Last year in September I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. I caught a mild urinary tract infection from holding my pee when I was in class, scared and stressed that I would miss out on valuable information during lectures. It eventually turned into a kidney infection and I was in distraught. I didn’t know I had a kidney infection until I finally went to the doctors at the health center on campus. I was transferred to Sparrow Hospital and it took over 9 hours for me to get seen and treated.
I had to get a CT Scan, I was hooked on wires that were testing my heart and other organs in my body. I had to get my blood drawn several times to see if the infection had gone into my bloodstream. I was very nervous during the whole process because I wasn’t sure what to expect. I honestly thought I was going to have to get surgery or needed a kidney transplant. Thankfully, the infection did not and I only needed antibiotics to treat my infection. I was on a week-long treatment with antibiotics. I was grateful for there to be a treatment available for my condition and I found that biomedicine professionals not only deal with medicine but they do research and help find cures for diseases, develop medical tools and technology that deal with other health-related issues.
However, I do know for some people who have severe health-related issues are sometimes not able to get the treatment they need for their health issue. And other times the treatment they have available is not effective. For instance, a close family member was having kidney failure and couldn’t afford the kidney dialysis treatments they needed. Unfortunately, they passed away unexpectedly. I remember my great-grandma being sad about the whole situation and it made me upset that our healthcare system is set up the way it is. It seems like the people who can’t afford treatments or medicine are always left to figure it out on their own or if their health insurance doesnt cover the cost of the treatment they have to pay for the entire treatment or the difference. I don’t think our health care delivery system tries to come up with effective alternative ways to make sure others who can’t afford it or for others who have issues that need more care have the options that they need. In another situation, another family member of mines was had kindey problems as well and was doing the kidney dialysis treatments but they weren’t as effective for her situation. Unfortunately, she died as well. So I have mixed feelings about the health care delivery we have in the United States, it seems to me depending on your case it can work in your favor and other times it can work against your favor.
I appreciate your acknowledgment of this issue. As a future health professional, I agree with the fact that the medical system does not seem to provide much help to patients who come from a lower class or people who can’t afford the help. I want to be able to help people who cannot afford to receive the proper healthcare, get the treatment they need. Especially women who belong to several oppressed groups or intersectional groups of women, as well as men who belong to intersectional backgrounds. Our medical system should discover new ways to pay for healthcare, like how Canada and many countries across the world have done.
I also can relate to what you discussed about dialysis. My uncle has type 1 diabetes and he has to get dialysis several times a week. Fortunately, he is privileged to afford the treatment and is able to get the treatment, as if weren’t able to get the treatment, he’d be sick and possibly have passed away. I am also very sorry for your loss.
Hello. I am happy you had a positive experience within the biomedical system. I have had many positive experiences as well. I agree with our lectures that our system is excellent at pinpointing and solving illnesses that have one cause, such as your kidney infection.
I believe that access to affordable care is a huge and ongoing issue. If you are lower class but do not qualify for Medicaid, you likely are in the lowest income strata but you are expected to pay almost 50% of your wage to have health care and access to care. From personal experience – my daughter makes $29,000 a year. Her health insurance for herself and her daughter runs $7008 per year. However, that is just for the premium. She also has deductibles that have to be met and those run $2500 for each of them. So that means that she has to pay out $12,000 just to have care that is covered. Then, on average, she has about a 20% copay for services. Those are hard numbers, I am not speculating here. The system is not working. As you pointed out with your friends and family members that experienced access to affordable care issues. It possibly cost your grandmother’s friend and your family member their lives. In addition, the stress of not being able to properly take care of yourself leads to even further health problems.
In a developed nation that boasts about our superior biomedical system as “being the best” in the delivery of medicine, we have some work to do.
I am so glad to hear that your medical problem was diagnosed and treated in a timely and efficient manner. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, many people do not have the same ease of access to health care as others, which can end fatally. I know that urinary tract infections can be quite common especially for women, and I applaud you for having the confidence to share your experience. I think that oftentimes impairments that affect women specifically can be negatively stigmatized, and therefore much harder to talk about. This realization in our society can force women to be fearful of telling others about their problems, and never reaching out for help which could, in this case, lead to the more severe kidney infections that you were lucky not to face.
I also have very mixed feelings about our health care system, and for this reason I am looking forward to learning more in this course. Hopefully I will become more comfortable with the system in place and be able to have a strong understanding of the aspects that can and should be improved. A more solid set of epidemiological data could have helped the doctors save the lives of your loved ones, and millions of people across the globe. Perhaps the next move for medical professionals would be making this information more easily accessible for all in the health care field.
Oof! That’s rough. I’m sorry that you had to go through that, especially since you basically got the infection for trying to be a dedicated student. It is good that you point out the insurance and healthcare costs, because while it is not necessarily a part of biomedicine it is a part of American biomedicine and it has created some interesting issues within our healthcare system aside from creating a paywall.