This is an Immokalee fixer-upper. The blue tarp covers hurricane damage. The last hurricane in the area was what, 2005? Even the Mexicans have passed up this joint. As you will find if you read on, this isn’t the only thing broken beyond repair in Florida. In this instance, the inspector can refuse the rebuilding of anything with over a certain percentage of storm damage. Yes, there have been severe and heartless abuses of that authority to get rid of unpopular entities.
So y’day I’m using the Internet when the lady from the Friendly Inn enters. They found a flash drive and assumed it was mine. Nope. It was agreed I take it to the shop and see if I can find anything about the owner. Nope again. But we all like a good mystery, and there are lots of photos of horse racing. That means Gulfstream. Somebody there should be able to tell brown horses apart (not me) and there are several distant shots showing the owner to be a blonde very German babe with lots of blonde friends. If I know Florida, somebody will recognize that instantly. Keep returning for future details.More news from Wallace. Considering the options, he has hinted he may drive down. I’m all for that, it is a fantastic drive across country. The last time I did it in 2003, the cost was less than airfare. I would do it again any time. He mentioned our gas prices as being a bargain, I’ve emailed him to elaborate on that.
Who likes good news? I have just been informed by Memorial Health that their official position is that I booked an appointment with them a week ago, drove over there, parked, and waited in line so I could refuse medical treatment for a painful medical condition. They emphatically repeated this was my “decision” that had nothing to do with them. You see, where I wanted a heart checkup, they wanted an inventory of my other organs to place in the catalog of a “marketing firm”. All I had to do to get treatment was sign a contract saying they could do anything they please with my IIHI without asking for permission. If you are not sure what IIHI is, look it up.
The exact phraseology is: “We reserve the right to change our privacy practices as described in our Notice of Privacy Practices. If we change our privacy practices, we will issue a revised Notice of Privacy Practices which will contain the changes. Those changes may apply to any of our protected health information that we maintain.” So up yours, buddy. They are equally good with circular double-speak. They "issue" the notice AFTER they make the changes. Are you SURE these people aren't Canadian?
Medical blackmail. Again, I cannot get treatment unless I sign their “ghoul clause”. There are no other options, all the cardiologists in town are on their system. Please note that none of the grounds for their refusal have anything to do with any known therapeutic procedure. It is all insurance and internal politics. They even have a lawyer in the building. When asked, the staff confirmed that they always made exceptions for religious beliefs concerning blood transfusions and diet. Except my religion does not qualify.
You know, I once thought of becoming a doctor. Career advice was totally suppressed when I was growing up. In a small town, you could not exactly go around asking other people because word of this would get around, plus there was nobody you could trust to tell the truth [they would play it safe and tell you what they thought your parents wanted them to tell you].
Thus, I did not know that doctors went to university to study. I actually thought they began working at a hospital, and once they knew how the place was run, they were elected to become doctors. Laugh if you want, but in many ways this makes just as much sense as the way it is sometimes done. Until I was twenty, I thought only doctors who didn’t know how to run a hospital had to go to school until they learned how. Hooray for small-town parenting! I think I just met doctors who don’t know how to run a hospital.
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