Chewbacca Defense and the Medical Profession
So two weeks ago, my wife and I traveled to the mid-Atlantic region and spent time visiting in NJ, PA and Maryland. We were so impressed that our non-stop flights were actually early which can still result in frustration as you sit on the tarmac staring at the Washington Monument while waiting for your landing gate at Washington’s Reagan National airport to open up. What did make us quite sad is that several restaurants we used to frequent were now closed (likely victims of prolonged covid shut downs) or were still opened but arranged with many fewer tables (social distancing?).
About 24 hours after our return to FL, my wife starting to sense she had a urinary tract infection coming on. She has had about 4 or 5 in her lifetime so she knows her UTIs. After trying to tough it out for about three hours, the pain was getting worse. It was 2 PM on a Thursday and as usual, no luck getting into our primary care physician (all illnesses must be scheduled in advance)…. and to our surprise, all CVS clinics in the Jacksonville area were fully booked for the day. As we found some OTC pain relievers for UTI, we called out primary back and they said they could squeeze her in at 8:30 the next morning. When my wife asked if they could send in a script for an antibiotic for her , they said NO. They must see her to diagnose her problem. Just a brief thought here, how many people who are in pain when urinating and feel a need to urinate frequently would lie about it to be prescribed a cheap antibiotic. I mean let’s get real……
So we dutifully go to the doctor’s office the next morning. I went into the exam room with my wife. My wife was really amped up because of the unwillingness to prescribe an antibiotic the previous day when she clearly checked off the boxes for a UTI. After they analyzed her urine, guess what, it was UTI. My wife nicely but insistently asked why they wouldn’t call in a script the previous day. The nurse practitioner did the typical, medical establishment line that they need to diagnose the illness in order to write a script.
At this point, my wife apologized and said she wasn’t trying to be a difficult patient but was still upset since she couldn’t get into their office for a quick urine test the previous day so the extra 18 hours of pain/partial pain could have been avoided. That’s when the nurse practitioner pulled out the covid excuse.
She said that they are booked solid because of covid. She said, since covid, everyone is more focused on getting healthier. Um, I don’t think so and I suspect they are buying summplments and vitamins trying to avoid the doctor office visits. I am sorry but to me, using covid as an excuse for EVERYTHING that ails America immediately makes me think the person is using the chewbacca defense.
I had heard enough so I noted how strange it is that pharmacists can prescribe Paxlovid at the pharmacy with a “positve” test but that so much medical resources were spent making sure my wife’s UTI was diagnosed before being treated. She looked at me like I had three eyes and briefly left the room to have an assistant call in the script for the cheap (and low risk) antibiotic for my wife.
Thinking I was wrong, I search on my I phone and sure enough I was right. When I gave her the effective date of the new “rules”, she mumbled “that is crazy.” “Paxlovid isn’t an FDA approved drug , it only has Emergency Use Authorization (time to remove the national health emergency designation Joe) and has side effects and several warnings about adverse reactions with certain common medications”.
I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. There is not much anyone can say when looking at how the medical profession has been misused and misled for the past 30 months.