The death of John Doe
Categories : General Practice, Personal |
I’m not normally given to criticising our public health system too much. The reality is, with all it’s shortcomings, the health system in Australia is still among the best in the world. Australians have access to advanced health care at little or no cost, when the vast majority of people in the world cannot even get the basics.
Having said that, I do have a constant feeling of frustration as I continually have to battle the beaurocracy on behalf of my patients, who are often let down. Sometimes the things that come out of our great public hospitals are so crazy you just have to laugh.
This morning I received a fax from one of the major hospitals saying “Dear doctor, we regret to inform you that your patient has died…” however they neglected one important piece of information – the name of the patient! So now I’m sitting here stressing, wondering which of my patients it is that has died. The flip side of it is that at least it makes me extra pleased to see people, that they are still alive! Crazy.
