A Run Down of My Day

It was an interesting day at work, to say the least. I arrived to a full voice mail box, 3/4 were from the same person. He kept calling because he wanted me to 'release' his Social Security money.

There is a 'safety net' that county government can place on a mentally ill patient- the county, with the blessing of physicians, can say that a person isn't capable of managing his/her money and therefore, all of that person's income (usually general assistance or social security) is managed by a Representative Payee. (The problem is, however, not all Payees exercise good financial management skills...some will let people spend all their money by the middle of the month, totally defeating the purpose. However, in the hands of an excellent social worker, people can actually save some money for a rainy day or Christmas.) Anyway, this person was assigned a Payee, but it didn't help his situation at all. Then something happened with this other agency (why are there so many agencies?!) and he became his own Payee again, but then, he didn't know that. So he kept calling me demanding that I give him his money, while he was hospitalized. There was the second problem: this guy REALLY LIKES to go to the ER. He goes about 4-5 times a week. Not the same ER either, all different ones...

I spent over an hour trying to find a solution about all these problems today. In a way, utter waste of time, because, whatever he gets in social security simply is not enough to cover rent, food, transportation. AND, he has no family, and why wouldn't he want to go to the ER for company?

It became clear that about 99% of my patients will be voting for Obama since "Republicans are TOTALLY evil."

I wrapped up my day with two terrific patients. Both of them have super supportive families- families that would come to appointments with them, willing to pay for various services (that are not available in this system of care), and while one is chronically mentally ill, the other's prognosis is excellent. However, what really makes them TERRIFIC patients is that they both thanked me for my services. I am human, and I LOVE it when people say thank you. Go ahead, tell your doctor you LOVE what they do for you, especially after they recommend that you go for a colonoscopy...

Clearly, it is late, and I should go to bed.