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Doctors have their own diagnosis: 'Moral distress' from an inhumane health system
A term coined to evoke the torment felt by soldiers as they process the cruelty of war, it's now used by doctors to describe the guilt and helplessness we feel when patients can't access needed care.
The young man was in his mid-20s when he came to see me for severe abdominal pain at my small community clinic. The pain, worse than any he'd ever experienced, had persisted for weeks and was getting worse. He cried out when I examined him.
I didn't know the cause of his pain, but I could think of possibilities, including a ruptured appendix, a perforated ulcer or pancreatitis. He needed an urgent CT scan and a surgical consult. The fastest way to get both was to send him to the emergency room.
But the man said he couldn't go. He was uninsured.
As his family physician, I had to convince him. I explained the need for further evaluation, the risk of waiting. I told him the ER was legally bound to assess and stabilize him. They
