The Politics of Art & Authenticity

The Waiting Room is a film about everything that is wrong with our healthcare system. It follows a couple of doctors in a lapse of twenty-four hours, as well as some patients and how they struggle with receiving healthcare. I think that in the 21^st century and being in a first world country, the healthcare system should be more advanced and of better quality.

In the film we see how doctors are stuck between deciding to send a patient out into the cold or opening up the bed to someone who has a live bullet moving inside his body. The decisions that these doctors have to make can sometimes cost lives. But it comes down to making the decisions that will affect the most people in the most positive way.

I find it kind of ironic, being Mexican and all, coming from a country that is considered third world by many, that healthcare in Mexico, is cheaper, more widely available, and sometimes better.

Programs like the infamous Seguro Popular, which is available if you have no insurance, cover major surgeries and such. I mean it’s free and sometimes it will take some time, but it beats going into debt because of health problems.

One of the things that is so reassuring is that sometimes, cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean less quality.

I think that the demands that it takes to receive a medical degree here in the U.S. are too many. I mean if we look at doctors from Cuba who have only received six years of schooling, they aren’t better or worse doctors. The plating field is equal.

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The Waiting Room documents 24 hours of a public hospital in Oakland, California. It shifts from case to case filming the story of the patient and the staff working in the hospital. Rather than trying to directly pinpoint what to criticize, the film tries to convey the real atmosphere of the public hospitals.

http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/West-Coast-Premiere-Of-The-Waiting-Room-Tonight-In-Santa-Monica/35616

First, having mostly exposed to the hospital images portrayed in shows like “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy,”  I have to admit I’ve had a major culture shock when I saw this film. First of all, I was appalled by the ineffective system. It’s not like I was not aware of this but seeing the actual procedure of who gets in first and who waits all my moral standards were about to collapse. How the man with a bullet moving inside his body had to wait so many hours while a constant junkie was in the surgery room, taking time and resources from other people who did not deliberately had their health. How this man who needed imminent surgery being tossed around from staff to staff explaining every single detail to receive the surgery, how people were categorized into numbers and processed as if they were malfunctioning machineries waiting to get fixed everything seemed to not make any sense.

At the same time, I was astonished by some staff like the lovely women who threw jokes and ensuring comments at the patients, the doctor who, in such urgent and stressful situation, tried his best to stick to do whats best for the patient, and the social worker who tried to take care of the aftermath of the patients. Honestly, who would want to work in such a place where dire situation continues day after day and gives no time to even have a decent meal? I grew more respect for the people working in the public hospitals as I watched more of the film.

The film, in general, was almost painful to watch. But at the same time, I was touched by the drama and slight bit of humanity left in the workers and patients. Throughout the screening I thought about was how I was lucky to be born in a society where I don’t have to wait nor pay much to see my doctor. (check, Korean Health Care System) I was just so thankful to not have been in that situation but on one hand I also was afraid that this might be my situation one day and became interested in searching more about this field.

This is a link to a similar but more satirical film released in 2007.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/sicko/26778/main

Waiting was never something I tolerated well. I’ve gotten better as I’ve grown up but as a child I was always very impatient, wanting time to pass so I could go to the party or get the Christmas gifts I had been waiting for since August. After watching The Waiting Room my impatience disgusts me especially because of the trivial things I am forced to wait for. Whether it be the train or for my class to be over so I can finally go home, nothing will ever compare to waiting for hours on end for a doctor to finally diagnose and illness that could be very serious. One thing that continued to perplex me throughout The Waiting Room was the fact that it seemed that each illness they displayed was progressively worse with no improvement in sight. For example, the bone spurs in the one man’s back seemed like a serious ailment until he was overshadowed by the cancer patient with a large tumor and the patient with the gunshot wound and the moving bullet in his leg. One thing that I definitely took away from this film was that one shouldn’t over look his or her health. I’ve always been reminded that I “have my health” when things didn’t seem to go my way and now I finally understand. These people waiting for hours had next to nothing on top of the fact that they also lacked their health. Most were unemployed and lacking health insurance which was why they were in the waiting room to begin with and on top of that they were afflicted with terrible illnesses! Although sick and in a vulnerable state these people in the waiting room remained very strong. The man I spoke of earlier, the cancer patient, had a large testicular tumor and although slightly uneasy, he is nowhere near as nervous as I would’ve been especially if I was in his financial situation as well. The patient with the gunshot wound also remained strong with the help of his family as they fought with the receptionist in the the hopes of expediting the process. All in all I believe that The Waiting Room has a very strong message that says to value what you have and avoid dwelling on the little everyday problems because when bigger problems come along you won’t be prepared to wait for them to get better. 

