It’s been a few days since an update on Amanda Baggs and her struggle to get past medical discrimination and get appropriate medical treatment has been shared here. The good news is that the news of her scheduled surgery was true and her feeding tube is now in place.
Now the bad news:
In “So today was interesting,” Amanda Baggs shares the her struggles with hospital staff over inappropriate “assistance” with a bedpan, and an early, ill-conceived discharge plan ‘decided’ without her and other “interesting” features of the day.
In this tumblr post, she shares the story of how her own input was ignored, resulting in inadequate anesthesia during her operation. The result was agonizing and they’re still struggling to treat her pain and nausea post-op.
One of her latest posts may be the scariest of all. A physician wanted to be very sure she was “at peace” with her decision to have a feeding tube and live:
Before I got my feeding tube. After I’d already signed an informed consent form. A pulmonologist came into my room with a gaggle of interns and residents behind him. People who were learning from him. People who looked up to him as a teacher and role model.
He had seen my cat scan. He knew how many times I’ve had pneumonia recently. He knew it would keep happening if we didn’t find a way to stop it. He knew that pneumonia is a deadly disease and that my health was worsening with each infection. He knew how many doctors had tried to talk me out of choosing the feeding tube — choosing to live.
“Are you at peace with your decision?” Is a question I would expect to be asked repeatedly if I’d chosen to avoid treatment and go home and wait to get the infection that would kill me. Not a question that goes with choosing life. He asked me at least three times in a row.
I had a friend who came to visit from out of state, in the room with me at the time. She came because she heard I had pneumonia. Her father died of pneumonia. She was terrified for my life. She witnessed this conversation — easily, as she put it, the most genteel of the ways I’d been pressured to die.
Meanwhile, there are others talking and thinking about this latest assault on a member of our community. Here are a couple checking out – and it’s not a comprehensive list. I am very sure there are others I’ve forgotten, overlooked, or not seen yet.:
Paula C. Durbin-Westby writes “No Anesthesia for Disabled Woman – Fletcher-Allen Health Care (FAHC)”
Bill Peace writes his 500th post! (Yes, thoughts on Amanda Baggs, among other things)
Bill Peace with his Latest, “Fear Exists for a Good Reason“