Butterfly Effect

The previous post got me thinking about a patient I saw recently who had a stinky abscess. He also had a defining tattoo on his neck. I say defining because the moment he decided that a dragon up the side of his neck would be a great idea, he essentially made many decisions. Like not to become a CEO, nanny, salesman, or really any other position in the public eye that would require trust and respect. Who knows, prior to this he may have been destined to become regional manager for UPS or even Vice President. But this decision sent him down another road.

All the patients we see have somehow been affected by the butterfly effect, where a series of unfortunate events or, more likely, decisions, leads them to the ED at that particular moment in time. If a child's grandparents hadn't smoked crack and ignored his mother, who at 14 was knocked up while out all night drinking, and now relies completely on Uncle Sam for food and housing, yet somehow has painted nails and a cell phone nicer than mine, maybe she would have filled the prescription for antibiotics prescribed at the previous ED visit, which was the 10th of the year since mom is usually too high to remember her child's clinic appointment. You see what I am talking about.

So back to compassion, which was the subject of a previous post. If a patient in the ED decided on their own not to study or pay attention in school and decided to be a slacker/thug/etc,. then I believe they can also find a way to pay for their medications and ED visits. I grew up in a relatively poor family of 7 kids, went to public school, and had to pay my entire way through college and med school. Never did I expect or feel that I deserved a handout. But had I not swatted that neck tattoo butterfly away and given into the temptation of dragon neck, I might be cutting the grass of the person who did study and took my place in Med School, thanks to that butterfly.

The FIXX said it best... One Thing Leads to Another