I hope that the following is considered relevant to Tasmania’s current politics and legislation.
To us, the story for my partner epitomizes the injustice of Tasmanian political priorities.
That the laws are being re-jigged to entrench those priorities sets in concrete the injustice exemplified by my partner’s plight.
With top priority being support for a gigantic pulp mill, it looks as if spending will continue to be directed far away from medicine for some time to come.
It is not until you become a direct victim of mis-governance that you realize the depths of it.
On December 3 my partner was diagnosed with having Massive Localized Lymphoedema (MLL). She has a swelling of lymph fluid contained by solid tissue hanging from her abdomen.
Since then, we have been begging, pleading with the Launceston General Hospital and surgeons to prioritize her case.
Since December 3, the MLL has doubled in size and weight.
It now weighs close to 30 kilograms. It hangs to my partner’s ankles like a baseball. The larger it grows, the larger the surgical incisions that will be necessary. The MLL has been diagnosed as not malignant.
On two and a half litres of oxygen per hour, my partner can just struggle breathlessly to stand up and sit down, and to walk from the bed to the recliner or bathroom. That is because of the weight and the pressure on her breathing caused by the swelling.
A few days ago, ulcers began to form in the stretched skin surrounding the swelling.
On December 23 we presented at Accident and Emergency. We had been told that this was the only way to obtain urgent surgery. Triage staff told us upon arrival that Emergency’s brief is now to stabilize life-threatening conditions only. Patients must go back to their GP’s for further referrals.
Well, we went back to my partner’s GP between Christmas and New Year. I passed on graphic photographs of the swelling, revealing the size of it. These were forwarded to a surgeon. When we followed up, these photos had not reached the surgeon at the LGH. I re-forwarded them to the surgeon’s private rooms today, January 29.
The LGH Specialists’ Clinic told us yesterday that my partner had been triaged at level 2, with several months’ waiting, not for surgery – but merely for an appointment with the surgeon!
Our GP has requested an urgent appointment with the surgeon in his private rooms. As yet, we understand that he cannot see my partner in his rooms until June/July!
We are praying that the photos which the surgeon should receive following a delay of a fortnight will obtain an earlier appointment.
That’s an appointment. Not a date for surgery.
A retired GP has told us that you must jump up and down, lie on the floor, rant and refuse to leave the building before you can receive early attention other than for a strict emergency.
So, how do polite or ill people do this? How do we know how to pull strings?
What has happened to a health system for all?
Now we know where Tasmanian Government spending is NOT going!!!
Now we know where it will not be going for the foreseeable future, as hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies have already gone to forestry and pulp mill infrastructure, and many, many millions more will be needed to chase the one fixated goal of the major political parties.
Leaving aside neighbouring businesses and real estate values, foul air, toxic water and other obvious impacts of the fabled pulp mill, spending on forestry and the mill is already threatening lives.
Just ask someone trying to get an operation.
*Bill is not the writer’s real name. Bill is known to the editor
