Do we trust Medical Institutions anymore?
Multiple instances of hospital mismanagement/carelessness reported by common people have led to people losing trust in doctors and hospitals.
To cite a recent personal experience, when my father was admitted to an otherwise trusted hospital, the sequence of events have shaken my little remaining trust.
My father’s platelets were low at 60k something and my morning visit to the hospital that day didn’t indicate any deterioration in his health from what already was. But just after I had returned home, we got a call in the afternoon that his platelets had dropped to 30k something and haemoglobin to 7 and that blood transfusion was needed.
In these kind of situations, what options does the family have? Can the family challenge that the patient’s normal haemoglobin level is at 8–9 and whether the transfusion was at all needed? I rushed back to the hospital and offered to donate blood myself as I was/am very skeptical about covid vaccinated blood. But I was told it was going to be time taking, and even though the blood group matched, I would have to be examined if I was fit to donate. Moreover the head nurse laughed at me saying it’s not like movies ; the hospital didn’t have the facilities for donation, so I would have to go to some place which had, and there was no guarantee that my donated blood would be given to my father. At the most, I would not have to pay for the blood as I would be donating in exchange.
I weighed the pros and cons and most unwillingly accepted that the hospital arrange the blood and consented to the transfusion. I left the consequences of probably transfusing vaccinated blood to the Almighty as there was no way I was going to ever find out if the blood was from an unvaccinated or a vaccinated person. And I did not want to lose time by volunteering myself as the process I figured was going to be tedious and time taking.
All said and done, transfusion was completed by late evening and before we returned home that evening, we checked for the payments, the bill etc. The person at the counter said although the cost of 1 unit of blood (450 ml) was 2K, we would have to pay 4K. He also explained to us how we would have to spend about the same amount if we had undertaken to arrange the blood ourselves.
This incident made me to lose the little trust that I had, not because of the amount that we had to pay but because I have been questioning myself over and again if that transfusion was needed as the haemoglobin count of 7 could well have been manipulated. The hospital could have tricked us to earn some extra bucks by creating a mini panic. But did we have a choice?
This brings me to the question of unvaccinated blood banks which I have been pondering over since a long time. Can that be made a reality? Can a network be created by like minded people to have such an option and what would be the legalities and formalities involved in such a venture? And what is the guarantee that the blood donated to these blood banks would be from unvaccinated individuals? Is there a way to test that?
Till the medical system resets and rebuilds itself, we would perhaps have to try and stay healthy so we could avoid hospitals…and leave the rest to destiny.
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Three hours after I penned my thoughts, this article pops up on another platform and I have no choice but to come and add the link here for those who wish to know more. (This isn’t an endorsement)
