Dogs Eyes and Privacy Laws
We are in a winter storm watch until Sunday. There is a light snow coming down right now and last night we had sleet and freezing rain. I better run to the beer store and stock up.
We took Grace to the Dr. Eberts yesterday for her second surgery. He took removed the stitches from her left eye, examined it and then examined the right eye and said (much to my relief), "We're right where we need to be. I'm not going to touch the other eye."
This was great news! All we need is time for the healing process to finish now. No more medicine, no more follow up visits. Grace looks normal again and she is acting like herself again. Best of all, Dr. Eberts didn't charge us for yesterday's visit, even though he examined her, took out the stitches and stained her corneas again. I think he felt bad that we had been in with her multiple times with Dr. Anderson before a definitive diagnosis was made (by Dr. Eberts, of course). Besides, we spent a lot of money on this eye stuff over the last couple of months. It was nice to be given a little break. They've always treated us extremely well there.
I got my blood drawn at the clinic today. The phlebotomist told me I had thick skin. I asked her if she was calling me fat - and instantly she turned red and was profusely apologetic. Stupid me. I, of all people, should know that health care workers are not allowed a sense of humor, certainly not in today's world where you can sue someone over "infliction of emotional distress" (can I sue the Vikings for this? Just wondering). I laughed and told her I was just kidding, but I sort of felt bad that I made her uneasy. That's what I get for being un-PC.
As I sat at the clinic waiting for my blood to be drawn, I was amazed about something. You see, in my line of work (health care), a patient's privacy is the primary priority. Nothing is more important than a patient's privacy. In fact, it is more important than the patient's actual care. That sounds insane, but it's true. We have had difficulty from time to time getting critical health care information about patients because of privacy laws. (No, I'm not kidding).
With this in mind, when a patient presents to the clinic, the receptionist asks for the patient's full name, birthdate, street address and phone number, bra size (women), scrotum circumference (men), and their physician's name. This is asked aloud, as if they are asking about the weather. So I was amazed while sitting in the lobby that I could overhear so much private information about each person as they walked in for their appointments.
Considering all of the hubbub about patient privacy, this seems to be a double standard.
Okay, down off my soapbox. Time to do something.
We took Grace to the Dr. Eberts yesterday for her second surgery. He took removed the stitches from her left eye, examined it and then examined the right eye and said (much to my relief), "We're right where we need to be. I'm not going to touch the other eye."
This was great news! All we need is time for the healing process to finish now. No more medicine, no more follow up visits. Grace looks normal again and she is acting like herself again. Best of all, Dr. Eberts didn't charge us for yesterday's visit, even though he examined her, took out the stitches and stained her corneas again. I think he felt bad that we had been in with her multiple times with Dr. Anderson before a definitive diagnosis was made (by Dr. Eberts, of course). Besides, we spent a lot of money on this eye stuff over the last couple of months. It was nice to be given a little break. They've always treated us extremely well there.
I got my blood drawn at the clinic today. The phlebotomist told me I had thick skin. I asked her if she was calling me fat - and instantly she turned red and was profusely apologetic. Stupid me. I, of all people, should know that health care workers are not allowed a sense of humor, certainly not in today's world where you can sue someone over "infliction of emotional distress" (can I sue the Vikings for this? Just wondering). I laughed and told her I was just kidding, but I sort of felt bad that I made her uneasy. That's what I get for being un-PC.
As I sat at the clinic waiting for my blood to be drawn, I was amazed about something. You see, in my line of work (health care), a patient's privacy is the primary priority. Nothing is more important than a patient's privacy. In fact, it is more important than the patient's actual care. That sounds insane, but it's true. We have had difficulty from time to time getting critical health care information about patients because of privacy laws. (No, I'm not kidding).
With this in mind, when a patient presents to the clinic, the receptionist asks for the patient's full name, birthdate, street address and phone number, bra size (women), scrotum circumference (men), and their physician's name. This is asked aloud, as if they are asking about the weather. So I was amazed while sitting in the lobby that I could overhear so much private information about each person as they walked in for their appointments.
Considering all of the hubbub about patient privacy, this seems to be a double standard.
Okay, down off my soapbox. Time to do something.
