Thanks for writing this. It's really thoughtful. My Dad is being treated for Stage 3 at the moment, and after months of delay was told that he wasn't on "real" chemo, just some sort of palliative treatment. No one can get a clear read on what the doctors told him, and he's fairly confused himself... it's basically a nightmare game of telephone.
When it comes to what the OP was talking about... those of us who are conflict-averse and can't get ourselves to make dozens of unanswered phone calls, are we just shit out of luck if we get into that situation? As much as I hate it now if it involves disputing a mistaken Amazon purchase, I imagine I would just give up if I were already suffering. Is handling bureaucratic gatekeeping the only way to get care, outside a top tier cancer center, in your opinion? My dad's got some money, he's got private insurance. I want to say that if I were him I would have hired an advocate of some sort, to process all of this. I don't even know if a thing like that exists.
When it comes to what the OP was talking about... those of us who are conflict-averse and can't get ourselves to make dozens of unanswered phone calls, are we just shit out of luck if we get into that situation? As much as I hate it now if it involves disputing a mistaken Amazon purchase, I imagine I would just give up if I were already suffering. Is handling bureaucratic gatekeeping the only way to get care, outside a top tier cancer center, in your opinion? My dad's got some money, he's got private insurance. I want to say that if I were him I would have hired an advocate of some sort, to process all of this. I don't even know if a thing like that exists.