Me (in ER for issue unrelated to throat/mouth): “I would prefer not to remove my N95.”

Dr: “You’re not dictating care. I’m in charge. If you don’t like it you can leave.”

Me: “I’m extremely high risk - please let me keep it on.”

Dr: *sigh* “You’re not going to get Covid HERE”

I resent the “you’re not dictating care” line. It’s MY body. I should get SOME say in what happens to it.

I wasn’t self diagnosing or telling them how to do their job - I just wanted to keep my necessary PPE.

I would understand if examining my mouth, nose or throat was relevant to the emergency I was having - but it wasn’t. This felt like a “test” to see how compliant I would be - and it’s not right to test patients and expose them to a deadly and disabling virus.

I also loathe the emphasis on the word “here”. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it in the hospital either. Many HCWs act like the idea you might catch Covid in their care is absurd.

I feel like it should go without saying that it is NOT absurd. Hospitals and schools are consistently the places that drive community spread. The ER is arguably the highest risk setting because it’s crowded, you’re there for a LONG time and people with covid will go there if they need care. To suggest it’s impossible to catch covid there is to basically show you’re completely detached from reality.

I asked them to check my chart to see how clinically vulnerable I am (they skimmed it). I asked if there was any diagnostic reason I needed to remove my respirator (they scoffed and provided no answer). I declined.

At this point the energy in the room shifted. I was there for a cardiac emergency and up until then had been taken quite seriously. It changed on a dime. I finally asked if I could speak to the charge nurse or get a cardiology consult called down as I didn’t feel my issues were being properly addressed.

I was told “if you’re unhappy with the care you can avail yourself of MAiD”

For those not in Canada - that’s our medical assistance in death program.

To be clear - I don’t think this doctor was actually suggesting I end my life. I think they were just pissed off and trying to hurt me. That said it’s wildly inappropriate to EVER say that to a patient - and I hate that I didn’t have an advocate with me to witness that atrocity.

I ended up leaving and going to a different hospital where I was diagnosed with a serious issue - and I didn’t have to remove my respirator for them to figure it out.

Encounters like this are why I say you should always have an advocate when you’re in the hospital. It shouldn’t be necessary - it’s appalling that it is - but we have to play the hand we’re dealt.

I did lodge a complaint but as of now nothing has come of it - and based on past experience I doubt anything will.

I did wrote a guide on how to be a good advocate for a disabled patient - and it also includes what to do when you don’t have one. Though this story proves that sometimes even if you do everything “right”… you still receive horrible care. It’s one of the reasons I tell my stories and advocate for patients - I want to change things so that no one is ever treated the way I’ve been treated.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/how-to-be-an-effective-advocate-for

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