patient advocate?

try to get in touch with a [B]patient advocate[/B]. that is what my aunt does, and boy is she good at lighting fires under the right butts! she takes her job very seriously – to save peoples lives by insuring they get proper care. i live in a small town, so i dont think we have one, but you may.

as a nurse, she would intimidate me. she is the one the big dogs walk on egg shells around. she definitely gets things done! she has even tape recorded doctors (the ones who are her coworkers) and then played it back for them to prove how big of jerks they are being. she has brought them to tears, heard them apologize, and watched them change their ways (with their tails between their legs).

i dont know how it works with socialized medicine, but she told me over and over again that the insurance company can be your best friend. Hard to believe, ha? See, when your docs mess up, then your health gets worse, and that costs the insurance company way more money than if the doc would have done what he was supposed to do in the first place.

dont know if ive been of any help, but i sure hope so. remember…you are the boss! the health care team works for you – not the other way around.

good luck!
jamie