Thanks!
Turn-about is fair play. In this situation, I would want to ask the nurse diabetes treatment questions to gage the level of his/her knowledge and competence as well!
Questions like:
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What is the onset, peak, and duration of the meal-time insulin that the hospital uses?
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How would you calculate insulin on board and how would you use that calculation to correct a high blood sugar?
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Describe basal/bolus insulin therapy.
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What is a pre-bolus?
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Describe how you would use an insulin sensitivity factor to calculate an insulin correction dose.
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hmmm…Suzan, that seems like a good way for me to respond. I could see that statement being pretty quick, decisive, and to the point. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for them to maneuver.
You could have them describe the different insulin types and reaction times.
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On a road trip, I was talking with an acquaintance about diabetes when she mentioned that she had a niece who was diabetic. Living somewhere in a low population Sierra foothill location, she had only seen a general practitioner and was not doing very well. Basically she had been given no reliable information. I gave a detailed explanation of the pump and told her to get that child to a diabetes specialist
in the Sacramento, Calif area.
The next time I saw her, she reported to me that now her niece was on a pump and doing well.
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Thank you @Tapestry, I have added this acronym to our list of acronyms.
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I have to say, i have been lucky, my indo is great and comes in when I am hospitalized an informed them I am in control of my treatment that if they have any concerns to call him. I have been in hospital 4 times in last year for at least a week and worked out great.
I think a lot of the problem as well as such high drug prices is fear of lawsuits. How many commercials do we see for medical lawsuits sporting outLandish judgements?
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Why do you think that there is so much liability one one end of the specturm, bt none on the other end?
That’s all we hear about, but there’s still the other end. I know of a local case where a delivery driver for a local furniture company hit and paralyzed anouther driver with a delivery while drunk, driver sued, won and got 50,000$. Judge awarded that amount saying that’s all the company insurance would pay anything higher would jeopardize the company. I am sure that won’t even cover co-pays if he was able to use private insurance.
I think I understand what your saying - about lawsuits. But, how come they only worry about getting sued from low blood sugar events and not high blood sugar events. That has never made sense to me. I don’t think anybody can sue because the hospital refused to provide insulin. Is that how it works?
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Mabey they can, a person can sue or about anything. But hyperglycemia can slow your healing make you more prone to infection, were as hypoglycemia cane cause death. Which from a leagle standpoint is worse? Drug company’s can sell millions of a drug, have a few deaths and be open to millions in settlements. Granted deaths are terrible, not trying to trivialize, just putting in perspective.
I have never heard of an actual lawyer for diabetes.
However, I have a lifetime of questions for such a person.
If anybody ever meets one, you should convince them to speak on tu.
Until then, I found this:
http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/know-your-rights/for-lawyers/training-resources.html
Sounds interesting, my daughter graduates law school this fall, she is interested in environmental law, but who knows.
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I think they take volunteers if its something that interests her. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/know-your-rights/for-lawyers/attorneys-wanted-and-needed.html
I know that the epilepsy people do legal advising really well. You can call them up and ask legal questions and they talk to Doc, nurses, and consult their team of lawyers and get back to you very quickly to answer questions. I dont think diabetics do this. Maybe they should.
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My cousin and best friend are attorneys albeit both quasey retired but hay dosent hurt to ask. Mabey they have a more personal connection to Dibeties than just me.
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Most States and regions of the ADA have attorneys on call for diabetes related issues. These are usually school and employment issues. If you feel as though someone is not following the law you may contact the ADA and if it is covered by their agreements they will put you in touch with a local attorney who will interceded on your behalf if your desecration fits the legal standard.
They will mostly try to inform the offender of the law and try to get a settlement. However, they will also litigate if needed. In Indiana we have a roboust program, with 3-7 attorneys on call. These folks know the law and do a very nice job of defending the claim.
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My last two visits to the hospital told me two things: first, that they really don’t care about BG management (they gave me 1 unit of Humalog for a BG of 400) and second, I didn’t have to worry about my BG going up from the food I received for my three-day stay. It was sooo bad that it made me think fondly of the food in Army basic training. Comparing notes with others, including the medical staff, I found that they all shared my opinions.
My endo went further and told me that if I was ever admitted again and I was awake, I should insist that They could check my BG but that I was allowed to test in between their tests or to use my CGM and that they were to allow me to pick the type of insulin and the amount, and that it was to be administered within 10 minutes of my request. I will be interested to see how that’s received by the nursing staff.
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Geeze, Rob. If you could accomplish that I would be really impressed. Its a reasonable goal. But, I have some doubts about how that will be received. Maybe if they dont comply, could ask to be transferred to a different hospital.
Rob, it behooves you to get your doctor to write that down in a letter that you can carry on your person to offer to the staff the next time you are hospitalized. We should all get a letter from our health practitioners to that effect.
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That’s an interesting strategy that no one has mentioned yet. Have you tried this? I imagine them saying, “Your Doctor might be a Doctor. But, they are not a Doctor here.”
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