VIP Syndrome: A Prescription For Poor Health

It's been awhile since I posted here. I've been trying to figure out what role this blog should play compared to my MySpace blog. I still don't have that sorted out, but for now I think that more diary-like posts and personal observations will go on MySpace, while links to interesting stuff I find on the web, and more academic content will go here. We'll see if that's how it really shakes out, but for now, that's the plan.

So, today's link is to an excellent essay from LeftBrainBlog, VIP Syndrome: A Prescription For Poor Health, on how routine hospital care is superior to the care so-called VIPs receive. I'll try to remember all this the next time I have to sit in the ER for six hours, but I do believe it's true. Hospital routines may seem bureaucratic, cold, impersonal, and sometimes downright cruel, but there are often good reasons for them that we laypeople--especially when we're sick or injured enough to be in the ER--may not always understand. I believe in advocating for yourself or your loved ones in medical settings (boy, do I!), but I also believe we need to recognize and respect the expertise of our health care teams. After all, you don't want special treatment at the expense of excellent care, right?