Anytime that the topic of any discussion turns to anything even remotely medical, I start to squirm. Usually this is because I tend to freak out when it comes to blood and needles, but I’m growing painfully aware that nothing good is coming out of our current healthcare system. After going to view “The Waiting Room,” my own experience of being stuck in a waiting room for a little over an hour pales in comparison to some of the stories this documentary revealed. I was shocked at just how crowded the room was, disturbed when I realized that all these people were without insurance, and appalled that we can call ourself a “first-world country” when our medical system is this bad. Beyond all that, however, the film gave me hope that this system can be saved, all thanks to an unbelievably optimistic and friendly nurse, and a doctor with superhuman stamina who’s seen working nonstop.

When you have people waiting in a line for hours on end, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get a few irritated “customers” when their number’s called, and when you’ve probably dealt with a bunch of them – in various states of medical distress no less – you usually get irked parties on both ends. Not with the triage nurse shown tirelessly assisting patients as they wait to be called to see a doctor. She genuinely cares for each and every patient’s well being, and she remains cheerful and sociable from start to finish, which is a welcoming sight when you’re witnessing a documentary that’s exposing the terrible flaws of the hospital system. She cares, and the fact that she goes that extra mile to bring even a small smile to her patients’ faces is a sign that if people like her can exist in this corrupted system, then it can get so much better, and be so much better for everyone involved.

The other “character” that stood out to me was one of the emergency room doctors, Dr. Scruffy, if you will.

It speaks for itself.

All throughout the film you see him running from patient to patient, going in to perform surgery and then heading back to make sure a stroke patient is able to find a way to pay for his medication. Then you see him holding a well-worn conversation with a repeat patient at the hospital, and the moment when he makes the decision to keep the man overnight because he has nowhere else to go is unbelievable. He’s an E.R., doctor, and he admits that his job is just to go and treat patients. Once that’s done, he moves on to the next. It’s not his job to worry about the safety of patients after they leave the hospital, but he does anyway – because nobody, and no other system will.

You cannot deny we have a broken, underpaid healthcare system, this film reveals too much to argue otherwise. But, maybe, if the world sees that there’s people like this nurse, and this doctor, overexerting themselves to the point of probably exhaustion for the sake of humankind, then maybe we can realize we need to make some changes.

Photo Credit

I find it fitting that the name of the hospital featured in this documentary is called The Highland. It’s the high land. It’s a land where people trek up to and eventually, for the most part, become treated or healed. I have high respect for all of the staff members who work there. Especially since my own mother is an I.C.U. nurse, I know how tough work life can get. Not all patients are a cup of tea, you know. Like how the doctor is forced to stay professional and calm when an outraged man curses and demands some medical apparatus to be taken off of him, my mother stays calm and professional. I understand the amount of patience one must have in order to take an attitude like that from someone. The amount of positivity and care that it takes to handle patients like that is also outrageously high. To me, the main nurse of the documentary, the lively one who talks to everyone as if they’re family, symbolizes the softer side of the hospital,  the humane rather than the business side. I fondly call her the soul of the waiting room.

http://www.ashlandfilm.org/FilmDetails.asp?View=Film&FilmID=701

Other than my initial reactions, I found it incredibly frustrating how some people take advantage of the public health care system. Because of people who keep returning because of reasons that are their own faults, many people in need can’t get a bed. Therefore, they cannot be treated as soon as they should be treated. Although it is ideal to care for everyone, something in the system needs to change. People who deserve to be helped should be prioritized.

