| September 13, 2009 | Calendar | Archives |
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In our current adventure, Melissa and I are exploring, hands on, two key issues of our day: the health care system and marriage equality. Melissa had surgery on Sept 1, partial replacement on both knees. She's doing great. The hospital experience at Inland in Waterville was wonderful; great staff on the med-surg unit, good OT-PT dept. Also just really nice people. We saw how nurses and therapists selectively report to the insurance company in a way that gives them the outcome they need for the patient. In addition to treating patients, they have to carefully advocate for them with the insurance company. If Melissa had done the stair exercises in the PT therapy room, the insurance company might have not qualified her for a few more days of therapy.
Once at the rehab place, Oak Grove, Inland seemed like the memory of a luxury hotel. The OT-PT staff there was excellent, but the rest of the place was iffy. It was there I became a Purell junkie. The foamy kind in a no-touch dispenser is best. At my suggestion, my work place is getting two of them. As for the marriage equality issue, Melissa and I had our wills and medical power of attorney papers drawn up years ago at some cost, and we have them with us. Still, as a couple we are at the mercy of time and place of treatment. In an emergency situation we might not have the paper work with us. In contrast, a friend at work Lisa and her boyfriend were automatically treated as spouses in the emergency room when one of them was injured.
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The polls show responses to the November referendum vote to repeal Maine's marriage equality law as pretty much even, so it could go either way.
I hate the referendum process we have here. The legislature labors for months over some complicated bill, gets the votes to pass it, and then 55 thousand signatures on a petition can void the law. We could have permanent bumper stickers that say vote no on 1.