I Never Realized I Was Spread Too Thin
I'm not really here to talk to anybody, but since I'm posting (which I'm only doing because I want to save these articles--why, I don't know, other than, as I say later, today I wanted to access an article and it took me a long time to find it, so I may want to reread or share it in the future) I feel the need to treat this as an actual post with a lyric as a subject line and appropriate icon usage.
I was looking for things to read online during some downtime at work, and I remembered those Mayo Clinic ads that have really been catching my eye, especially since, I don't know what the Mayo Clinic actually treats. Is it like Betty Ford? Is it a cancer center? The ads don't *say*, which seems like...really ineffectual advertising. So I tried to look it up. I never did get an answer (it seems like they're just...a hospital? I guess it's one of the best? Enough to try to advertise to get people to drive thousands of miles for treatment, rather than go to one in their neighborhood?), and I found this horrific article:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/13/health/mayo-clinic-escape-1-eprise/index.html
TL:DR version is a rehab center affiliated with the Mayo Clinic tried to isolate an 18 year old stroke patient (who was cognizant!) from her family, and made into a ward of the hospital.
Now, reading between the lines, it does look like there was a lot going on here. The mother does sound like...a bit of a drama queen--but NOT one who would injure her daughter. And I get that doctors are human and if a woman is acidic to them, there is a temptation to strike back. It's not right, but it's not something they should be executed over. However, it takes more than one scorned doctor to get the law involved, and hospitals should have something in place to guard against basing medical treatment on *revenge*.
It was the last paragraph that sent me on a (thankfully successful; it's a great feeling, like when you have a word on the tip of your tongue AND YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS) Google hunt.
"They say Mayo still hasn't given them an explanation for why it was trying to arrange guardianship for Alyssa."
The family thinks it was pure retaliation on the hospital's part: you pissed us off so we're going to take your daughter. Which is possible. But it reminded me of *this* article:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights
(I'd like to take another minute to say how pleased I am that I found an article I read probably two years ago. It took a lot of searching.)
Another summary for anyone reading this who doesn't want to read that (so, no one): there now exist "professional guardians", people who make their living being court appointed guardians. I'm sure there's a reason they exist, I'm sure there are people who would be very good at it. Unfortunately, it is a system that is just...incredibly too easy to abuse. There are professional guardians who bilk their wards out of their entire savings, and there are lawyers and judges who accept kickbacks to declare functional adults legally incompetent and place them under the power of these professional guardians--even against the wishes of present and viable next of kin.
So there's your happy thought for the day. There is a chance that a hospital may try to take you hostage, and that you could have all of your money stripped away from you and be placed into a home, even if you're 100% fine. What's for lunch?
I was looking for things to read online during some downtime at work, and I remembered those Mayo Clinic ads that have really been catching my eye, especially since, I don't know what the Mayo Clinic actually treats. Is it like Betty Ford? Is it a cancer center? The ads don't *say*, which seems like...really ineffectual advertising. So I tried to look it up. I never did get an answer (it seems like they're just...a hospital? I guess it's one of the best? Enough to try to advertise to get people to drive thousands of miles for treatment, rather than go to one in their neighborhood?), and I found this horrific article:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/13/health/mayo-clinic-escape-1-eprise/index.html
TL:DR version is a rehab center affiliated with the Mayo Clinic tried to isolate an 18 year old stroke patient (who was cognizant!) from her family, and made into a ward of the hospital.
Now, reading between the lines, it does look like there was a lot going on here. The mother does sound like...a bit of a drama queen--but NOT one who would injure her daughter. And I get that doctors are human and if a woman is acidic to them, there is a temptation to strike back. It's not right, but it's not something they should be executed over. However, it takes more than one scorned doctor to get the law involved, and hospitals should have something in place to guard against basing medical treatment on *revenge*.
It was the last paragraph that sent me on a (thankfully successful; it's a great feeling, like when you have a word on the tip of your tongue AND YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS) Google hunt.
"They say Mayo still hasn't given them an explanation for why it was trying to arrange guardianship for Alyssa."
The family thinks it was pure retaliation on the hospital's part: you pissed us off so we're going to take your daughter. Which is possible. But it reminded me of *this* article:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights
(I'd like to take another minute to say how pleased I am that I found an article I read probably two years ago. It took a lot of searching.)
Another summary for anyone reading this who doesn't want to read that (so, no one): there now exist "professional guardians", people who make their living being court appointed guardians. I'm sure there's a reason they exist, I'm sure there are people who would be very good at it. Unfortunately, it is a system that is just...incredibly too easy to abuse. There are professional guardians who bilk their wards out of their entire savings, and there are lawyers and judges who accept kickbacks to declare functional adults legally incompetent and place them under the power of these professional guardians--even against the wishes of present and viable next of kin.
So there's your happy thought for the day. There is a chance that a hospital may try to take you hostage, and that you could have all of your money stripped away from you and be placed into a home, even if you're 100% fine. What's for lunch?