4My Emergency

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Mary Szela is one of the women who have made a name in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. For more than two decades, she has carefully and meticulously crafted her career in one of the biggest medicine and nutritional supplement innovator in the world, Abbott. Abbott Laboratories is at forefront not just in medicines and health care. But have also started innovating medical devices and diagnostic equipment used to monitor the health of a patient experiencing cancer, HIV and many sorts of arthritis. Abbott was the very first company to have developed a full-functional and high volume blood diagnosis device. They also created a line of medicines for treating HIV.

Since 1987, Mary Szela has been handling various leadership positions ranging from sales, marketing distribution and others. Presently, she is the Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Marketing and Services department. Szela is just the perfect person to promote for this position for three reasons: first, she is nursing graduate from the University of Illinois which gives her the knowledge about clinical and medical studies, second, she holds a Master’s Degree in Business Managementat the same university which gives her the skill of managing a business and lastly, she has been with Abbott for more than a decade. This proves not just her loyalty, but her ability to be promoted for several times because of the dedication and performance that she has given for the job.

As the SVP of Abbott Laboratories in the abovementioned department, she is in charge of marketing the existing products of the company as well as the new products that it will be launching. She is hands on with her job and makes sure that their medicines reach the people who need it the most. She takes pride that she is a big part of a huge company who’s in the business of providing medical solutions for an optimal health from infant to the elderly.

Apart from being a full-time executive, Mary Szela is also a mother who is very strict when it comes to her children’s health. Despite being at the office daily, she makes sure that she can monitor their health. For Szela, being an executive is not an excuse to subtract the time that she spends with her family. What’s the use of being in the pharmaceutical industry if she cannot fully guarantee the health and wellness of her entire family? Szela is a woman that exudes intelligence, leadership and a high profile career in the field where most men are kings, business.

Como la siringomielia es un trastorno que puede afectar las funciones del sistema nervioso, es una condición que tenemos curar lo más pronto posible. En algunos casos, el problema puede desarrollar hasta que las funciones simpática y parasimpática empiezan a tener problemas también. En estos casos, los expertos no tienen otros recursos más que la cirugía.

En principio, la cirugía no es para todo. Como será una operación tan invasiva, la decisión si el paciente debe tener una cirugía no es fácil. Hay que pesar bien los riesgos que podemos encontrar antes de decidir la mejor opción. Si los riesgos son más que los beneficios, los médicos suelen sugerir otras maneras para manejar la situación.

Muchas veces, la siringomielia es un resultado de otras condiciones médicas. Por eso, a parte de sacar los quistes o siringes, será necesario corregir los otros problemas también. Por ejemplo, si el síndrome Arnold Chiari causa las siringes, una operación para poner más espacio en el cerebelo será necesaria. A veces, un tumor las causa. Por eso, es necesario sacar el tumor también.

A veces, los médicos deciden que la cirugía es la sola solución. En estos casos, un retardo corto puede causar más problemas. Por ejemplo, las siringes ya pueden destruir los nervios ligados a la médula espinal. Con esto, el paciente puede perder la sensación o también en algunos casos, la destreza. No pueden sentir más ni el dolor ni la temperatura. También no pueden sostener cosas livianas como vasos. En casos avanzados, es posible perder control en las funciones de los órganos internos como la excreción de los desechos corporales.

A parte de la syringomyelia surgery, hay otras maneras para manejar aún la situación. Es posible tomar medicaciones, pero no como la cirugía, la sola cosa que puede hacer es aliviar el dolor. Por eso, es necesario que hables con tu médico para que pueda darte las opciones que puede utilizar.

Are you aware of the medical privacy laws?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the Privacy Rule, a Federal law, gives you rights over your health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive your health information. These laws definitely protect your privacy, but they can as well keep your family from getting medical information on you in the event of an emergency. Even a spouse or eighteen year old child, without proper paperwork in place can leave you in the dark as far as their medical condition.

An example of a situation would be a spouse traveling on business to another city in the state, with a three hour drive from your home. He gets in an auto accident on the way home and is transported unconscious to the nearest hospital and is being attended by the best medical personal.

You are notified by the police that your spouse has been taken to their local hospital. You are very upset and want to know your spouse’s condition; you call the hospital to ask what is happening to him. The nurse in the hospital cannot release any medical information to you unless you have a HIPAA disclosure document executed by your spouse allowing you to know his medical information.

Now you are very nervous and you do not know anything about your spouse’s condition. You decide to drive to the hospital, a three hour drive, and the entire drive you do not know anything that is going on. Fortunately, when you get to the hospital your spouse is out of surgery and conscience. You spouse can now authorize you with the doctors to allow you to know their medical situation.

HIPAA protection protects everyone over the age 18 (your son or daughter even while in college) from disclosing your medical information. Please consider getting the appropriate paperwork in place before you your family members have a condition that can because you stress during medical emergencies. Get a HIPAA disclosure document executed on each family member at minimum if they want to have you know about their medical condition.

For a more complete protection there are three documents that can be easily executed for each family member that can properly protect your family for most common situations.

1. HIPAA Disclosure Document – Specifies who can be disclosed your medical information.
2. Medical Power of Attorney – Specifies who can make medical decisions on your behalf.
3. Living Will – Specifies your wishes regarding prolonging life medical treatments

The safe way to generate these three documents is work with your family lawyer to have them drawn up properly for your state. Please keep an electronic copy of the executed document in your email to ensure that you can get access to it when you need it or are not prepared to use it.

Avoid undue stress during an emergency, make sure you understand the HIPAA laws and prepare your family to work with the laws by having your documents in place.