Health Records Software Allows Patient Blacklisting by "Flagging"

This is already in use by the Veterans Administration. It may well be a feature of other electronic health record (EHR) software used today.

Time

I find myself in an incomprehensible position... a situation real enough to kill me, should I lose my balance on a loosening tightrope. Yet so surreal I sometimes think my death will be nothing more than an instantaneous vaporization of the molecules I call my body. I am dying... we are all dying. But for most of us, living life prevails over the ever present pull of entropy.

This is as it should be. We are born to experience life to its fullest until our death. But like breathing, it is that space between the breaths which sets the tone for what follows.
I do not fear death, nor do I invite it. I reside in a world full of high tech medical miracles and doctors who perform them. It is, therefore, inconceivable that amidst these doctors and their state-of-the-art 3D scanners capable of turning the human body with its every secret and function inside out; to see how things work or might be fixed when they don't, that the simple mechanics of what is killing me remains a mystery.

I am dying in real-time, begging at the same-time, to be fixed, or at least, that an attempt be made before there is no-time.

Doctors.. made of special stuff, or so we think. Different from us. Different from each other.
Different.

The Bad & The Ugly... More Common than You Think

When other cosmetic surgery victims share their stories with me, I know why I continue my effort in exposing the side of this business which rarely reaches the public. Rachael Landes contacted me several weeks ago via private e-mail after joining Losing Face. Her story is compelling and all too familiar. Like many others who have been seriously injured, she wants the public to know how devastating this nightmare can be..not only its physical aspect, but the hidden repercussions attached to such injury..like patient blacklisting.

I suggested she post her messages to to Losing Face, knowing many of its readers have been victimized by the medical establishment, but think they are only part of a minuscule minority. They are not. The carnage is out there, but those who have been damaged in this profound manner are reluctant to go public for many reasons. From a personal perspective, I often wonder why I continue to subject myself to the barrage of criticism I receive, including exploitation by the media. Then I think: If I remain silent, who will expose this travesty of medicine? You develop a tough skin and must be willing to endure trashing by the public and character assassination by the medical profession to stand your ground when openly criticising high profile surgeons and institutions. More often than not, the price exacted may be your only chance to obtain medical treatment necessary for survival.

Patients and surgeons alike fall victim to the conspiracy of silence within the medical profession. Doctors are justified in their fear of blowing the whistle on incompetent colleagues or disrupting the status quo. The thanks they receive for standing the high ground are few to none. Rather, they are ostracized by peers and their livelihoods threatened. (The Cost of Courage: How the Tables Turn on Doctors) I have personally witnessed good doctors remain silent while they attempt to fix botched operations by incompetent colleagues, and the patients on the receiving end of their skills tacitly agree to remain silent as well.

Rachael is more than willing to share her story so that others may benefit from her experience, but she was not able to post long messages on the board. She gave me a green light to post her e-mail, so I have opened up pages especially for her voice - a voice that needs to be heard.