My life was toyed with in the hope of retribution for others who had misused their practice in the past. I am lucky to have been passed on to hospital emergency before they caused my life permanent damage or even death.
Dehumanising, hateful treatment I only realised the extent of after the fact. I am a 34yo male PhD student who has since been diagnosed with staph poisoning in my right lung and blood. I am writing this on Sunday night after attending the practice late Friday afternoon. Now my pain has been reduced to a manageable level I am able to reflect on what a precarious situation I had found myself in.
I was recently forced to attend this practice for the second time in fifteen years, due to its proximity to UQ and ability to accept emergency cases. I remember now why it had been so long between visits. I had been in extreme chest pain for 3-4hrs, for what has since been diagnosed by the fantastic staff at the Wesley hospital as a staph infection in my blood and right lung, leading to pneumonia and pleurisy thus far identified.
This was the worst acute pain of my life. As a long term anxiety sufferer I told reception about my medication (benzodiazepines) as I was helped to admit myself at reception by my friend and colleague who was kind enough to help me. Whilst yelping in agony, waiting in the nurses area suffering 7-8/10 grade pain, the doctor finally came to see me and after short excruciating triage said I would need to go to hospital for proper imaging and diagnosis.
Something didn't feel right even in my extreme state of distress and pain, and when the ambulance service arrived I overheard the treating Dr Ross Baillie unashamedly tell the ambulance staff that they immediately made the assumption that there was a serious chance I was faking pain for pain killers or abusing my medication based on the fact that I was taking anxiety treatment. After over ten years of treatment with these soul destroying drugs I can tell you that they have no recreational potential for those unfortunate enough to undergo long term treatment, in fact there are few things I wish for more than to be able to stop taking them as would 99% of people in my situation, who in addition to being in a regrettable medication situation also universally suffer from conditions which could make overhearing such statements unspeakably distressful. Needless to say this was the beginning of the least professional and potentially life ending GP visits of my life.
Whilst my fully lucid colleague was out of earshot I can only hope Baillie assumed I was not in a state to remember the comments he made standing less than a metre away from me, or that I was and they were true. His medical opinion was understandably taken as gospel by the paramedics on arrival - what other choice could they have? The "suspicion" was passed on to them who fortunately quickly understood the legitimacy of my complaint. Since when I left the building to enter the ambulance not only was the ambulance in the car park but a police car with lights blazing I realised just how fortunate I was to be in the hands of health CARE professionals by this point - my treatment was more urgent than I could have imagined at this point. When I had arrived not that long before and the police had not been present I can only assume they had called them in the dare I say hope that I was indeed attempting to misuse their practice. Had I ended out in police questioning, life saving treatment could have been delayed to horrific ends I dare not think about.
In repeating my opening statement, my life was toyed with in the hope of retribution for others who had misused their practice in the past. In future I will directly attend hospital emergency rather than toy with my life with profiteering 24/7 GPs. It is saddening to read how many others have had troubling experiences of their own. I am lucky to have been passed on to hospital emergency before they caused my life permanent damage or even death. There is no reason to attend a place such as this, it is what hospital emergency departments are for. Thanks for reading. read more
