Efficiency of dialysis health care systems across the world?

[GA_DAWG]

I'm nnot sure where you are Katie, but while no fun, dialysis is not a death sentence. At the clinic I go to, all of the nurses and techs do their very best to make us comfortable, except control the A/C but that is a different story. Give them a chance. There is plenty of contact as they are limited to only five patients per tech and each nurse does ten. The tech is the one you will have the most contact with as they place the needles and monitor your dialysis.

[cassandra]

Even in the hospital center, after watching me cramp up so much, I couldn't walk, or unclench my fingers, the doctors and nurses told me, that it was all in my head.

 but in Britain a complaint further up the line would get instant disciplinary action against the nurse who told you that.

Not in Britain Paul, I think you mean in YOUR hospital/clinic.


And the cramping can also be caused by too low bicarb in bath or on machine settings.


Good luck all, Cas












Sp mod Cas

[Paul]

Not in Britain Paul, I think you mean in YOUR hospital/clinic.

Sorry should have said "England", I am not aware of the rules in Scotland or Wales. However, not just in "my clinic". The NHS rules in England are very strict, give a patient deliberately false information like that and you are deep in the brown smelly stuff.

You are also liable to be sued by the patient (in all of Britain).

[cassandra]

Sorry too Paul, didn't mean to turn the discussion like that. I'm in England too 
However: it's nigh impossible to prove wrong/false info deliberately given when not in writing.
            : I was shocked to find the difference in treatment/info/patient rights (actual not paper) per clinic in even                         the same city.

[Paul]

it's nigh impossible to prove wrong/false info deliberately given when not in writing.

Well, unless overheard. And in a tightly packed dialysis clinic you are going to be overheard unless you are in a private room. And even if you are not overheard whoever is in charge is obliged to make note of your complaint so that if the same person repeats the offence you eventually have more than one independent report and then action can be taken.

False information is dangerous, it should ALWAYS be reported, if not it will be repeated to other patients, eventually with disastrous results. If you hear it and you do not report it, you are as responsible for any future problems as the person giving the bad advice, you may be responsible for someone's death. For example, when I went into Mayday Hospital (Croydon University Hospital) I was close to starting dialysis. I had seriously swollen legs and was beginning to store liquid in my lungs. The hospital advised me that since I had knackered kidneys I should drink as much liquid as possible, at least 2 litres a day, preferably much more. I believed them and I nearly died. And in fact if I had not been transferred to a specialist hospital after a month, I almost certainly would have died.

Since then my rule has been "If you hear it, report it. If you do not, you are an accessory after the fact."

I was shocked to find the difference in treatment/info/patient rights (actual not paper) per clinic in even [in] the same city.

Well treatment and info, yes - patient's rights no. Rights are set by central government so are the same across the country (or occasionally state in the US).

[Simon Dog]

Well, unless overheard.

Testimony of something you overheard is evidence, not proof.

Plus, rules of evidence may exclude heresay, however, you can subpoena the person you overheard and ask them directly under oath.

[Paul]

rules of evidence may exclude heresay, however, you can subpoena the person you overheard and ask them directly under oath.

We are not talking about criminal charges here, that does not cut any ice in a disciplinary matter. Although try using that defense at a disciplinary tribunal and you may get off simply because they will spend so long laughing at you that they forget why they are supposed to be disciplining you for in the first place!

And anyway, even in a court of law you are wrong. Hearsay cannot be used alone, but we are talking about backing up what someone else said, that is fine. IE if one person says "They said this to me..." and someone else says "Yes that is true, I heard them say it..." that is acceptable as evidence in a court of law, the second person is a witness.

[Simon Dog]

Heresay is generally discounted when the actual sayer is available.  Of course, there are exceptions, like when the state offers a jailjhouse snitch a chance to say what the prosecution wants the court to hear about what was said by a cellie.

Also, I was talking about unsubstantiated one person heard it.   My point was one person said (s)he heard it often falls short of "proof".

[Paul]

Heresay is generally discounted when the actual sayer is available.

Not sure what you are saying, and not entirely certain you do either. Take this example: Someone tells you to do something you do not want to do, and when you refuse they say "Do  it or I'll kill you." You report them to the police and they are charged with blackmail and threats of violence and end up in court. You tell the judge this, several other people confirm this as they overheard it. But the accused says "No, I did not say that, I said 'Do it and I'll buy you a drink." Case thrown out because the "hearsay" is discounted as the "sayer" is present and he claims that he said something different.

If your view of what the law is, were the way things really were, the prisons would be practically empty, as all the accused would have to do is say "No Your Honor, I did not do it." and they would be found innocent.

[Paul]

Reading through my reply I think the problem is that you do not understand what "hearsay" means. It does not mean stuff you overheard, it means stuff you were told about. For example if a nurse tells you that your kidneys collapsed because you told too many lies as a child and the person in the bed next to you overheard this and reports it in a disciplinary hearing or court case, that is NOT hearsay, it is valid evidence. However if you go home and tell a friend "You will never guess what happened in dialysis yesterday. A nurse told me that my kidneys collapsed because I told too many lies as a child." Then your friend stands up and repeats this in a disciplinary hearing or court case, that is hearsay.