When I first heard of the new M.D. Advocate to help rich people navigate the healthcare system, I was outraged. I want to live in a world where caregivers don't care if you think you're important or if you are poor or humble. I thought we did have a system where you didn't need an advocate.
After struggling with a bowel blockage for 3 weeks, I entered the hospital and they administered laxatives for 4 days, hoping it would go through. Due to a communication snafu of my making - I told the doctor I was feeling no pain and wanted to go home just after getting morphine. They came to discharge me the next morning after the pain had returned and I started to babble and could not articulate my thoughts. My nurse, Elfia, (who has only been out of school 9 months) refused to let them discharge me. Had I gone home I would have come back via ambulance or died. The blockage turned out to be so severe, they kept me eleven days while they did emergency surgery. They put in a temporary colostomy bag and got me stable.
I asked the nurses how one repays someone who literally saves your life and they told me about this program. They gave me the brochure to complete for her. The time came when I did need an advocate to navigate the system and I didn't need to pay a doctor, my nurse was my advocate.