by Anna Hasty

Created on: June 05, 2008

Discrimination. The word alone sounds harsh and make no mistake its meaning is. Like thousands of other people I have witnessed discrimination through the media and other sources but never experienced it first hand. That all changed for me this year. The past few months for me have been a challenge. I was in the world of mysterious medical ailments. You know the type, its nothing serious just painful and life altering. The type of ailment that does not show visibly or on those state-of-the-art machines. But the type of ailment only you can feel and have to deal with. Thus began months of running from doctor to doctor, waiting for appointments with specialist months and miles away, the ongoing list of testing that reveals nothing and trying medicines that don't work or cause allergic reactions. While going though this medical muck another problem arises. What does a person do while you wait for the doctor to figure it all out ? I know for me when the pain became to hard to tolerate it meant a visit to the Emergency Room for treatment. This is the last place I would except discrimination and the only place I have ever encountered it. While in Triage the nurse informed me that I was not in acute distress'. I was taken back if mind numbing pain is not distress what is? When the physician assistant arrived for the examination, the first comment was;'The nurse pointed out you are not in acute distress'. Next she pointed out that every time I come in I am Polite and Pleasant' and that the Emergency Room is not for pain management'. I tried to inform her of the steps my primary care physician and other doctors had decided to take but she continued that I was abusing the system, just not in so many words. I have studied Medical Transcription and because the Physician Assistant was aware of this she felt that I knew what she was thinking. So now I have earned the a title the medical world calls the "Frequent Flyer". No amount of explaining or reasoning would convince this particular staff member that I had a valid reason to be in the ER. To make things even more unreal she never even examined me. She just looked at me, talked and left saying she would order pain medication. I left the ER in more Distress', then I arrived that was to be sure. I felt like my integrity had been compromised, that my word meant nothing. I had been labeled because I visited the ER too often. I would like to know how it can determined if a patient's ailment is real just by looking at their

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