seizures but was doing well. The fatigue went away, the dizziness was gone, she could eat again.

While she was recovering, though she received a letter from the hospital she worked for which stated that because she had missed more that 120 days in a calendar year..she was "terminated" but because she was in good standing with the hospital...she could apply for her job again in the future if she wanted to.

She lost her job, AND her insurance. She had to COBRA her coverage until she could work again. The cost to COBRA insurance for her in 2002 was over 800dollars/month. Well she had to have it- the insurance, right?? So she paid it. She worked hard and got back to work at a new job and hospital. She was so happy. She worked for 6 years, took her dilantin and was fine.

In 2008 she was working and started having double vision- and ataxia. she had another MRI which showed another different brain lesion show up causing dorsal midbrain syndrome.

In July of 2008 she had a second craniotomy which took 12 hours. It was much more difficult for her to recover from. She had to relearn to walk, had to have extensive PT, OT, and cognitive therapy. The seizures were VERY difficult to control. She was in the hospital for over a month then NeuroRehab.

Anyway, during her recovery...because she was unable to return to work after 6 months time her short term disability ran out and she was terminated. Her long term disabiity kicked in and she is still on it. BUT she has to COBRA her insurance which is over 1200/month and her antiepileptic drugs (with RX coverage) are over 200 month.

Consider this....

If she is unable to get back to work she can ONLY COBRA insurance for 18months..after that she won't be able to get it. Who will insure her? Which insurance company? Anybody?? NO

Well what about social security disability? She applied (because her LTD company made her) and she was approved. Problem solved???

NO. You see. The way that works is that in order to get medicare for a disibility you have to be disabled for TWO years AND because she has worked as a nurse for over 20 years and paid into social security she will get around 1900/month- under 24,000dollars/year. Not much, right?? BUT according to the government it is too much money to receive any help with anything. Nothing.

This is the system we have now. She is not the exception...This happens to MANY people everyday. People who are educated, who work hard, but become ill.

She is an independent person- single- no spouse's insurance to get on, right? Consider this...

She has an older friend who is married. They don't have children and she does not work- never has. She is on her husband's insurance policy (so she has medical coverage) PLUS she will be able to collect social security off of his work history- NEVER HAVING WORKED A DAY IN HER LIFE!!!

I would appreciate your thoughts on our great system and wonder if people like my friend (a fellow nurse) are thought about during this healthcare debate.

Think about it...you are ONE MAJOR ILLNESS away from this..Think this can't happen to you???

Specializes in LTC.
A moral obligation for whom????????

I'm tired of entertaining your questions. It's pointless.

Specializes in LTC.
Moral obligation and legal authority are not the same thing. I feel a moral obligation to help the homeless, but that does not mean that I have to bring them home with me.

Legal authority is derived from a sense of morality.

Specializes in LTC.
I fail to see what the 14th amendment has to do with the question. The 14th amendment reaffirms the individual's rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. It clarifies that a person is both a citizen of the United States as well as a citizen of state in which they reside. So your point is...?

I'll be more specific. The fourteenth amendment effected the power and efficacy of the ninth. When the Constitution is amended, the other amendments change. The fourteenth established federal supremacy over the states.

it's time for us to drop the american exceptionalism nonsense.

nope, not gonna do it. we are exceptional. :up:

no, but neither can i cite the right of a woman to get an abortion. it's legal though.

it may be "legal" but that is only because the supreme court twisted language around to make it legal.

universal health care is not contrary to the constitution, that's my point.

yes, it is.

steph

I support H.R. 676 . Healthcare is a right...no doubt about it in my mind.

I am going to tell you a story just to raise awareness about some issues that are ignored..

I have a friend who has been an RN for over 20 years. She loves what she does and gives great nursing care, never places judgement on people, and always gives the same care to each of her patients REGARDLESS of their age, race, financial ability to pay...and so forth. Most nurses do this everyday, right? She is an OR nurse.

