I just spent a few very busy days working in rural Emergistan.  As such, there are a few things I need to get off of my chest.

  1. Disruptive, uncooporative individuals who are clearly intoxicated on alcohol, and walking and talking, should not be brought to the ER by police because ‘they want help for their drinking.’  What they really want is ‘help for my getting arrested.’  The way to help them with that is to arrest them. They are welcome to come and talk about ‘help for my drinking’ when their arrest has worn off.
  2. I know, I know you love your dog. I get it. But please, for the love of all that’s good, don’t leave the ER with dangerous chest pain or trouble breathing, infections or other problems ‘to go and take care of my little dog.’  Call someone, do anything.  Maybe we can do something to help.  You’re more important than your doc.  Or cat.  Or hamster. Or raccoon. Or whatever.
  3. The mental health profession is not doing anyone any favors by constantly adding diagnoses to people who aren’t getting better, and who take a witch’s brew of pills that still leave them anxious, depressed, suicidal, delusional and hallucinating.  People need help with their pain and their issues, with learning to think through and think past what has happened (or continues to happen) to them.  While I know that there are some meds that help, it seems like the more diagnoses and pills we add, the more confusion and sedation we pile onto our patients.  Mars needs therapists…
  4. Marijuana is not the answer.  It makes people anxious. It makes them lose motivation. It makes them have abdominal pain and vomiting (I know, they say it helps nausea, but trust me on this).  It also makes some people psychotic who weren’t, or more psychotic who were.  Stop telling people ‘it’s totally OK because it’s natural.’  Rattlesnakes are natural. Gravity is natural.  Sepsis is natural.
  5. As much as I respect single parents, and know what a trial they have, we have to recognize that families (and children in particular) are just better off with two parents.  They are more likely to be financially secure and less likely to be abused, drop out of school, use drugs or have teen pregnancies when both mom and dad are there.  I see so many struggling families.  There’s a reason that humans have married for thousands of years.  Because it works.

That’s all for now.

Thanks!

Dr. Curmudgeon, reporting from Emergistan.

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