Martee-Bee

Gay AF

Dog rich!

Sinful

Doctors need to be held accountable. Right now, doctors are virtually never held accountable.

There are doctors who tell lesbians not to worry about STDs because they “can’t get any.” There are doctors who tell fat people to lose weight when what’s wrong is actually a) completely unrelated to weight and b) fatal. A doctor once refused to give me an IUD because I should “marry a nice young virgin man” instead of being a big ol’ queer slutbag. In my summer job reviewing medical records, I’ve seen three patients who were sent home with a disease that almost immediately killed them because the doctors (three different ones!) didn’t take CHEST PAIN seriously. One of my classmates, a future doctor, told me I was overreacting to the murder of Michael Brown and when I said the hell I am he said I must not UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES. Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot my master’s degree in social psychology is just there to decorate my shelf! My tiny lady-brain can’t possibly comprehend anything important! I once heard a doctor brag about having forcibly sterilized a Latina woman who didn’t consent because she was an undocumented immigrant and “she had too many already.” He was receiving a LOT of federal research funding for his work with our research group. I’ve WATCHED doctors be horrible, bigoted fuck-ups.

Like, if these are things someone like me, who passionately believes in medicine to the point where I’ve willingly sacrificed a reasonably comfortable job, my free time for at least seven years of training, and my right to decide where I spend at least three years of my life (because we are obligated to go wherever we’re matched for residency), is seeing at one of the top academic medical centers IN THE WORLD, what the FUCK do you think is happening in the REST of the country, where they HAVEN’T attracted “top talent”?

Chronic pain patients are labeled mentally unstable or criminals for seeking pain relief. They are often told by doctors to ignore the pain or mind over matter which is impossible when you’re in that much pain.

And don’t get me started if you have ‘depression’ on your file, or anything other kind of mental illness. If they see that (especially if you’re a female because obviously all females are hypochondriacs and hysterical ) and you say “i’m in pain”, they immediately and without hesitation tell you its pyschosomatic pain without any further investigations. Also, if you are in pain 24/7 365 days a year, are you fucking surprised we have depression? You’d be depressed too. 

I was denied the treatment I needed because my sexist, ableist doctor would not refer me to a rheumatologist because I had depression on my file and therefore, nothing could physically be wrong. After I insisted, he said he would only refer me privately, not publicly, meaning I had to pay $400 dollars for the appointment instead of free. He only did this “to give me piece of mind” because “there was nothing physically wrong” (regardless of physical evidence and positive blood tests for autoimmune markers). On my first appointment, I was diagnosed with a mixed connective tissue disorder and given treatment that helped me so much. He chose to ignore evidence of an illness because he was blinded by bias toward mentally ill people.

And finally, this same doctor denied me any pain medication for over a year as he ‘felt uncomfortable prescribing it to someone so young” (i’m 23 for reference). You’re uncomfortable!? I’m in pain everyday and you’re uncomfortable? There is a way to prescribe pain medication in a way that is safe and controlled.  

Some cultures lack names For a color, you see. Hence good old Homer And his “wine-dark sea.”

A usage so quaint, A phrasing so old, For verses of romance Is sheer fucking gold.

Words are in flux And meanings they drift But the word purple You’ve given short shrift.

The concept of purple, My friends, is old And refers to a pigment once precious as gold.

By crushing up molluscs From the wine-dark sea You make a dye: Imperial decree

Meant that in Rome, to wear purpura was a privilege reserved

For only the emperor!

The word ‘purple’, for clothes so fancy, Entered English By the ninth century

.

Why then are voilets Not purple in song? The dye from this mollusc, known for so long

Is almost magenta; More red than blue. The concept of purple is old, and yet new.

The dye is red, So this might be true: Roses are purple And violets are blue