Showing posts with label advocate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advocate. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Who Will Be Their Advocate? A Commentary on Facing Illness Alone.

Image credit: Pexels
Author:
Jennifer Gemmill, MD FAAEM
Originally published: Common Sense
January/February 2021

I am a terrible patient. I will refuse medicines prescribed to me. I will pick up my heavy 2-year-old just hours after delivering my newborn while the L&D nurses give me the evil eye. I will remove my own loop recorder in my bathroom at home instead of having it taken out by my unknowing cardiologist (it’s amazing how useful leftover lidocaine and eyebrow tweezers can be). If you are my physician for any reason, I will be a handful. However, I will also be my strongest advocate.