Well back in 2000 she started not feeling so well and was kind-of dizzy so she went to her PCP who told her it was likely a virus. She didn't seem to be getting better so she had a head MRI which came back as negative. At the time she worked in a peds/gyn OR and the nurses carried the peds patients to the OR. Anesthesia would breathe/mask the patients down and she would start the IV on them. She noticed that she devoloped and intention tremor and was concerned but continued to get the job done.

Because she was dizzy she didnt feel comfortable carrying the patients so she divulged this to her nurse manager. She explained the situation and requested to do gyn cases for a short while. Her nurse manager asked her if she was refusing to do her job.

Anyway as her "punishment" she did peds cases for the next year- BUT she never risked a pt. She went to anesthesia everyday and explained that she had an inner ear problem. He coworkers? Well they treated her like a malingerer.

She had another MRI (ordered by a neurologist) because she had lost 25 pounds and was so tired and dizzy all the time. This MRI was also read as negative.

She continued to work and drive because, you see, they were telling her she was OK....

One day after work she went to her PCP because she just couldn't stand it anymore. He did a fundoscopic exam on her and told her that she needed to go to the ER. He explained to her that she just needed to go to the ER and give her name and they would take it from there. She went to the ER and went up to the triage nurse who scoffed at her and told her "we don't know you or have any idea why you are here".

She was soooo upset at the way this nurse spoke to her..she turned away and left.....She told herself that she had TWO brain MRI's read as negative so nothing could be wrong.

The next day at work one of the anesthesiologists she worked with pulled her aside and told her she had anicocoria. She called her PCP about his and he asked her if she went to the ER because she had papilledema the day before.

Well, a third MRI showed a brain lesion in her right CP angle. It explained all the symptoms she had experienced ...AND it turns out that the lesion was present on both prior scans... The lesion was at her brainstem (pons) and her hospital's neurosurgeons were not comfortable operating in that area of the brain...so she had to "request" to go outside of her hospitals insurance plan.

Well, this was done swiftly and quickly and she had a right posterior fossa crani to remove the lesion...It was benign. The doctors who missed the lesion told her that the lesion was cystic which made it more difficult to see on the scans.

After the craniotomy she felt great. Post-op she had a few seizures but was doing well. The fatigue went away, the dizziness was gone, she could eat again.

While she was recovering, though she received a letter from the hospital she worked for which stated that because she had missed more that 120 days in a calendar year..she was "terminated" but because she was in good standing with the hospital...she could apply for her job again in the future if she wanted to.

She lost her job, AND her insurance. She had to COBRA her coverage until she could work again. The cost to COBRA insurance for her in 2002 was over 800dollars/month. Well she had to have it- the insurance, right?? So she paid it. She worked hard and got back to work at a new job and hospital. She was so happy. She worked for 6 years, took her dilantin and was fine.

In 2008 she was working and started having double vision- and ataxia. she had another MRI which showed another different brain lesion show up causing dorsal midbrain syndrome.

In July of 2008 she had a second craniotomy which took 12 hours. It was much more difficult for her to recover from. She had to relearn to walk, had to have extensive PT, OT, and cognitive therapy. The seizures were VERY difficult to control. She was in the hospital for over a month then NeuroRehab.

Anyway, during her recovery...because she was unable to return to work after 6 months time her short term disability ran out and she was terminated. Her long term disabiity kicked in and she is still on it. BUT she has to COBRA her insurance which is over 1200/month and her antiepileptic drugs (with RX coverage) are over 200 month.

Consider this....

If she is unable to get back to work she can ONLY COBRA insurance for 18months..after that she won't be able to get it. Who will insure her? Which insurance company? Anybody?? NO

Well what about social security disability? She applied (because her LTD company made her) and she was approved. Problem solved???

NO. You see. The way that works is that in order to get medicare for a disibility you have to be disabled for TWO years AND because she has worked as a nurse for over 20 years and paid into social security she will get around 1900/month- under 24,000dollars/year. Not much, right?? BUT according to the government it is too much money to receive any help with anything. Nothing.

This is the system we have now. She is not the exception...This happens to MANY people everyday. People who are educated, who work hard, but become ill.

