I wrote a short story with this title once, except it was Council not Counsel, and about the assassination of the PM in parliament. That was pre-2001, when although far-fetched, it may have been possible for the particularly deviant, especially given what happened in the Quebec leg in ’84. And then again some guy just set fire to himself on the ground of Queen’s Park. Science fiction even pales in comparison.
But I digress. I did write counsel, and not council, because I meant “the act of talking things over; consultation or deliberation”. Yesterday, for a reason unrelated to this rant I spent a lot of time in a hospital waiting room. While I waited, I couldn’t help but overhear private conversations between administrators at a “patient reception” area. Some were quite loud due to the hearing difficulties of some patients as they spoke to the administrators before waiting their turn for a procedure, one likely ordered by their family doctor for which they’d waited a long time to get over with.
How many times did I hear “Have you been a patient in another hospital in the past 30 days?”, “Do you have any allergies?”….and the answers too. Once again, you can try not to listen, but often you really can’t help but overhear. And what about those nefarious individuals who are trying to overhear. It makes me uncomfortable. And it should.
And anti-fraud experts wonder why people are so free with their personal information. It’s because we’re expected to be in exchange for most government services. And my sense is this is likely as a protection against liability. So the individuals liability against identity theft is sacrificed for the hospital’s protection. Okay, and yours too in a roundabout sort of way.
And I’m even sacrificing some of my protection against identity theft in writing this. I’m giving up my privacy to be part of a community, I guess?
I think what I mean is that the scales are balanced a little too much in favour of the hospital at the expense of the already vulnerable patients.
I think this post is a classic example of my abandonment of the obsession with cohesion, n’est pas? I have no idea what my point is. Whatever.
But I digress. I did write counsel, and not council, because I meant “the act of talking things over; consultation or deliberation”. Yesterday, for a reason unrelated to this rant I spent a lot of time in a hospital waiting room. While I waited, I couldn’t help but overhear private conversations between administrators at a “patient reception” area. Some were quite loud due to the hearing difficulties of some patients as they spoke to the administrators before waiting their turn for a procedure, one likely ordered by their family doctor for which they’d waited a long time to get over with.
How many times did I hear “Have you been a patient in another hospital in the past 30 days?”, “Do you have any allergies?”….and the answers too. Once again, you can try not to listen, but often you really can’t help but overhear. And what about those nefarious individuals who are trying to overhear. It makes me uncomfortable. And it should.
And anti-fraud experts wonder why people are so free with their personal information. It’s because we’re expected to be in exchange for most government services. And my sense is this is likely as a protection against liability. So the individuals liability against identity theft is sacrificed for the hospital’s protection. Okay, and yours too in a roundabout sort of way.
And I’m even sacrificing some of my protection against identity theft in writing this. I’m giving up my privacy to be part of a community, I guess?
I think what I mean is that the scales are balanced a little too much in favour of the hospital at the expense of the already vulnerable patients.
I think this post is a classic example of my abandonment of the obsession with cohesion, n’est pas? I have no idea what my point is. Whatever.
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