My name is Elizabeth. I am a young mother of two beautiful daughters, married to the most wonderful man in the world. I created this site to help others avoid something like the harrowing nightmare I endured while a patient at Overlake Hospital.
For reasons that still seem totally inexplicable, the life threatening autoimmune illness that nearly took my life in 1997 (struggling with still today) was grossly misdiagnosed at Overlake Hospital as a "mental condition" -- without much of a diagnostic work-up (Overlake Hospital also SUED ME for my refusal to pay THEM $600 of ER co-pays on these misdiagnostic/tortuous visits. I was barely alive during the case against me ... unbelievable.) My illness is called polyarteritis nodosa, which is really just an inflammation of the arteries, but, it kills without very aggressive treatment. I also have an additonal problem with life threatening allergies to chemicals and solvents/plastics and many foods/food additives. I form IgE antibodies to the IgE receptor (allergic to myself -- which is an autoimmune phenomenon.) My illness(es) is part of the differential diagnosis for my presenting symptoms (severe hives, asphyxiating swelling and asthmatic symptoms), which can be varified in any laypersons medical text (Allergy for Dummies, Complete Idiot's Guide to Allergies), or in any medical student textbook. 66% of people with my condition will die without treatment in 1 year.
Overlake forced me to suffer all alone without ANY care at all because they were just too egomaniacal to admit they didn't know what to do with me, or they just didn't care. I begged for medical help through 9 long months of terror before I got properly treated. The Overlake ER doctors chose to blindly accept one or two bad opinions (by James Stroh and Scott BonVallet), so subsequent doctors I saw in the ER, chose not check each other's, nor Stroh's and BonVallet's false diagnoses, causing me needless suffering and physical and psychological damage for the rest of my life (which will probably be shortened due to their apathy and inaction.)
A frightening example of how Professional Courtesy can go awry. The pictures I took of my body during attacks of my illness show spectacular swelling that almost choked me to death several times. To date, I have had approximately 50 seperate 911 calls for my illness, and 3 respiratory arrests (death). At one point, I resorted to the desperate act of injecting my own tongue with epinephrine (Epi-Pen, emergency allergy shots) to save my life and avoid asphyxiation -- and to spare myself the humiliation and torture of another tour in the "nut house". If I called 911 for help, I would have been taken to Overlake again, and put in restraints in the psychiatric ward, as that happened before due to minds being made up about what I had early on.
I am only alive today because I wouldn't accept as truth what 15 different Overlake doctors told me, that I was crazy! I believed in myself, I felt deep in my bones that I was right, and I learned everything I could via Internet medical sites, went to medical libraries as well as bought a 3000 page medical book used in every medical school in the country to help solve my own problem; I saved my own life. I took the information I was able to find and presented it along with all my research, labs and photos, to the best specialists in the nation -- and settled for care at the University of Washington Medical Center because it was the best option closest to my home offering the kind of help I needed.
Overlake should not even have tried to do "guess work" on a case like mine. They failed to refer me to a place that had more skill. Harborview, Swedish and UW are the places to go for complicated cases in the Seattle area, NOT Overlake Hospital! There is actually an ongoing private battle between Overlake Hospital and Harborview about that very issue. Overlake just can't handle the tough cases, but they try at the expense of patient care -- big cases are worth big dollars, and that is the name of the game for a private hospital like Overlake. Harborview is a public hospital and its business is saving lives.
My message to patients is to believe in yourself. You are the only expert in the entire world on yourself and your own body. Listen to it. Hit the pavement or have someone do it for you if you need help. Doctors are no more wise than anyone else; their listening skills are almost non-existent at times. In fact, they seem to be jaded toward the suffering of others because they are so used to it. WE patients must be proactive in reminding our doctors that we need respect, compassion, HONESTY and care. WE have feelings and we are more than "a case" -- more than "the one in curtain 2." A heart must not be allowed to die. We must have compassion for others. Every person deserves comfort in their darkest hours. Believe in yourself and stand up for what you feel is what you need. If you can't get in the door, open a window, make your own rain -- and never give up! I plan to dedicate much of my life to changing this pathetic medical system we have now, it has reached such a crisis state. Recent statistics report more than 100,000 deaths a year from medical mishaps in this country alone (that's what we KNOW of!) The bough has broken, let us all rebuild it together by demanding the standard of care rise for us all, everywhere. I will fight for you all, any way I can; including lobbying Congress. Stand with me. The more we act together, as one cause, the greater change we can make, together. Thank you for coming to my site.
Elizabeth
Webmaster, patient advocate, survivor.
"It's hard to believe that a man is telling the truth, when you know that you would lie if you were in his place." H.L. Mencken
"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in posession of the truth." John Locke 1632-1704
*** If you would like to learn more about my past activism on other issues, and about my other legal battles, links wil be available soon on the CITIZEN JANE.ORG site. My husband and I are two of the 8 named plaintiff's in the Microsoft "permatemps" lawsuit. We recently settled this class action for $97 million dollars. It is one of the largest and most significant labor law cases in U.S. history. Millions of people who have been misclassified by their greedy employers can now take a seat at the table and get more than table scraps. So many full time workers worked in jobs for years as "temporary" workers for the sake of a tax benefit for employers. "Permatemps" have been denied basic benefits, such as healthcare and vacation pay for the sake of corporate greed. I am proud of that battle and my fight to provide justice for all. I have also worked as a victim's rights activist for 15 years. I helped to enact a law to protect predators from keeping tabs on their victims, the first of its kind (anti-stalking), now emulated in all 50 states. Women have a 50% chance of being touched by violent crime in their life. Many women victims across the nation will sleep soundly tonight. Prior to this law, other victims of crimes, myself included (robbery, assault), were not protected without this kind of law in place. I know the power of one.
"He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity." Ben Jonson c. 1573-1637
Chris Cross apple sauce, play with me, I tell your boss...