She is an independent person- single- no spouse's insurance to get on, right? Consider this...

She has an older friend who is married. They don't have children and she does not work- never has. She is on her husband's insurance policy (so she has medical coverage) PLUS she will be able to collect social security off of his work history- NEVER HAVING WORKED A DAY IN HER LIFE!!!

I would appreciate your thoughts on our great system and wonder if people like my friend (a fellow nurse) are thought about during this healthcare debate.

Think about it...you are ONE MAJOR ILLNESS away from this..Think this can't happen to you???

How is poor medical care the fault of insurance. And many want to get rid of the tort system. Should this woman not be allowed to sue for this? Be careful what you wish for.

Specializes in Hospice.
Hmmm... what a crock.

I OWN a house (and my husband owns another). I pay property taxes that pay for the school system here. He still pays property taxes in the state/county where his children live with their mother. I spend $500/child for school supplies for this PUBLIC "free" education, not to mention all those wonderful books we have to purchase for literary class. Free public education is NOT free. And like you pointed out... long after my children have graduated I will be paying for the "free" education of the children of folks who don't own houses.

And how do you imagine that my landlord pays his taxes?

I fail to see what the 14th amendment has to do with the question. The 14th amendment reaffirms the individual's rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. It clarifies that a person is both a citizen of the United States as well as a citizen of state in which they reside. So your point is...?

1.No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States

and

2.nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

If health care is defined by Congress as a privilege of citizenship that means equal protection attaches to health care for all citizens.....It involves due process issues as well as equality.

Of course that doesn't stop the GOP from trying to abridge a moral right to affordable and adequate health care

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Specializes in Medical.
why don't these other countries follow us into iraq and afghanistan?

i clearly missed a page of the thread because i don't know how this relates, but: while there's no question that the lion's share of troops in afghanistan and iraq are american, there are armed forced from over three dozen other countries fighting too (see here for a chart, here for a comparison of commitment per head of population, and here for an article on the top five committed countries).to bring it somewhat back to the op - that includes

the following countries who also have universal health care programs: germany, canada, singapore, austria, france, croatia, lithuania, latvia, the netherlands, the uk, ireland, estonia, slovakia, spain, france, italy, iceland, poland, greece, georgia, the czech republic, australia and new zealand. this only a partial list as i couldn't be bothered correlating every country that has both uhc and troops in afghanistan, but given that the us is the only industrialised country without uhc...

new zealand went away from universal healthcare and many other socialist programs.

where did you get the idea that nz abandoned universal health care? you might want to tell the nz government - their ministry of health website indicates that they still have uhc for citizens, victms of car accidents, children under 18... they also still have superannuation, subsidised state housing, and benefits for the unemployed, families, single parents, the disabled and those caring for dependants. at least that's what i'm guessing "socialist programs" means.

according to the australian reserve bank the gfc's over here, too - which is why, much to the disgust of home owners, we were the first developed nation to raise interest rates.

when people make egregiously incorrect, easily verifiable statements it's hard to believe that the rest of their argument's valid either...

also, nz has more sheep than people. i think the vets there are a happy bunch. :loveya:

yep, about ten per person, while australia has about six sheep per person (source). i doubt the vets are happy - in both countries flock sizes are diminishing - nz used to have a 20:1 ratio, and while australia used to ride on the sheep's back those days are over.

Specializes in Psych , Peds ,Nicu.
How is poor medical care the fault of insurance. And many want to get rid of the tort system. Should this woman not be allowed to sue for this? Be careful what you wish for.

I think the point Debsimb was making , is that through no fault of her own , the nurse she referred to was now

unemployed and uninsurable . Adressing the point many anti health reformers try to make ie. if you don't have health insurance it is because you do not prioritize you finances to pay your premium , so it is the fault of those without insurance that they don't have it .

As to your point re. tort reform .The many you refer to are those that are against healthcare reform .Because they claim litigation is a major expense , causing health care to be so expensive .

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

I think we all deserve a single standard of safe, effective, therapeutic healthcare delivered with compassion. Is that not our goal as nurses?

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