I think you really pretty fundamentally missed the point of what he's saying. Perhaps you've never had to confront the full brunt of the bureaucracy of a large-scale medical provider.
If you've got a serious condition, you really do need to have a patient advocate, whether that's yourself or a family member or someone you're paying to fulfill the role or some combination thereof. The medical systems I've encountered for non-trivial care (US HMO, US PPO, Belgium, Norway) just aren't designed for holistic patient care. Each department does their own thing, and it's just luck if there's someone watching over the whole process from the individual patient's standpoint.
Perhaps you took exception to the comment about looking for an expert instead of a newbie (a resident, in the text) working on the author's 9-month-old. One could argue that that's a different issue than the general need for a patient advocate. Fair enough. But if I were watching out for my 9-month-old, I'd definitely want to ask about the track record of each of the doctors in the room. I mean, sure, new trainees need to practice somehow and all, and there's a tragedy of the commons there. But I certainly wouldn't brush someone off as "absolutely entitled" just because he wants the best care he can get for his 9-month-old.
I don't know, maybe it's just me seeing things differently.
I always thought that you got to choose wisely people that you need their expertise, especially in healthcare, but once you picked one hospital you got to commit and let them do their job.
I understand it's not easy when you are in charge of a 9 month old but you got to suffer through that.
If someone was to go so wrong that even an untrained eye could see, it's different.
Maybe I didn't have my fair share of bureaucracy. Maybe my standard are too low.
I sure did have my fair share of mistake when I went to emergencies, undiagnosed broken bones for instance. I never thought a second about requiring 'better' doctors, more competent nurses or more attention. I just accepted that it's thing that happens and nothing is perfect. Went back to the hospital 2 more times and eventually got everything back in order.
If you've got a serious condition, you really do need to have a patient advocate, whether that's yourself or a family member or someone you're paying to fulfill the role or some combination thereof. The medical systems I've encountered for non-trivial care (US HMO, US PPO, Belgium, Norway) just aren't designed for holistic patient care. Each department does their own thing, and it's just luck if there's someone watching over the whole process from the individual patient's standpoint.
Perhaps you took exception to the comment about looking for an expert instead of a newbie (a resident, in the text) working on the author's 9-month-old. One could argue that that's a different issue than the general need for a patient advocate. Fair enough. But if I were watching out for my 9-month-old, I'd definitely want to ask about the track record of each of the doctors in the room. I mean, sure, new trainees need to practice somehow and all, and there's a tragedy of the commons there. But I certainly wouldn't brush someone off as "absolutely entitled" just because he wants the best care he can get for his 9-month-old.