A WTF fashion statement. Probably NSFW.

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A WTF fashion statement.

Um....

Yeah, I gotta go with WTF as well....

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Yeah, I gotta go with WTF as well....

Along with a hearty "WHY?"

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Can you call before you go?

I tried that at another hospital (asshole doc insisted he evaluated me from the next bed over, through the curtains, while he was stitching up someone else's foot, and kept (literally) threatening me with a lumbar puncture every time I told him I was still in pain) and they would refuse. Not sure if that's standard protocol. Can't hurt to try. Or I could go to another affiliated hospital and hope they honour my migraine specialist's wishes.

Why does this have to be complicated at all?

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[link]

Robert Prosky, a neighbor and local institution also died recently. Bless him.

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Why does this have to be complicated at all?

Racial prejudice and war on some drugs. Plus [some] people are no damn good, and unfortunately the medical profession is staffed by people. I wish the fuck you were not at the sharp end of so much of this.

I know your being kick-ass with a flamboyant side does not keep you from being a very shy and private person in some ways. But I really suspect that publicity about how badly you are suffering from all this might help you get better treatment. You would be a good story for someone at the LA Times, and if that does not work, the LA Weekly. And I know that your reaction is probably not just "no", but "hell no". But it is one of the few kinds of leverage you might have to get the ER to change their behavior. And if you decide to go that route I'd say a large percentage of your friends have professional credendials in getting word out publicly on stuff. Plus Victor could give some tips on how to find the right journalist to approach and how to approach him or her.

And I'm not going to push you on this, cause your body, your pain, your life, your privacy you'd be giving up a portion of. But medical institutions hate bad publicity; media coverage of what mindless, cruel, unfeeling robotic bastards the ER is being might make them back down a bit.

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Why does this have to be complicated at all?

That's the part I don't understand. Jesus, even if the system "worked" as it should, it's fucked, because you shouldn't have to go to the ER every time you need relief for a chronic condition like this. That's sadistic at its base.

I take it it's impossible to get a specialist who can (or will) issue a prescription you can self-administer? I just read an short article about the cons of opioids for migraines that concludes

As an alternative either to leaving the patient to suffer or present to an emergency room (with the associated expense and inconvenience), judicious prescription of a short-acting opioid to use for "rescue" from severe migraine headache would appear both sensible and medically appropriate.

So now if I can find an article about getting providers to do sensible, medically appropriate things...

Sigh.

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He was great. Not as great as Michael Conrad, but that is splitting hairs, in extremis(/Esterhaus) Do it to them, before they do it to us.

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erika, I loved Michael Conrad to bits. Prosky's contribution was so different and he's known to me more for his stage stuff and brunch time nods of acknowledgment around the 'hood.

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What Sparky Said about a detailed letter to the hospital ombudsman, with copies to the relevant administrators and your pain specialist's office.

I do have to wonder, with you being a Foreign-ish Person Of Some Color, would he have treated a white American woman of the same age thusly? He may well be an equal-opportunity asshole but it may be there's a pattern developing that an ombudsman might detect.

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