What Doctors Like Me Know About Americans' Health Care Anger

[GB_RN]

50. Deny, Deny, Deny...

You are correct (I’m a nurse, so like the author, I get to experience all sides of the morass). My mom had a rare form of melanoma, called non-pigmented or amelanotic melanoma. It’s just what it sounds like. Like regular melanoma, it can have a decent five year survival rate. But like its darker sibling, it’s often found late - and for one big, glaringly obvious reason. Hers was found late. A few years ago, her doctor - a physician at Duke who is specialist* in her type of cancer - ordered a PET scan. Ironically, it was United Healthcare who had the state retiree’s insurance contract. A desk-goon, with absolutely no medical experience, denied the pre-clearance claim. Her doctor called to argue (which happens more than you might expect). For more than two hours, he fought this clown, but he wouldn’t budge. His reasoning was that 1) Mom had a PET scan earlier in the year and 2) she had…get this…melanoma (wow, that was a big fucking shock to us to hear that bit of breaking news🤦‍♂️🙄 ). In support of statement 2, he said, “Melanoma is a skin cancer,” thus, no need for another scan. This assclown had NO goddamned clue. Skin cancer. How the fuck he thought skin cancer would be fatal - assuming he even thought it was often fatal - I seriously have not one goddamned clue.

These are the people making decisions about what treatment you can/cannot have, regardless of what your doctor says.

*Mom’s physician is an MD and PhD who does research into immunotherapy for cancers. Especially those that are or become non responsive to treatment. Why not chemo you ask? Chemo for melanoma, is worse than the disease on patients over the age of 70. So, it’s just not done. Immunotherapy offers the only hope for that patient population. And it’s expensive. Which means that unless you have a good insurance plan, good fucking luck. Better start your GoFundMe account now.

Sadly, Mom passed away a year ago, not quite three days after Thanksgiving (339 am, 11/26/23). But thanks to her doctor at Duke, we had 7 more years with her. I am NOT asking for donations, so please don’t think what I’m about to say next is begging for money. In honor of Mom, and as a way to thank her doctor, we set up an account with Duke, that would funnel donations directly to his research (researchers spend inordinate amounts of time trying to keep their funding up, applying for grants, etc.). We asked that in lieu of flowers or food, people make a donation to her memorial fund. Should anyone be interested in hearing about her doctor and his research, please feel free to contact me.