"A little note to all these posters. What happens in Washington DC over the next 3 to 4 days will not only affect you, but, your children for some time to come and this should be the debate air on national TV with every channel watching and listening as our financial fate is discussed and debated.

I personally prefer to know if I am going to be saddled with $5,000 additional taxes or $50,000 in additional taxes.

I guess it will be another example of Senator Obama voting present or no vote at all."

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Gee, Gene, I'm sure you would like to know your tax bill. I also like to know where my tax dollars are going. I think you're talking about a national debate (via what? MSM?)versus the first scheduled debate between the two major party candidates. I want that scheduled and agreed-on debate to occur. So do many voters. If a vote is scheduled (meaning: if McCain made any difference in "showing up"), I'm sure Ole' Miss debate would be heaved, but I don't think that will happen. Have you given any thought to people who don't make even close to that possible tax bill for you, of $50,000 a year? Or to people losing their homes? Yeah, that ought to make our economy stronger and keep right in there with the American Way, opportunity for all, except for some.

Have you checked McCain's voting record of present or absent or no vote at all? Not exactly stellar. Pot, kettle, black. And no, that is NOT a racial inference. That old saying could be pot, kettle, blue green yellow orange purple...it's an old saying, and I'm just saying...no leg to stand on with McCain showing up...well, until this week, and regarding a crisis he most certainly helped to create, and has been back-peddling and waffling on for several days straight.

I didn't get to play the doctor card. No credentials for that.

I had to shuffle (willingly) my mother around and around "the system." Oh, believe me, I "spoke up." The best treatment we received was from the non-profit Hospice of the Valley organization (and let me emphasize *non-profit* when it comes to best hospice care) but that was when it was at the end. And in the meanwhile, she could have had (and my husband and I could have had) a much better last year of my mother's life.

I could say much more--e.g., she was a four-time cancer bouter survivor. She was a relatively mild diabetic. We monitored that with diet (but oh, she loved Crispy Cremes that only her grandkids would deliver without my approval.) I checked her blood sugar level regularly. She was on heart medication. She had a stroke. The stroke was discovered during brain surgery. How come the doctor, while she was in the hospital, didn't read the chart about her necessary heart medications? How come I had to tell him about that? Seriously, I HAD TO TELL HIM ABOUT THAT. (He said: "oh, yeah, ok, right, get those meds back...") I was a pro re: her meds by that time. Lots of doc appointments. How was it that she was considered a "fall risk" with a magnetic sign on her hospital room door, but yet fell in the hospital, breaking her hip, trying, quite frankly, to get through her own urine spill on the floor on the way to the bathroom, found by her granddaughter, on the ground, because she had been trying to get the nurse for about 45 minutes? Then she had to go to a "skilled nursing facility." We chose the bestest one possible. Oh, by the way, that was where it was discovered (after painful PT) that she actually had broken her hip. I was there with her every day & brought her favorite soups or whatever would be good. They served her a disgusting hamburger when she was projectile vomiting. When did we get to take her back home? That would be the night we arrived at the "swanky" Scottsdale AZ facility & found her being poisoned by her own drugs. On the night they "wheeled her out" to the dining room & she was basically comatose, I called everybody who had anything to do with the situation. They have a "doctor on staff." I found him.

Aggravated? Aggravated? I was livid.

You could arrive with your doctor creds. I could not. But I am glad your mom was okay.

The best report I can give is that my mom had the happiest ever 83rd birthday party. She died shortly later, but at least did so with her family.

I truly hope you are humbled.

And after reading through this thread, I'd say you all were kinder to the more erudite than usual troll that took up most of the posting and responding space.

It was time for a laugh! And nothing guarantees that more than a Quayle quote!

You offered a lot to this discussion. "Patient Advocacy." YES!

A family (and/or friends) in synch. My mom was in several different settings and I got to "know" various people in charge of or giving her care. The bottom line I got was that patients who had people caring about them, asking questions, checking on them, etc., would undeniably get better care.

To be clear: I am NOT making some mass judgment on health care workers at any level, from MDs to RNs or whatever the acronyms may be. I am simply saying that in the rush of patients in and out, or in or out, having family and friends in the mix can make a world of difference. I suspect, and I would hope, that health care professionals would agree.

Sometimes patient advocacy can be a pain in the a** to the medical team, but sometimes (I'd say most times) it's the only way to best care for the patient. Respect is critical, of course, on both sides (especially since, hey, you're all supposed to be on the same side--i.e., the patient's.