Leprosy

Described in the Oxford dictionary as:

A contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discolouration and lumps on the skin and, in severe cases, disfigurement and deformities. Leprosy is now mainly confined to tropical Africa and Asia.

But they're wrong. No the correct definition is in the AMA manual. That's right the Australian Medical Association, defines leprosy as “He who doth not have medical insurance.”

Sorry Doc, if you take money from Medicare to treat or consult him / her, then you treat that patient as you would any other. I have been consulting Macquarie Neurosurgery for a number of years, in relation to a spine injury sustained in a car accident.

I have always considered surgery a last resort, for when the pain became so severe, even the horror stories associated with spinal surgery, can’t be any worse. That day has come, following the five abdominal surgeries in two years, I no longer have the core strength to sustain the spine injury.

The surgeon I have been seeing does not operate under the public system. I saw him last back in May, clearly in pain. Long story short, nothing we spoke about at that meeting happened. After repeated calls, emails, finally losing my temper and becoming unpleasant a referral to Royal North Shore was sent. Except RNS didn’t have it, more detective work, a few more days, oops, gone to the wrong practice.

Nobody seems to care, after all, even a Surgeon can’t bill Medicare for a patient he’s handed over to the public system. It finally got there last Tuesday. Yesterday, Thursday, I got a phone call from the Hospital, having expected to wait 6 weeks for just a phone call, they call in 48 hours. I was stunned and made sure they understood how grateful I am. “That’s OK, we can see you need help.”

I am so pleased that I have been offered an appointment next Wednesday, the 28^th. Don’t know how long I will have to wait for the operation, but I at least have something to aim at.

I seem to have had a lot of trouble with Doctors, and Surgeons of late, I remain unimpressed with our health service especially out Minister, one Greg Hunt, who is missing in action, arrogant, narcissistic, little prick.

So Who Runs the Health Service?

Well here in Coffs Harbour we have Dr Theresa Beswick. The Coffs Clinical Network Coordinator has overall responsibility for the coordination and strategic management of all public health services of the Network from Red Rock in the north, Dorrigo to the west and Scotts Head to the south. This includes all community based services as well as the hospitals at Coffs Harbour, Macksville, Bellingen and Dorrigo. The Network Coordinator is also the General Manager of the Coffs Harbour Health Campus. But It’s not her. 

Then there’s Stewart Dowrick. For more than 25 years, Stewart Dowrick has advocated for and worked towards greater access to quality health care for communities. Appointed the Chief Executive of the Mid North Coast Local Health District in January 2011, Mr Dowrick works with the region’s clinicians and the community to provide health care through strategic and quality management. But it’s not him. 

David Weiss, he’s the First Assistant Secretary, Medical Benefits Division. He might have some control over billing, apparently not. And from my experience not much interest in it either. 

Not all is lost, there’s always the Minister for Health the Hon Greg Hunt MP, surely he has some control over his own portfolio? 

Guess again. No, after four months of excruciating pain, deteriorating health, mounting personal costs, five operations in three years, and looking straight down the barrel of two more, I have reached the inevitable conclusion that our Health Service is in fact controlled by the AMA. 

 The Australian Medical Association have got the game by the balls, as they say. If a mechanic services your car, and fails to do so correctly, it’s covered by warranty, your rights as a consumer are enshrined by law. Mechanics should join the AMA, then they could charge you for correcting their own mistakes, what a lurk! Medicare keeps paying them, irrespective of incompetence, negligence, or over servicing, they’re invincible. 

Is it not time that the medical industry operate under the same laws as the rest of us. Is it not time for the medical profession be held accountable?