We had to tell a patient today that she is probably going to die. [View All]

[MedicalAdmin]

We are a smaller community clinic and we keep prices as low as we can and still keep the doors open. As a result we see lots of patients who can't afford private insurance but make about $20 too much a year to get public insurance. I just posted a fundraiser poster for one of our patients who has stage 4 cancer. It won't be much but the idea is to keep up with treatments as much as possible and keep her families finances and home together for her kids after she likely passes away this year.

She is 30 and has a husband and 2 little kids. She's a wonderful and giving person who volunteers and helps out others and always has a good word for everyone she meets. Both parents work full time. They spend tons of time with their families and kids. They go to church. They help their neighbors. They are the poster kids for good neighbors. The future doesn't look bright for her or her family.

If this country had a single payer system then the tests she needed to find this before it became a problem. It just would have taken the cost of one screen a year. It wasn't an expensive test but being out of pocket they just couldn't afford to do it for the past 2 years. I am crying as I write this. For the want of a couple hundred dollars this woman has to die. Her children will grow up without their mother. Her husband will ... I don't know.

I just don't know. I swear I am going to punch the teeth out of the head of the next idiot to tell me that socialized medicine is just about freeloaders. This was completely avoidable. For our part we are now giving her free care as part of her support team. It's too little too late. Somedays I hate my job.