With no where to go and no option available, millions of people without insurance are forced to go to the emergency room to receive every day healthcare. This troubling idea is explored in the documentary The Waiting Room, which is just a look into one day in an emergency room in California. I’ve always known that people seek out the emergency room since a hospital isn’t allowed to deny admission to anyone on any grounds. The various cases, from a man with a bullet moving in his body, to a guy just going for a refill on diabetes medication, all had the same thing in common, none of these patients had insurance to pay for a regular doctor. They would still have to pay for the hospital’s services, but at least they got the care they needed. This is by no means a solution to a growing problem. People all across America are unemployed and have no access to health insurance and are forced to go to the emergency room when they can endure no more. In some cases these people wait for hours on end till they receive care since the hospital has to choose on basis of severity. Sometimes, no matter how severe the case, a patient can’t be seen by a doctor because all available beds are being used. There seems to be no right answer to this puzzling problem in America. In all other first world nations, universal healthcare is a given because the public is willing to give up more in terms of taxes, but that simply isn’t an option here in the good ol’ US of A. Obamacare, while a good idea, doesn’t seem to have the solution necessary to help the ailing healthcare system. Universal healthcare has to be just that, universal, on all levels. Americans need to take more responsibility in order to help themselves and society itself.

Credit: http://conservatard.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/emergency-room.jpg

I love watching documentaries.  It’s one of my guilty pleasures.  So when Professor Davis told us that we would be going to the IFC theatre to see The Waiting Room, directed by Peter Nicks, I was pretty excited.  The film shows one day in the emergency room of Highlands Hospital, in Oakland, California.  Throughout the entire day the waiting room is completely full.

It gives the audience an insight on how the other half of society must seek medical help, without any insurance.  Numerous patients’s stories are told throughout the film, and it makes people see that everyone has a story and struggle.  The documentary definitely served its purpose on exploring Obamacare and the general health care policy in America.  I know for myself, and hopefully for a lot of other viewers, my opinions of health care policy have definitely changed after viewing this film.

We see a man in his 20s, planning on getting married to his girlfriend, and has just found out he has a testicular tumor.  Neither him nor his girlfriend have insurance and the tumor must be removed immediately.  When I saw how long it took before the hospital staff was able to take care of this man my heart dropped.

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I also felt sorry for the man who was sitting for hours in the waiting room with a bullet lodged in his hip.  And for the staff, this is just a normal day.

There aren’t enough public hospitals across the nation to help all the people in need of medical attention, and it makes me see why health care initiatives, like Obamacare, have been formed.  There are so many people struggling each day to get by, and they’re trying to find jobs to get out of unemployment but it’s difficult.  America shouldn’t deny people basic health care because they can’t afford it.  One father was so worried about his sick daughter, and the audience could see is pain in knowing that he can’t provide the things he wants for his children because he’s out of work.

I know there’s also the other side to the story.  Some people take advantage of government policies and don’t try to make their situation any better.  There was the one patient who was a drug addict and had over a dozen visits to the hospital in that year alone, all due to alcohol poisoning or an overdose of drugs.  It’s people like these that make tax paying citizens annoyed that they are giving money to people who are abusing the system.  It brings up the question if the good outweighs the bad in the health care situation?

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My answer is yes.  I might be a little optimistic and look at the good in life, but why should the people who work hard and try with everything they have be punished?  Even if only one person’s life is changed for the better due to Obamacare, it’s one more person than being no one at all.  I feel like a lot of the people against Obamacare just look at the numbers and think it’s too much money for too many people, but they have to see that each person has their own story and issue.  They have to look at the situation on the personal level and realize that it’s worth the extra taxes to help hundreds of thousands of Americans every single day.

I think what I like most about documentaries is that it makes people think and look into the life of someone else.  And The Waiting Room definitely accomplishes this task.  Documentaries should  leave an impact on the viewers and make them want to do something about the situation they just saw.  It might sound a little crazy, but I would love to be able to make a documentary one day that will impact people’s lives and motivate them to create great change, just as this film made me want to tell people how much Obamacare helps citizens of America.

http://qim.cf.quoracdn.net/main-i-d21c984f030eb2edd142f80307272da88bd5b037

Peter Nick’s heartbreaking documentary about a public hospital in Oakland, California depicts the struggles of overcrowded hospitals face when treating  less fortunate patients. Nick uses the strategy of following a couple patients throughout their wait, interviewing employees, and showing the action in the waiting room.

It was tragic to watch the young, fifteen-year-old  boy die on the operating bed. Nick shows the audience the freezer that the body is stored in and the medical worker’s reaction to this tragic event. I believe showing these things makes the documentary more realistic to the viewer and allows the viewer to feel more sympathy for the young boy.

Another young girl had strep throat and she could barely talk. The audience got to visualize the poor girls suffering and you could practically feel her pain.

