Patient Advocate

This past week has been a bit traumatic. Without going into all the details, suffice it to say that I had to raise hell to get care for a family member at a local hospital when it should have been something that automatically happened.
I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't persisted in taking my cause up the chain of command until I got someone to pay attention and see that the proper care was delivered in a timely manner. Yes, I know I'm being vague but I am protecting the patient. Believe me, anyway, when I tell you the situation was dire and it was only by making a royal pain out of myself that a potential disaster was avoided.
It was something I should not have had to do. Is health care that bad? This particular hospital is a good one but the problems I saw was a doctor who overbooked procedures either from a lack of staff/facilities or greed, and staff [nursing, administration] who did not advocate for the patient, who thought that by merely acknowledging a problem, writing up a report, documenting in notes, that their job was done.
NO!
They have an obligation to take the problem up the ladder until a satisfactory solution is reached. In our particular case, a medical device needed to be inserted in a timely manner. But the patient was put off for days. The patient was admitted on Sunday afternoon and we were told on Tuesday morning that it was scheduled for Wednesday despite the patient's deteriorating condition. Instead of the procedure [which took all of an hour], medication was being given [which caused other side effects] and the emergency cart was placed outside the patient's door in case it was needed.
Unacceptable to me! And believe me when I tell you they heard about it.
We were lucky. The procedure was done on Tuesday morning and the patient is doing well.
But I have to wonder how many other patients are compromised on a daily basis by hospitals and doctors and staff across this country who do less than what is best for their patients. And families accept their behavior because they don't know any better and they mistakenly believe their family member is getting the best care available.
I think the time has come to take the system to task.
What Jon Stewart is doing to financial advisors, we need to do to healthcare.