‘It’s like I’ve been marked DNR, and not told.’

‘It’s like I’ve been marked DNR, and not told.’


Stephen and I are of an age. He’s 57 years old. He became disabled, for want of a better term, a year or so ago, when he spectacularly fell down a flight of stairs and waited hours for an ambulance.


Stephen is an eloquent writer who doesn’t pull his punches. A horrified Twitter audience watched as he documented his fall, wait and subsequent rehabilitation. His humour is dry, self deprecating and peppered with expletives. 


Tonight, he announced that he’s had enough - that he’s going to kill himself. But not because of his pain levels, not because of his diabetes, nor his impeded mobility. Stephen wants to kill himself because of the failure of the health care system.


And you know what? I don’t blame him. Not one little bit.


Here’s a succinct version:

  1. Stephen is diabetic and depends on Ozempic, a non insulin medication for diabetics, as well as Endone, an opioid medication for chronic pain.
  2. His regular GP, in Dubbo, left suddenly. His Sydney GP is on holidays til August. Nobody under NSW law will prescribe the drugs he needs, because of rubbish flaming health bureaucracy hoops to jump through.
  3. Even if he could get a prescription, there is a chronic shortage of Ozempic, because it’s also prescribed for weight loss, and now there’s a supply chain shortage that impacts diabetics.

TLDR version? Our health system is broken, nobody cares, the buck is being passed between state and federal authorities and those most in need are struggling just to stay alive.


We have been abandoned. 


I dare you to read Stephen’s Twitter thread of utter despondency and not share a sense of despair that this funny, compassionate human has been reduced to this circumstance. If you want a picture of Australia’s health system, picture that same man on his knees in a hospital car park as the last of the warmth seeps out of the bitumen, too sick and exhausted to get up one more time.


There are plenty of Stephens out there. Or were. I have no doubt that other disabled people have taken their lives because of the failures of our health system in the COVID-19 pandemic. And then there are the 20,000 dead of COVID, the thousands with long COVID and the thousands more who have died and are listed as ‘excess mortality’.


That’s how Stephen’s suicide would be counted. 


I have pasted Stephen’s last thread tonight, unedited, below. If you can do something to help, please do so. 


And do it now.


Australians deserve better than this.


Via @erfbeeass on Twitter; 


‘I left my house at 8:30am ...I visited 4 pharmacists and rang 2 more trying to get Ozempic. I rang 3 local Drs...I called NSW Health Minister and was told it's not their problem. I rang the TGA... someone was going to call me back. No-one did.


I rang Mark Butler's office and BEGGED for help...someone was going to call me back. No-one did. 


I rang my Sydney GP ...he's on holidays till August. According to Rouse Hill Family Medical Practice clinic manager, Fran it is not only illegal now to provide telehealth appoints but no other Dr at their 12 doctor clinic was allowed to prescribe me Ozempic or Endone BY LAW.


I came to Dubbo ED at 2pm...I told triage nurse I probably had Covid...I felt like shit...I needed Ozempic and Endone...after 90 minutes I was seen by a Dr Harris...he straight up told me "he didn't appreciate my attitude" ...I sat in my car and wept in pain and frustration...then rang the Hospital... eventually ended up speaking to CNM Margo Mackenzie who convinced me to come back in and have the ulcer on my foot looked at...that was 4:41pm.


I've sat in the hospital foyer since then. No doctor. No offer of food...I'm diabetic...


I am too exhausted to sit up. I very politely thanked the ED nurses for trying and left... I collapsed trying to get into my car and had to stay knelt next to it for 5 minutes.


I'm done.


12 hours begging for help...not for what I'd say was huge help...but a Covid PCR ...nope not offered...a prescription for Ozempic and Endone... nope, go get fucked you junky cunt....

The infected ulcer on my foot? Did a dr have a quick shufti at it? 

Nope.


12 hours of contempt and humiliation. I'm done. I'm not making any further attempt to seek help...not out of spite or pique...but merely because "why?" What's the point of further debasing myself to Dubbo Area Health doctors, nurses and pharmacists...


I've got 3 weeks of BP meds left, no Ozempic, no painkillers...I refuse to beg anymore. 


Nature will take its course eventually....one way or t'other.


Thanks for the love today...I'm still in shock...I'm not a bad person...I didn't rant or rave...I BEGGED...and various health "professionals treated me like shit on their shoe...I honestly don't know why...it's very surreal....but they've killed me for all intents and purposes...it's like I've been marked DNR and not told.


I'm going to Tassie. Fuck everything.


I'm not tweeting for a while...I feel like a fool. I feel utterly worthless and like drs and nurses have been laughing at me all day.


I'm 57 for fucks sake. And considered a waste of time by NSW Health.


Goodnight.’


https://twitter.com/erfbeeass/status/1663489424267808770?s=46&t=6KcQ_RJkminOzMJymQrhJQ


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