We are told by reliable scientists that none of us are exactly alike, but we humans bunch up in groups for a number of reasons, most of all because it makes life easier for everyone involved. One example of this fact lies in childhood education where–according to your age–you will be assigned a grade and taught certain lessons in certain ways. Never mind if you don’t fit into a group that learns at that particular speed, or in that particular manner.
But childhood education is only one example of how we can be served “cookie cutter” services. Another way that comes to mind is in medical care. For instance, depending on your height, you may be told by your physician that you should be at a certain weight without ever taking into consideration your genetics or heritage.
Did you know that the medical care available to treat the Covid-19 virus may not even take into account some key factors such as our age, or general medical condition prior to contracting the virus? The medical system is designed to be symptom driven. This means that if you show up to your doctor’s office with the virus’s known symptoms, you will be offered the same medical care that is being offered to everyone else with those symptoms.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) recently released an interesting report about Covid-19 patients who were placed on ventilators from March 1 to April 4, 2020. According to the report, a whopping 76.4% to 97.2 of those patients did not survive! It seems reasonable then that this information should be known to a patient prior to them giving an “informed consent” for treatment.
A person seeking treatment for the Covid-19 virus should be given all current knowledge about the outcome of medical care delivered up to that point. This should include:
- the number of people under current treatment
- the manner in which they are being treated
- the number of known survivors
- all known health risks associated to the treatment (including the number who’ve survived)
- and the current condition of the surviving patients
Personally, if I am in one of the categories with low odds of survival–the doctor in charge of my care should know the answer to this question–give me the right size of medical care please! In other words, measure me correctly (as if for my weeding gown) and give me no more care than appropriate for me, all the while supporting my dignity and comfort.
