General Medicine

» tinuviel - informed support

I know what you mean about busy doctors. Still, for some reason, I've always felt at ease in doctors' offices. But I've never really been to clinics or busy public hospitals--usually private doctors. I always get into conversations with them, and feel freer asking questions there than almost anywhere else. I think informed consent does occur there when I'm a patient, simply because I actually pose the questions, so the doctors answer them.

In a clinic or emergency room setting, though, I can see how this would not work out so well. Also, if the doctors happen not to be accommodating.

In my case with my cousin, I'm very uninformed. It really is overwhelming to try to learn everything that doctors take years (even decades) to master--all in the little time you have to decide on a treatment before you die from the disease. It's hard not to feel at the mercy of the disease and the doctors, simply because you have to take what they tell you. Here (I live in Jamaica) the options are few--and cancer as a whole is just so critical that if you don't do what doctors say, you basically die. So, I feel like anything I could gather on the topic would be of no help to my family.

The surgery was scheduled for today, by the way. I'll let you know what happened. Not sure even if they were able to come up with all the money. It was priced at J$1.3 million or USD$20,000

-- posted by tinuviel