My wife, Autumn, has spent nearly a quarter of the past four years in ERs and hospitals, untangling and battling three chronic conditions — and a shamefully broken U.S. medical system.
- We live in Washington, D.C., with top-rated hospitals in our backyard. Yet her experience has been eye-opening and often horrifying, especially for a nation that spends twice as much on medical care as our rivals.
What it's like: ERs so hauntingly jammed she's often stacked like cargo in hallways, on a stretcher, waiting double-digit hours for care.
- Well-intentioned and often talented nurses overwhelmed and overworked.
- Doctors forbidden from, or uninterested in, working with experts beyond their domain to solve complex conditions. It's random luck if you get a specialist willing to even show up to your hospital room.
- You need a forensic detective to hunt down medical records scattered across random portals and hospitals. And then a miracle to get anyone to piece them together for clues. "It feels like riding a stationary bicycle when you need to be somewhere," Autumn says.
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