Another patient had to have kidney dialysis on a weekly basis and was in so much pain from it he could careless if he got his treatment or if he lived. This patient screamed at the doctor and was very rude with the the doctor, but the doctor managed to keep calm. Nicks shows this scene to capture some of the experience that these medical workers go through on a daily basis.

It also depicts the moral struggles health care workers have to face. For example, when the habitual drug addict is brought into the hospital on a casual basis, the staff know him by a first name basis. The staff learn that this man has no where to go and are afraid that he will die if sent out into the cold. The doctors decide to give up a bed that could be used to treat a patient in order to protect a homeless patient.

The documentary shows that vital change is needed for the medical sector in order to make it easier to receive treatment, make treatment more affordable, and make service more equitable to everyone. It would probably be a good idea to open up more hospitals like these to ensure people get the proper medical he or she needs.

Source: http://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-waiting-room/

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The documentary, The Waiting, directed and written by Peter Nicks, was one of those films that I must recommend people to see. I actually hate doctors and the hospital. I don’t like the atmosphere nor do I like the idea of needles. This documentary actually shows what it’s like to be in the waiting room. The amount of people that come in and out, the kind of sickness that walks through the doors, the wait, the type of people. This documentary just shows everything that no one really sees. In my opinion, I just thought the waiting just had family members or friends waiting for the person in the hospital to get out. However, in reality, the majority people in the waiting room are actually waiting to be checked and to get treated for their pain. People are sitting there and waiting for hour and hours.  The one thing that stood out to me was the one guy who came in multiple times for marijuana and alcohol abuse. He was checked and nothing serious was wrong, just did too much marijuana and alcohol, but when the social worker called his pastor to make sure he had a safe place to go to and the pastor said no. I was just shocked. I thought a pastor would take anyone in, in hopes to change that person, but the pastor said he will not take him. When the doctor heard that, he basically let the man stay in the hospital because he had no place to go. It’s sweet that he let him stay, but it does restrict another person being helped from the waiting room. Other than that, this documentary really opened my eyes to what really goes on in the hospital waiting room. An amazing documentary in my opinion.

Peter Nick’s The Waiting Room is a documentary about the ER waiting room in Oakland, California.  I am at a loss of words for what I witnessed in this film.  What I learned from this film is that when people without health insurance come to the hospital they are put in triage and despite how they may be feeling may be left waiting for hours on end until they are finally brought to a room.  What makes matters worse is that when a real emergency case appears, all doctors in the ER rush to try and save the person which further delays other patients.

This documentary made me feel bad for the people who were uninsured.  If they had been insured, that one family probably would have had a pediatrician for their daughter and her case of strep throat wouldn’t have arrived at such a dangerous stage.  The older gentleman could have afforded to go to a dialysis center instead of having to go to a hospital’s ER, exhausting himself waiting for hours, and then further draining his energy due to the treatment.  Half or maybe more than half of the people in that waiting room would not have been there.

The part that had the greatest impact on me was the scene where the bleeding unconscious young man was brought into the ER.  All the doctors rushed in trying to save him.  They continually pressed on his chest trying to get him to breathe, speaking quickly to communicate what to do next.  The doctors tried everything they could.  The 15-year-old boy passed and his body was brought to the freezer.  Just watching this horrific scene made me go pale.

The way they portrayed this scene in the documentary somewhat reminded me of the TV series MASH.  It reminded me of a certain quote at the end of a certain episode named “Yankee Doodle Doctor”.  Alan Alda as Hawkeye states, “Three hours ago this man was in a battle.  Two hours ago we operated on him.  He’s got a 50/50 chance.  We win some we lose some.  That’s what it’s all about.  No promises.  No guaranteed survival.  No saints in surgical garb.  Our willingness, our experience, our technique are not enough.  Guns and bombs and anti personnel mines have more power to take life than we have to preserve it.”

Despite all of this doom and gloom feel in the ER there was one ray of sunshine, the nurse.  This nurse greeted everyone politely with an optimistic smile as she took the temperature of every person who had come to see a doctor.  She made small talk, which put some at ease, and even made others, despite their sickly states, laugh.  I believe her presence was just as important as the doctors.

This film makes me think that Obama’s Health Care plan is necessary.  If it could have helped these people, and people across the nation in similar situations, then it should be enacted.

Sources
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/141976/posts/276753/image-141705-full.jpg?1343526373