While I’m attending ERE, enjoy this guest post from Jason Seiden.
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I gots me an issue.
The issue started last week when I took my daughter to the ER for what turned out to be an emergency appendectomy.
I was never really worried about the procedure—appendectomies and doctors are like ground balls and baseball players—but at one point, I did become concerned about the process.
That was right around the time when the ER nurse offered to give my daughter morphine to alleviate pain that was being caused by a preliminary procedure they were making her go through… as a CYA.
For those of you not keeping score, here’s that tally again:
Unnecessary procedure. Pain-causing. To the point of offering morphine. To a seven year old.
Now, I get it if the morphine is for the appendicitis. But it wasn’t. It was for something else.
Something unnecessary.
Which is why I responded by requesting a transfer to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where the story ends happily.
Surprise: this isn’t a healthcare rant.
I know. It has the makings of a great one. But it’s not. My issue is not medicine.
It’s FEAR.
This story is a call to take up arms against those small, daily FEARS that turn smart people—like ER doctors—into unthinking, rule-following sheep.
You know exactly what I’m talking about, too, don’t you.
That ER doctor? She was a product of FEAR. She had been conditioned to fear insurance company paper pushers rather than care for patients, and as a result, her only question to me was why I wouldn’t want to race to put my child on narcotics. The idea of challenging a protocol that she knew and admitted was overkill simply never crossed her mind.
Look, folks: We can’t run a successful society when FEAR-based (non-)thinking is the norm.
But there’s good news: You are hereby recruited into the ongoing battle against FEAR.
The fight is already underway, the army huge, and you can’t say no. Heck, we even have shirts that proclaim our fearlessness: “Fail Spectacularly!” they scream.
Literally.
So choose your weapon: do you enjoy torching the status quo? Illuminating shining examples? Sticking everything in a blender? Whatever you choose, I promise, you’ll make a difference
The only question is, where do you find FEAR, and what have you done to help those trapped by it?
Answering that is the totality of your basic training.
Fall in, baby.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think you need to look very far to find fear, and that’s why it’s so easy to be swayed by it if the only steps you take in life are in reaction to the fear in your environment. I’m so glad your daughter is doing better!
Brilliant. I have had a similar rant going on in my head for a long time now. I have never had a mentor. I haven’t even had a boss that I respect very much. My career has been full of what-not-to-do leadership examples. Yet, still I want to find a way to do things better. I have been met with mostly bureaucratic excuses for why something won’t work, or it’s not my job, or other variety of rejection to an idea.
Other than taking a huge leap of entrepreneurial faith, how does one ditch the box thinking around her and find a way to like and improve upon her work?
Which insurance paper pushers? Her or the hospital’s mal-practice insurance?
Medical insurance does not push for CYA procedures. Any CYA is being driven by the hospital or her own coverage as protection from lawsuits.
The remainder of my comment was missing:
Process for dealing with legal and risk compliance cause enormous ineffiecences in work world. Look at all of the legal HR paperwork.
@HR Minion—You don’t need to look for fear at all. It’s the default. I hope Laurie’ll forgive the biblical metaphor here, but: light had to be created; darkness was already there. I don’t think it’s a mistake that darkness and fear are synonyms…
@Amanda—First of all, mentors: Most people think mentors are people who just go to bat for them organizationally, or who hand over a book of business when they retire. Not so. True mentors, rare as they are, somehow find you when you’re ready and in need… so don’t sweat it. Secondly, you can apply entrepreneurial thinking within an organization, but it takes an entirely different perspective on goal setting: less “SMART” goals, more “Magic Moments.” I have a post about this very thing going up on Thursday.
@SalesComp—The system is broken. The doctor couldn’t tell me if it was hospital policy, surgeon preference, best practices, or what that was driving the procedure. I have my hunch, but all I wanted was a straight answer.
What a misfire when a professional can’t give a straight answer to why she’s not directly treating the presenting issue. Glad you’re not a sheep – and your daughter will be too when she’s an adult and you tell her the story.
Fear usually gets KOed by knowledge.
Maybe the Doctor was just a crap doctor? If she could not even tell you what “policy” was driving the procedure how was she following it? Maybe more people should stop accepting what doctors/politicians say and practice personal responsibility, as you did by asking for a transfer.
Name something Washington has done right? Name some government run agency that has saved money and executed with near the efficiency of private practices? I have been in Government run health care (military), it sucks and you do not get the care you deserve let alone need.
Peace ..
@Marsha—my girl will be awesome all by herself. My primary job relative to her upbringing seems to be to get things down for her from the high shelves.
