Hi Becca,

You make excellent points.

I have been a very strong advocate for many in the past.
I find I have less and less steam to advocate for myself and for others as I age and as my conditions progress.
It can become a bit demoralizing after awhile, especially when it is a chronic problem within the same department for years on end.

I think we all feel for people who have more barriers, whatever they may be, to advocating for themselves. It's an awareness I both welcome and find disheartening. So many people, especially people with chronic and/or complex conditions, get lost in these systems of health care.

There is a patient advocacy office within the university health care system, where patients are encouraged to share their concerns; however, at the same time, every doctor I have talked with tells me the use of the "patient advocacy service" tags patients as "trouble makers" for the whole system. It's a catch-22. Patients voicing valid concerns are not "trouble makers," and it's unfortunate they are tagged as such. : (

I feel there will come a time when more doctors revolt against the broken system. They now share openly about their own unhappiness with being told how to practice medicine, being told they cannot admit a patient to the hospital when they see a need to do so, etc.

I have the best luck with experienced private care specialists. They can choose to practice however they want to do so. They are not told to keep appointments to an average length of 12.5 minutes. Lol. However, "private practices" are becoming increasingly scarce.

One of the problems in this area is: The teaching university is buying up most of the private practices. Doctors have been telling me for over a two years now there is a "backroom deal" in the state Senate/House with the goal of having only one healthcare provider and only one insurer in this state.

I have been watching the private practices, the strong competitors to the university health care system, so many of them now bought out by the university. I have been somewhat surprised any entity can legally create such a "monopoly" in any business, including in health care. I believe in healthy competition.

My heart goes out to many needing better care, while falling through the many gaps within these medical care systems.

Love All Around,