As details continue to be reported, it would seem our current healthcare system and the CDC may actually be a part of the health care crisis . . . a large part. There are reports of healthcare workers being fought and rejected in Western Africa, and very obvious reports of health care workers in this country taking unnecessary risks that may actually spread the disease . . . if it actually exists as we are told.
The problem with ebola continues to be the elusive reports and information that is not released by the CDC until facts are discovered. Then the CDC "steps up" and admits the reality, hopefully. The reality may or may not be worse than we are being told. Much of the American public really doesn't trust the CDC, and trust is waning on the more personal levels for health care as well. With the Executive Order 13295 amendment, respiratory issues can now result in quarantine. Let that sink in for just a few moments. How many people get a "touch of what's going around" in the winter? With ebola fear, enterovirus 68, and flu season approaching, what is the potential reality that a visit to the doctor for a cough might end in quarantine? I'm not fearmongering here, the power is already in place!
To add to this issue, HIPAA was put in place years ago, and I sounded the warning at the turn of this century, it was not at all about patient privacy. HIPAA keeps concerned individuals from being able to locate friends and loved ones in the health care system. HIPAA laws are the reason, the average person cannot call a hospital and ask how if their friend or loved one is in the facility. When I was faced with the potential fallout of this very thing, I called family for the specific reason that I would not be "lost in the system." Those are two mistakes I won't make again. I won't ever enter health care willingly, and if I ever find myself there against my will, a call to family will not happen. Speaking of calls . . .
Over seven years ago, I found myself in an ICU waiting room with the doctor telling me the patient's prognosis was grim and his condition was grave. He then told me, it was time to call the family. I went to the main lobby thinking I'd find pay phones, but I was wrong. Upon making enquiry as to where the pay phones were, I was told there weren't any, but under the circumstances, I could use theirs. There's a day coming, "they" won't allow that! Just as disease prevention was a foundational in the rise of Nazi power in Germany, health care will be an invasive arm of power here, very soon.
