Washington Post | AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK

The Washington Post reports on a curious, but not unwelcome development in hospital management.

“It’s offering money back on their care, no questions asked.”

Refunds?! From a hospital?

“ . . . when patients are upset about a long wait in the emergency department, or a doctor’s brusque manner, or a meal that never arrived in a room,” a hospital in Pennsylvania “is doing more than apologizing.”

I’ve visited a few hospitals in the past few years and have the bills to prove it, unfortunately.

“The hospital system is the first in the country to adopt what has long been a basic tenet of retail business: customer refunds. This focus on customer satisfaction is a relatively new concept for health care . . . ”

It’s about time. Perhaps this policy should be made into law.

I have had all sorts of tests conducted: a HIDA scan, CT scans, multiple ultrasounds, even a colonoscopy. But they still don’t have a diagnosis, despite wanting loads and loads of money from me. Let’s just say that I am less than impressed by the care and the overall system.

Doctors are often just playing a guessing game. Years ago one acquaintance, a recovering politician in Oregon, when learning of my story, told me, “That’s why they call it practicing medicine.”

Besides feeling a like a guinea pig and a sucker, I’ve had to serve as my own doctor. I’ve become an expert of sorts on my symptoms. My case revolves around an overworked, sickly gallbladder. But don’t tell any docs that. I’ve shared a lot of what I learned with many medical professionals. Most, sadly, won’t listen, which is a sad indictment on modern medicine.

ajh