@JohnC—In my experience, people tend to be smart enough to do the job, just too fearful to use their knowledge when it conflicts with authority. (Stanley Milgrim found the same thing.) Far be it from me to call an ER doc a “bad” doc. I don’t think she was. In fact, I think she saved 2 lives that night. But still, human is as human does.
I think you’re over-reacting to a very basic instinct to protect your daughter— wait till an HMO kills one of your family members purely out of corporate greed and inadequate “health care institutions and professionals”— then we’ll talk about fear and loathing, sir.
@MattyMat—You’re probably right. Maybe I should sit back, allow fear to run amok, rehash the same old complaints rather than call anyone to action, and then react after the problem has grown too big to solve. Then again, maybe not.
@MattyMat—You’re probably right. Maybe I should sit back, allow fear to run amok, rehash the same old complaints rather than call anyone to action, and then react after the problem has grown too big to solve.
Then again, maybe not.
@ Jason— Let’s not resort to hypothetical extremes to state your arguement about fear or otherwise. My fear is there’s nothing we CAN do because we’ve given away every one of our institutions to giant corporate monopolies (in the name of freedom and capitalism) and to thier lobbiests, who in turn, buy congressmen’s votes in the name of thier “constituents”. It would take an act of God for any meaningful change to take place— enter stage left Barack Obama– who, despite the brow-beating he’s endured, is still of one mind and one focus for real change. I’ve supported the hell outta this guy— but corporate raiders and thier b*tches in congress always seem to come out on top every time— makes me sick to my stomach.
@MattyMat—You describe the Iron Triangle first posited by Pulitzer in 1914. It’s a sticky wicket for sure, which is why I tried to keep my piece focused on those aspects of the hospital event that can be controlled at the individual level.
The other key here is that you questioned authority. In the name of your daughter’s comfort and well-being, you sussed out that it was a CYA and was of benefit only to the ER, not to the patient.
We accept much without questioning, especially if it seems authoritative. It could be a doctor, it could be an email forward. It would be swell if there was an equivalent of snopes.com for situations like yours.
@Jason— I understand the individual level, but your daughter was to be given morphine for an “unecessary procedure” written as a “necessary procedure” by the hospital and insurance company, in order to escape any liability, therefore saving profits and huge commissions for company executives. Healthcare has gone the way of fast-food— get’em in, get’em out as quickly as possible— and let’s double the costs because the investors are screaming for more money. And we’re supposed to look for some kind of humanity in all this?? It’s a joke of epic proportions.
@Andy—It’s important to know how to question authority. Sometimes, stepping away for a moment to clear your head is all you need… though a snopes.com like resource would also be nice!
Maybe I don’t get it because I always do what is right nobody will ever intimidate me into doing the wrong thing, let alone putting someones life at risk.
I applaud you and hope that came through in my original post.
@JohnC—thanks… and may you never “get it.” In fact, may there come a day when nobody “gets it” anymore!
It is shameful the number of times companies retain bad people out of fear. Fear of being sued, or having to deal with a difficult write-up or termination, and honestly of being shot by a disgruntled worker. I am with you on the crusade to eliminate fear. Work is too many hours a day to subject hundreds of employees to the crappy few. There are plenty of ways to do it right and boldly. Get creative folks!
Loved this ‘lightening rod for breakfast’; I’m in!
@Marti—You’re in! The army does have one policy, tho, when it comes to creativity: no box metaphors unless abosolutely necessary.
@Kris—You’re in… and just wait ’til you see what we serve up for lunch…
@Marti–Them: “That’s the way we’ve ALWAYS done it” Me: “Blah, blah, blah, and dinosaurs used to roam the Earth. Moral of the story: Shit changes.”
Jason,
What a great post – so glad you wrote it!! I was just finishing a post on our blog titled Fear in the Workplace, when I spotted your piece – in fact, quoted a line from the post in it.
We can’t Drive out Fear (a phrase taken from the ’80′s Quality Guru – Deming) until we get a better understanding of what drives it. One problem is that people are complacent about fear – accepting that it inevitable and even normal.
Sign me up – I can’t think of a better campaign to improve every level of the quality of our personal and institutional experiences. Fear is not inevitable – it saps our energy and deadens creativity and participation.
Am new to punkrockhr and your site and am looking forward to following your posts.
Jason, the weird thing is that I operate 100% out of fear but it prompts me to do some random and brave shit to overcome that fear. Fear motivates me in a strange way. It’s all about channeling it properly, maybe.