Denver Post: Apathy adds insult to injury

There was an article in the April 16, 2010 Denver Post titled Apathy adds insult to injury, about a hospital staff's failure to diagnose an injury on a boy who had difficulty communicating. It took 6 months before the doctors figured out that the boy had a broken femur (large bone in the leg)! The parents insisted that something was wrong, they asked for a bone scan, their pleas were ignored. They were persistent until they got a satisfactory answer as to why their son was in pain. This took 6 months!
It is so important for healthcare advocates to "go with their gut". Keep asking why isn't the patient improving? Go up the chain of command. If you do not see patient improvement, ask to speak to the "person in charge". That may differ depending on the setting. You may ask to speak to the nursing supervisor, the ombudsman, the physician in charge. Use resources in your community to get pull. Ask all your doctor friends for advice on which is the best hospital/ER/Treatment center, for the patient's illness/injury. The patient advocate is the difference between life and death.
Sometimes the patient refuses to seek help. It is the advocates job to encourage the patient not to give up. It is so important to seek for the right answer in patient care. As Michael says, "You can't be replaced, but maybe you can be repaired".