Have you ever been denied medical treatment?
Michelle Malsbury, BSBM, MM
July 30, 2009
In the early 1990´s my beau [now my husband] and I had a lovely sailboat. She was fifty feet and designed by Bill Tripp. She was a Columbia 50, sleek and sexy. Her name was Scrimshaw and she needed near gale force winds to really get her going. We had signed up for the weekly winter races which went out to the reef. These were sponsored by the Schooner Wharf Bar in old town Key West. I recall five such races being scheduled. [but I may not have perfect recall either].
The very first race of the season we had several out of state guests who wanted to join in the revelry of the race. Each person had a specific task to tend during the beginning of the race and up until the end at the reef. I was to crank the wench in the cockpit when the tailer could no longer continue to pull the large sheets in with sheer mite alone. Mike Scunziano was the tailer and he was a large and strong man who had previously linebacked for Auburn. My beau was at the helm.
The day was a typical blustery winter Sunday morning. The winds were near thirty knots steadily with gusts slightly higher. All spirits aboard were high and ready for a very good race. We timed ourselves to the starting line and then backed off a time or two before the actual start was scheduled to transpire. We were doing great thus far and as a new crew we were pretty well in sync.
The starting gun banged and all boats in the race jockeyed for the clean wind, both main and headsails filling with air. We had an edge near the inner most portion of the starting line and easily maneuvered into first position. Mike pulled and pulled on the mainsheet until he could no longer. I placed the wench handle into the large stainless steel Barient wench and something went seriously awry. The wench handle whirled around and around clipping me squarely in the right wrist. It was a fluke that had never occurred before and we were astonished. It knocked me down into the teak decks of the cockpit. Shakily I stood and Mike and I managed to tie down the main sheet for that tack of the race. We were cruising along at ten knots easily. The rail was in and out of the sea, wind in our faces.
My wrist had a small bluish-black mark on it and hurt like you can guess what. I placed some ice on it off and on for the duration of the race. Ten or twelve boats had entered the race today and all were behind us. We started our in first place and maintained our first place throughout. At the finish line we held our numbers for the line judges to tabulate time and anchored for a quick swim. Half an hour later we headed back to the race party where I got free drinks for being a trooper under fire and spectators took bets as to whether or not my wrist was actually broken.
Eventually we decided to seek some medical attention for my wrist. We went to the ER in the Key West hospital where I was turned away because I had no insurance and no prescription for an x-ray. That´s right----I was turned away!!! Perhaps if my arm had been dangling from bone I may have been seen, but I could not persuade any of those medical professionals to even give me the time of day until I had a prescription for the x-ray. Is that hideously remiss or not?
We went home and I slept as best I could with the gnawing pain in my wrist. The following day my arm looked like a black and blue balloon and the pain was nearly unbearable. We walked in to a DO´s office off Roosevelt Boulevard, spoke to the receptionist, and filled out some new patient paperwork. The DO saw me almost immediately and upon closer scrutiny said he believed my wrist was broken, but was going to take an x-ray to be sure. The x-ray confirmed that my wrist was broken and he [the DO] placed me in a fiberglass cast up to my arm pit: which I wore for two months before getting a scaled back cast up to my elbow for the remaining two months. I was pay as I go and this little episode cost me about $3,500 out of pocket which I thought was quite high. In retrospect I guess I was lucky to have the money to pay because had I not I may have had no care at all.
Have any of you had a similar experience(s)? If so, this is a very good indicator for how broken our current healthcare system is. Revamping our current medical system is no easy feat and congress has some disagreement as to how best to approach this situation, but can we at least agree that our system does need reworking?
Please call or write your congressional representatives telling them that we, the people, want our broken healthcare system to be healed. We all deserve to have access to quality, affordable healthcare. Therefore, we need to continue the debate as to how best to achieve this reform. Quite frankly I am unsure if insurance is the best path forward in this mess or if we merely need to open places where people with minor injuries and healthcare issues can get quick, affordable, quality healthcare. To do nothing would be to allow our broken system to propagate and that is unthinkable!
The very first race of the season we had several out of state guests who wanted to join in the revelry of the race. Each person had a specific task to tend during the beginning of the race and up until the end at the reef. I was to crank the wench in the cockpit when the tailer could no longer continue to pull the large sheets in with sheer mite alone. Mike Scunziano was the tailer and he was a large and strong man who had previously linebacked for Auburn. My beau was at the helm.
The day was a typical blustery winter Sunday morning. The winds were near thirty knots steadily with gusts slightly higher. All spirits aboard were high and ready for a very good race. We timed ourselves to the starting line and then backed off a time or two before the actual start was scheduled to transpire. We were doing great thus far and as a new crew we were pretty well in sync.
The starting gun banged and all boats in the race jockeyed for the clean wind, both main and headsails filling with air. We had an edge near the inner most portion of the starting line and easily maneuvered into first position. Mike pulled and pulled on the mainsheet until he could no longer. I placed the wench handle into the large stainless steel Barient wench and something went seriously awry. The wench handle whirled around and around clipping me squarely in the right wrist. It was a fluke that had never occurred before and we were astonished. It knocked me down into the teak decks of the cockpit. Shakily I stood and Mike and I managed to tie down the main sheet for that tack of the race. We were cruising along at ten knots easily. The rail was in and out of the sea, wind in our faces.
My wrist had a small bluish-black mark on it and hurt like you can guess what. I placed some ice on it off and on for the duration of the race. Ten or twelve boats had entered the race today and all were behind us. We started our in first place and maintained our first place throughout. At the finish line we held our numbers for the line judges to tabulate time and anchored for a quick swim. Half an hour later we headed back to the race party where I got free drinks for being a trooper under fire and spectators took bets as to whether or not my wrist was actually broken.
Eventually we decided to seek some medical attention for my wrist. We went to the ER in the Key West hospital where I was turned away because I had no insurance and no prescription for an x-ray. That´s right----I was turned away!!! Perhaps if my arm had been dangling from bone I may have been seen, but I could not persuade any of those medical professionals to even give me the time of day until I had a prescription for the x-ray. Is that hideously remiss or not?
We went home and I slept as best I could with the gnawing pain in my wrist. The following day my arm looked like a black and blue balloon and the pain was nearly unbearable. We walked in to a DO´s office off Roosevelt Boulevard, spoke to the receptionist, and filled out some new patient paperwork. The DO saw me almost immediately and upon closer scrutiny said he believed my wrist was broken, but was going to take an x-ray to be sure. The x-ray confirmed that my wrist was broken and he [the DO] placed me in a fiberglass cast up to my arm pit: which I wore for two months before getting a scaled back cast up to my elbow for the remaining two months. I was pay as I go and this little episode cost me about $3,500 out of pocket which I thought was quite high. In retrospect I guess I was lucky to have the money to pay because had I not I may have had no care at all.
Have any of you had a similar experience(s)? If so, this is a very good indicator for how broken our current healthcare system is. Revamping our current medical system is no easy feat and congress has some disagreement as to how best to approach this situation, but can we at least agree that our system does need reworking?
Please call or write your congressional representatives telling them that we, the people, want our broken healthcare system to be healed. We all deserve to have access to quality, affordable healthcare. Therefore, we need to continue the debate as to how best to achieve this reform. Quite frankly I am unsure if insurance is the best path forward in this mess or if we merely need to open places where people with minor injuries and healthcare issues can get quick, affordable, quality healthcare. To do nothing would be to allow our broken system to propagate and that is unthinkable!
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