(if you don't have a sniper's vision, find the excerpt below in English)
Every writer's dream is to make a living with writing. I'm modest. All
I want is a little house in the Bahamas. So I'm working hard at my writing. And
maybe so this little country will come closer to me.
Generally, writing inspirations seek me out when I'm busy with other
things – sleeping, taking a walk, reading or showering. But there are
some topics that strike me, and our encounter is so violent that I find it hard
to think of anything else; and when this happens, I write as if possessed, as
if I am struggling in the dark and searching for light or struggling for air.
The engine, though, with these topics is always the same - the outrage. That's how ‘The Corporation’ came into being. The whole text is actually an outrage, and a call for others
who feel the same to join me, with the aim of initiating the change.
Interacting with jobber-doctors (money-grubbers) and
lackadaisical-doctors (bland, uncaring) served as inspiration for ‘Health Care
Failures’, a non-fiction book about unpleasant experiences at the doctor's, about why it is important to ask for a second medical opinion and what to look out for when receiving a treatment plan.
The Argeș Magazine allowed me to publish an excerpt in its pages, for
which I am particularly grateful (and special thanks go to Mrs. Simona Fusaru).
If you want to read the full issue (in Romanian), you can find it here.
Below you can find the English translation of the excerpt that was published in the magazine:
Jobber-Doctors and Lackadaisical-Doctors
I’ve been living with the feeling of
helplessness in dealing with doctors from various specialties over the last few
years and if I could, I would have given anything to avoid the unpleasant
experiences I have had. Talking to people, I discovered that I am not alone.
That other people experience some things, as my dad would say, that boggles the
mind. That others suffer too and feel terrified by their illness, terrified
that they can no longer trust doctors and their advice. I have learned (from
experience) or understood that it is better not to practice self-medication
because then you can create even worse health problems. But in a world where
there is this growing feeling that you are being ripped off or being treated
just to pay good money, without any care for the patient or decency, how much
trust can you put into doctors anymore?! In an increasingly ageing society in
need of medical care, can we afford to lose faith in the health care system and
hide the fact that some doctors are doing great harm, both to patients and to
the health care domain?
I have been carrying this indignation with
me for years and, unfortunately, it is growing, because around me doctors are
no longer behaving as they should, but more like speculators or jobbers whose
only aim is to build that villa with a swimming pool and not to give the best
advice to patients. And in the end, the villa with the pool would not be a
problem, except that it is already clear to me that they are not sparing their
efforts only for themselves, but also for their future generations, and we
patients are just good cows to milk.
A stinking and dangerous slime is
spreading everywhere in medicine, and I am afraid we are all beginning to have
the same reaction as we would regarding some corrupt politicians – they stole,
but at least they did something for the community.
This book has as
anti-heroes the doctors focused on making money, the jobber-doctors, and the
blasé, uncaring doctors, namely the lackadaisical-doctors.
The heroes are the patients who have gone
through more or less traumatic experiences and who have paid dearly and very
dearly, i.e. at the expense of their health, for falling victim to the above
categories of doctors, believing that they would consider the Hippocratic oath
- which encompasses the moral duties of doctors in the exercise of their
profession and which can be succinctly explained as Do no harm!.
……
Periodontitis
According to the statistics, 8 out of 10
Romanians suffer from periodontitis, being the sixth most common disease in
Romania. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of cases of periodontitis
in young people, although a few years ago this disease was only attributed to
elderly people.
What is periodontitis?
Periodontitis is the inflammation of the
tissue that supports and anchors the teeth. The disease is manifested through inflammation
and infection of the gums, and in advanced cases, pus pockets can also develop,
which destroy the gum tissue and affect the structure of the teeth, which begin
to wobble and fall out. As there is often confusion between periodontitis and
gingivitis, it is important to understand that gingivitis is a superficial
inflammation of the gums that, left untreated, can lead to periodontitis.
There is an explosion of periodontal
treatments, as well as naturopathic treatments, and here too, speculating on
Romanians' fear and confidence that they can heal themselves, various miracle
solutions are being promoted that can completely regenerate your gum tissue and
solve advanced periodontitis. Of course, there are also marketing gimmicks. A
simple Google search for herbal treatments led me to the product title tincture
for periodontosis, but the product label clearly, albeit small, mentions
tincture for gingivitis.
Another wonder-product I found is a
gum-regenerating solution, but the product's English-language label claims that
the solution is recommended to be used only after dental procedures (scaling,
tooth extraction, etc.) for gum pain relief. So, scams go hand in hand
everywhere, and if you are gullible or desperate enough, you try them all,
sometimes causing more harm. I'm not discounting the importance of herbal
treatments for certain mild conditions, but I understand that severe ones
cannot be treated with hawthorn tea, for example.
We also learn about miracle solutions from
TV commercials. For example, certain toothpastes that promise a cure, or in the
case of periodontitis, this is impossible with just using toothpaste.
I was terribly amused by a dialogue from
the Argentinian TV series "Envious", which I reproduce below.
Mom: She's beautiful now, but you'll see
in some years that beauty doesn't last. You know, don't you?
Son: Mom, it's not about that.
Mom: Oh, but it is! You think everything
stays in its place?! No. I'm telling you, everything goes down. All of it! You
know what’s the only thing that goes up?! Gums!
Periodontal Flap Surgery
If we are talking about periodontitis that
has already passed the incipient stage, dentists recommend periodontal flap
surgery. This involves subgingival cleaning of dead tissue, tartar deposits and
possibly pus pockets. Because this procedure is quite invasive, and the gums
need time to heal afterwards, it is not recommended to do it too often,
possibly every five years. But when money is at stake, what does the fragility
of gum tissue matter?
Excerpt
from ‘Health Care Failures’, a book about jobber-doctors and
lackadaisical-doctors
