Familiarity breeds...new questions?
By Amber
@AmbiePam (92778)
United States
January 9, 2008 6:32pm CST
So after two days with a migraine and then finally having to carry around a trash can with me, I went to the ER last night. When they called my name to ask the perfunctory questions, I was surprised by one of them. First, let me say, for 10 years when I go to the ER, it is the same one. In the last 6 years, I unforunately go frequently. Urgent care doesn't take my insurance or I'd go there. Anyway, this time the woman asked me if I felt safe in my home. Well I said yes because I knew what she meant, is anyone beating me up.
I'm a bit confused as to why she asked me that. I look the same as ever, she had seen me before, and they have never thought to ask me that. I guess maybe the hospital has a new policy.
Anyway, have you ever been some place where you think you know what the questions are going to be, or maybe you know what to expect, but then nothing turns out to be what you thought would happen? Maybe you were surprised and had to pause to think something over you never had to before? I also thought I'd be getting the same medicine they always gave me for my migraine, and they switched that up too. FYI, my head paid for it. : )
3 people like this
8 responses
@GardenGerty (160697)
• United States
10 Jan 08
So sorry that you are having so much pain. I imagine that there is some kind of a new requirement for questions. That is what always happens to me. Let's see how much we can freak out these already traumatized and in pain patients, you know. Surprise the symptoms out of them. It would be so much easier if clinics and the like accepted more insurances. I hate it when they switch from a med that works to one that is not quite so good.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (92778)
• United States
10 Jan 08
Yeah, some of the ER docs look to see what I was given previously. They ask if it works, I say yes, and they give it to me again. Then I get a guy like last night who has new 'theories' he wants to try out. Oh well. I'm fine now so I'm thankful for that. : )
1 person likes this
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
21 Jan 08
I hope your migraines ease up soon. It's bad enough to have a migraine, and then having to go to the ER must be a nightmare. It seems strange that you were asked that question. When I was a nursing student, we were supposed to ask questions like that a lot, in order to do a thorough assessment of the patient. In one place, we were instructed to fill out an abuse evaluation form on every female patient that came in, no matter what they came in for. To me, the whole thing seemed too invasive. The patients were uncomfortable with that, and I was too.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92778)
• United States
21 Jan 08
I had another migraine this past week but I didn't go to the ER. I had none of my regular medicine I take for migraines (insurance would have said the refill was too soon), but I didn't go anyway. Some of the doctors seem suspicious of me coming in for migraines, but when your regular medicine doesn't work or when you have none, what can I do? My own doctor only works one day a week, and my insurance doesn't allow urgent care.
I imagine having to ask those questions did make you feel uncomfortable. How odd that they made everyone ask all of the female patients. I don't know that any of them would respond in the affirmative anyway. 'Wife beaters' seem to go with their victims when it comes to the hospitals.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
10 Jan 08
It could be the hospital is just being safe. They have to ask those questions because some abused women pretend to have a headache so they will not be put in a shelter and have their abusers keep the house. I have been asked questions such as how long have I been at home, how much money I make, etc. that I did not expect. I do not keep records, and then there is the question about allergies and very personal questions that I do not like.
1 person likes this
@AmberNormandin (883)
• United States
10 Jan 08
this reminded me of when i was about 11 years old or so, my mom burnt her hand really bad and had to go the ER...the nurse was a guy and he asked "when was your last period?" and it embarrassed me so bad I couldnt hardly look at him and it wasnt even me he was asking!! She explained to me that they often ask that for different reasons and that its ok when they do. Now when I went into the doctor recently in an attempt to get the IUD removed, she made me take a pregnancy test! It actually made me mad this time because i told her i wasnt and she INSISTED on me taking the test!
1 person likes this
@SixPaulEleven (552)
• United States
11 Jan 08
When I was diagnosed as hypertensive, I was young...mid 20s. The doctors were bamfoozled as to why someone like me who was healthy and young would be hypertensive. It didn't matter that my brother is hypertensive, both my parents are, my grandparents all were, 2 uncles and 3 aunts are all hypertensive. That doctor was determined to get to the bottom of this and would not accept my family history of hypertension as to why I got it so young. He kept asking me questions about if I drank alchol, smoked or worked out (no, no and does rollerblading 20 miles every other day count?). Then he decided I must be ill and ran every blood test known to man from HIV to pregnancy. (Negative and negative btw) and ordered CT scans, brain scans and MRIs to find out.
Finally after the last test came back negative, he realized it was family history. My mother got it it when she was about my age and my dad got it when he was slightly older than me at that time.
1 person likes this
@kcooper27 (2)
• United States
10 Jan 08
i had a similar incident where i fell off the bed and ended up haveing to go to the emergency room and they would not believe anything i told them they thought someone in my home was beating me and i really didn't know what to say to them because i wasn't expecting them to ask me that,it kind of shocked me and i guess that didn't help nothing eithor.
1 person likes this
@squaretile (3778)
• Singapore
10 Jan 08
I guess it's a sad reflection on the state of our world today. They feel obliged to ask this question because too many people have continued to be hurt because someone didn't ask this question.
hope the last sentence meant that the new medicine helped! take care!
1 person likes this
@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
10 Jan 08
They may have asked the question because they had tried everything else and that was one question they had never asked. It does not hurt to ask. What if you had needed help and they had never asked the question? Many people suffer in silence. There are not always marks to show that a person is being abused in some way. I think that the question was a good and thoughtful one to ask. And I am glad that you were able to answer in the negative and I am sure that she was too.
@AmbiePam (92778)
• United States
10 Jan 08
I thought it was a good question too. It just surprised me because she knew I had a migraine, and then she asked that and I almost said yes! I was so used to the questions, and my head hurt so bad, I almost messed that up. I wish though, that since they ask that question, that they would enclose the area they ask it in. Because of a man was there with his wife, and she said yes, he could hear her answer in the lobby. The areas are really close together.
