Ladyjustice is not a patient person by nature (with a few exceptions such as the elderly and disabled).  LJ is a “take care of business…Let’s get it done now” kind of person.  So, you can imagine that anything that involves prolonged waiting is a real source of frustration.   However, something occurred  “over the top” recently which many readers can probably relate to…. 

 LJ had the experience of visiting a “high volume” surgeon for an annual check-up after successful surgery. Although this blogger is intimately familiar with clinical procedures, both as a patient over and over and over… in addition to being a healthcare professional “in the trenches” for years,          this visit represented everything that is wrong with healthcare.  Why must we wait and wait and wait for everything? LJ spent nearly 3 hours “on the sick time clock “for what should have been a 5 minute appointment!   If you don’t know the drill… it goes something like this…

You leave at “x” time for the commute… You arrive early or on time.  You see others taken before you who arrived for later appointments.   It seems like most of the retirees (who have oodles of time), are taken before those of us who are working and “on the clock.” You are proactive and tell the receptionist.  Finally, you are taken into still another “inner sanctum” waiting room only to wait longer.  They shut the door and forget about you.  They do not provide magazines in the “inner sanctum” nor do they check on you….   They do not consider that the plastic little pediatric child-like chair without arms is not functional for a disabled or elderly person.  You open the door in an attempt to “be noticed.”  They close the door again “for privacy.” 

When the doctor finally arrives nearly three hours after the commute, Ladyjustice’s anger is boiling over!  She tells the surgeon that it’s inexcusable… It’s inefficient.. It’s poor customer service and speaks volumes that they really don’t care about the patients.  The MD says he’s sorry, that it’s triage and too much paperwork!   Maybe he’s a skilled surgeon, but their office procedures “leave much to be desired.” It’s really a factory …. and an excuse not to care!

We wait in line at the deli….  In the meantime, while waiting at the doctor’s office or at the deli in two to three hours time, anywhere from 180 to 1,440 people have been murdered in the US. (Available data varied from 1 to 8 persons per minute).

We make a business call and wait for the six option phone menu to finish before making the call. In the meantime,  while we wait and wait…. according to the National Organization for Women  2006 stats and the National Crime Victimization Survey, (which includes crimes that were not reported to the police), 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006 or more than 600 women  per day. [LJ –‘ Low estimate for 2011 standards].

We wait at the airport to check in and undergo “body scanning.”  While we wait here or the doctor’s office, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,   2,185 children are being reported missing each day.

While we wait on hold for IT support…. While we wait in line for sports tickets, While we wait in the grocery line, 16,800 reported  homicides  occur and are attributed to intimate partner homicide per year and $2.2 million in medically treated injuries costing $37 billion per year!

While we wait.. and wait…and wait… for seemingly mundane events , crime victim advocates realize that we can’t wait any longer!   We are very good at knowing the “right justice related questions to ask”, but we often do not have the answers. 

To borrow a lyric from the uplifting anthem about Harriet Tubman:

“I dreamed I was in slavery ;

Sorrow was the only sign;

‘Nothing  around to ease my mind…

“Come on up… uh, huh huh

I got a lifeline;

Come on up to this train of mine…

 Come on up, uh huh huh

Come on up to this train of mine…”

 

 Readers, please.. .don’t waste time waiting for things to change.

Join the” train for justice” against intimate partner homicide and all of the other crime atrocities.

Learn about Intimate Partner Homicide, the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit, and Video.

It’s a lifesaver…  Take the time at…

http://www.susanmurphymilano.com

Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit by Susan Murphy Milano from the Book “Time’s Up”from Courage Networkon Vimeo.

Donna R. Gore,

“LADYJUSTICE”