"The Amputee Road Show" Debuts...

[unidextr at mindspring.com]

On Thu, 29 Apr 1999 00:14:45 -0400, george boyer <phoenix2 at magicnet.net>
wrote:

>Sounds like a good start.....let's see what happens.  It occurs to me that one
>reason for lack of success with trying to get visitation going is that the
>hospital staff possibly prefers, maybe strongly prefers, a 'blank slate'.....a
>patient unmolded by influences who could then increase demands, pose questions
>unanswerable by the staff, etc.  

This may have been the case before the current practice of "cut 'em, stitch
'em, pitch 'em out the door" hospital care was the norm. Now there is
hardly enough time to do too much other than tend to the minimum physical
needs of a patient before they are out the door of the "same day surgery
unit" after having an amputation performed and on there way home for
recovery sans hospitalization! There is no opportunity in many instances
for the new amputee to make any demands, or gather the composure after
being anesthetized to frame even a simple question to present to a passing
staff member who slows down long enough to hear the full question, much
less even try to answer it!

>I think there is some substance to this.....that
>the hospital staff may want to mold the patient to THEIR needs, want a passive
>patient (no matter that this is to the patient's detriment).  After all, the
>patient isn't going to be there very long at all.

With today's in and out surgery this is very true and the pre-op medication
in conjunction with the anesthetic and its after affects insures that the
patient is guaranteed to be passive for the full time of their
hospitalization!

Dan-H