Why do health care providers not have automatically triggered plans to inform patients when they suddenly sicken or die?
I wrote a piece for Psychology Today on this topic after my neurodoc had a personal medical emergency. I tried to find out what happened, what College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario mandates (hint: nothing) in case of sudden illness or personal crisis or death.
I looked up what physicians typically do to get a sense of what other patients experience. They inform their patients; when they return, they explain what happened. They understand that the relationship between patient and physician is key to outcome. And when you create artificial barriers of saying nothing because “privacy,” treating patients as so untrustworthy, you can’t tell them anything, that harms the relationship.
But that’s the place I find myself in. No clue what happened to my neurodoc, when or if he’ll be returning. His boss can’t ask his family or him anything because of Human Resources rules. We’ve created a society with rules that interfere with functioning, no thought given to how keeping patients in the dark impacts their mental health. Abandonment anyone?
I had a good conversation with his boss when they called to update me. Psychologists are required to designate another to be responsible for their clients in case of a crisis. In this case, all us patients are being supported in whatever we want to do, despite a dearth of docs as our health care collapses from our negligently killing leaders.
Right now, I’m focusing on finishing the final review of my self-help book for brain injury, trauma, and grief. I’m not thinking about NaNoWriMo, what to do without my neurodoc, or even beyond what to do in the next couple of days.
