Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER

by Farzon A. Nahvi

But these patients are not merely acting out. Neither are they acting irrationally. Those of us who become frustrated have failed to put ourselves in their shoes. To live the life of many chronically ill patients is to live a restricted life. In such a world, we too would complain about our tedious predicament. We too would be nostalgic for a life that was once much richer.

Yes that is life with a chronic illness

The majority of those suffering from chronic illness, having lived with their problem for years, know their situation better than their doctors do. They appreciate our treatments, of course, but ultimately what they are really looking for is to simply feel better. These people want comfort and reassurance. They simply want to be listened to and to have their story be heard.

100%

Nevertheless, it is common for institutional funds to be spent not on hiring more nurses and doctors in order to address this life-threatening danger, but on billboards, magazine advertisements, and posters plastered on subways and buses, all eagerly inviting even more people to come to our already overcrowded facilities. We spend our finite resources not on solutions that might decongest our emergency rooms and save our patients’ lives, but on marketing campaigns designed to attract yet more people to hospitals that have already proven themselves beyond their capacity to safely care for them. Focused on billing codes, documentation levels, and operational costs, those who run our hospitals sometimes seem to forget about the oxygen saturations, blood pressures, and heart rates that represent the ultimate point of our efforts.

Profit Over patients