The Doctor Won't See You Now

When I had cancer, my doctors were glad that it had been discovered at a very early stage. We scheduled surgery right away, and they were able to remove the entire tumor, with no trace left behind. I made a full recovery, and I'm healthy now.

It is important to note that the doctors were aware that the tumor could grow, and that, left untreated, the cancer would eventually progress from stage one to stage four, and if that happened, I would be in serious trouble. They didn't wait to see if things got worse, but instead took action quickly to make sure that I would be as safe as possible.

Again, when my mother was diagnosed with glaucoma, the disease was in an early stage. If glaucoma is left untreated, it will put increasing pressure on the eye, causing pain and impaired vision, eventually damaging the optic nerve, resulting in blindness. But when caught early, the condition can be managed with medication, laser treatments, and surgery. No reputable doctor would withhold treatment, waiting until you can't see anything and your eye is about to explode, before intervening.

In the modern world, we expect our medical providers to recognize symptoms, understand the prognosis, and provide treatment that will reduce pain, prevent long-term damage, and avoid death.

However, in some parts of America, once considered a medically advanced nation, there are laws that require doctors to refuse care to some patients, even when the doctors know that these patients are likely to suffer and can predict that the patients will experience life-threatening complications that, if they manage to survive, may leave them with permanent damage. These are patients whose suffering, damage, and death are completely preventable. Yet the doctor must wait until the moment the patient is about to die before providing treatment.

I'm talking about women who experience miscarriages. In some states, bizarre anti-abortion laws prevent doctors from providing what was once standard care for miscarriage. Instead, women are left bleeding in hospital parking lots or told to go home and wait until things get worse. Some of these women are left so damaged that they cannot have more children; others die.

Read about Amber Thurman: This young mother's death was preventable.

Read about Jaci Stratton: She was told to bleed out.

Sadly, these are not isolated cases. It doesn't take much effort to find women who were neglected in the most horrible way. Many women have had to travel to other states to get the life-saving care they needed. Women who are too sick to travel are trapped.

There is no excuse for this. We live in a country with well-trained doctors and nurses, with well-equipped hospitals. Any condition other than pregnancy is treated with the patient's best interests in mind. What is deliberately being done to women in certain Republican-dominated states is beyond inexcusable. It is evil.

We must stop fanatical, undereducated politicians from intruding in the life-and-death decisions that should be made by medical professionals. As individuals, we can contact elected representatives and express our opinions. Most importantly, we can vote against the politicians who are willing to kill us.

 

Just One More Thing

Years ago, at one of my first real jobs, I had a lot of little responsibilities in an office. I delivered inter-office mail, filed paperwork, typed memos, made copies, relieved the receptionist on her breaks, etc.

Over time, people began asking me to do more little things. They wanted more copies, they needed more things typed, someone had to supervise a student intern, and so on. It wasn't difficult to add one more little thing. And then another little thing. and another.

To be honest, I didn't really notice that I was doing so much more work than I had started with. But when I left that job, they had to replace me with two people.

 

Don't Cross That Line

Imagine you are pregnant and you live in a state that has completely outlawed all abortions. That's okay, because you don't want an abortion. They've also made it illegal to travel out of state for the purpose of getting an abortion somewhere else. That's still okay, because you definitely don't want an abortion.

You're driving to visit your sister in the next state, and she's going to give you some baby furniture and clothes that she has from her five kids. As you near the state line, you see a flashing light in your rear view mirror. You pull over. The state trooper checks your license and registration and asks where you're going. You tell him, and he says, "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to turn around."

"But why?" you ask.

He looks annoyed, but explains, "There's a women's clinic just over the state line on this road. It's illegal for you to go there."

You smile. "I'm not going to a clinic. I'm heading to my sister's house, 50 miles beyond the state line."

The trooper shakes his head. "Ma'am, I'm sure you understand why I can't just take your word for that. We get a lot of lawbreakers on this stretch of highway."

"But look at me!" you protest. "I'm eight months pregnant. This baby was planned. We've already named her."

The trooper is starting to lose patience. "Ma'am, I'm pretty sure you know as well as I do they could abort that baby right up until birth. You need to turn the car around and go home."

You realize that it's pointless to argue, so you make a U-turn while the trooper watches, and go back the way you came.

Later, you call your sister and tell her what happened. You suggest that maybe she could bring the baby things to you, but she declines because she's afraid that if she sets foot in your state, she'll never get out.

 

Those People Did Bad Things

Imagine that a power-hungry politician decides to stir up outrage by demonizing some people in your town. You might feel bad about what he's doing, but since you aren't one of "those people," you think it doesn't affect you.

However, people from outside your town become stirred up by the stories that are being told. Some of them pretend to be journalists and come to your town to "investigate." They either find a few people who are willing to get attention by confirming the rumors, or they find people who oppose the rumors and use them in an unfairly edited context to make it seem like they confirm the rumors.

More outsiders arrive, in a wave of hostile tourism, determined to "see for themselves." As the nasty rumors continue to be repeated, even some local people start imagining they might be true, although police, the mayor, the fire department, and most residents all say the stories are false.

Some angry people make threats against the people who have been accused. Some make threats against the city council. A few crazy people make bomb threats, leading to lockdowns and evacuations of businesses and schools, including the school where your kids are. Now, at last, it's affecting you.