TED Community » Jamie Gasser

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Family, life, learning, respiratory care, lung disorders, patients rights.

An idea worth spreading

I feel, in my experience that patients opinions and their loved ones opinions have been lost in the process of diagnosing and treating a disease or illness. An example. My mother had been sick for 3 years. And was constantly misdiagnosed. I researched online numerous times trying to find an answer for what was going on with my mother. I would bring it up to loads of different doctors. She was in and out of the hospital constantly. And every time I attempted to bring up something I felt in my opinion should be looked at. I was met with something like "Let me do my job." I felt like the doctors treated my mother and I as a third party in her healthcare. There ended up being a lot of things I was right about. And a lot of things they were wrong about. And now I'm left with countless "What if?" questions. "What if they would listened? Could there of been a different treatment?" My mother passed away July 6th. And I just want this to be prevented for other patients, and their families.

Talk to me about

Anything at all. I am a student of the world. And learning is my purpose.

People don't know that I'm good at

Poetry.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.70 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: We all love TED and support it. I think it is a big deal that the 1000th talk has just been posted. Should we celebrate?

  Aug 5 2011: If you look in the TED talks list. It says "Showing 1-10 of 1001" So there is 1000 talks. :D

• A reply on Conversation: What ever happened to common decency? Are manners no longer part of US culture?

  Aug 4 2011: Thanks Jim! I haven't let it discourage me. I have only had things like that happen a couple times. I have been a little more cautious since that incident. I make sure that I clearly ask if they need help or not. So that I for sure get an answer back. And I've noticed that making a difference in responses. But I'll continue practicing public decency because I believe it to be a very important thing. :D
  
  - Jamie

• A comment on Conversation: We all love TED and support it. I think it is a big deal that the 1000th talk has just been posted. Should we celebrate?

  Aug 4 2011: I just discovered this website 4 days ago. And have jam packed 40 talks in this time. And have learned more then I did in all of school. (Mostly because I was to busy chasing girls ;D) But this has been the greatest discovery on the web for me personally. I enjoy this website a great deal. I became hooked instantly! And it does call for a celebration! I am very much looking forward to the future content on TED for years to come. :D
  
  - Jamie

• A reply on Conversation: More rights for patients and their loved ones.

  Aug 3 2011: Thank you Alexandra. It just never seemed like my mother and I could find the right doctor. Mostly because of the hectic hospital visits. It seemed like she had a new doctor every separate day she was in the hospital. So we could never form a real connection and they would pass us from person to person.
  
  I know that I am going to make a difference because I have gone through this. Anything anyone has to say or ask is going to be of the utmost importance to me. So I am thankful for going through this in a sense. But I do hate to think that people everywhere are being ignored or neglected in their biggest time of need.
  
  - Jamie
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Does a selfless act exist?

  Aug 3 2011: I definitely believe that selfless acts exist. An example is my Mother. 32 years ago she could of had a surgery to fix the scoliosis in her back by inserting a metal rod into her back to straighten the spine. She did not reject this because of being scared, but because she did not want to be laid up in bed for months not able to take care of my brother and sister. She was a single mother. And she couldn't imagine the thought of her children not being taken care of to the best of her ability. I believe this to be a selfless act. And I know there is selfless acts. Because if you take the children out of that scenario. I know she would of got the surgery. But this is just my opinion. You raise great points. Thanks for the topic.
  
  - Jamie
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What ever happened to common decency? Are manners no longer part of US culture?

  Aug 3 2011: I believe decency is taught. And it is largely based on the persons background whether they even think to consider another persons feelings even in the small things. I have always held doors open for anyone, doesn't matter the race, size, or anything to me. If someone is at least 15 feet away from me it is an automatic reflex to hold doors open. To help elderly carry groceries. These things are just automatic in my mind. But I attribute this to the way my mother raised me. She did these things automatically as did her mother. She taught, and gave examples everyday about being a decent and fair human being. And it became the same way for me. I have experienced people actually disliking this decency sometimes as well. I went to help an elderly lady carry a large plant. And she snapped "I am perfectly capable of carrying this." When in fact she was visibly struggling a great deal. But this never stopped me from equally being decent and fair to every human being. I get smiles sometimes. And I get very mean looks sometimes. But it's an automatic reflex to some. And an untaught, unnecessary thing to others. It all boils down to how you were brought up in most cases. There are different factors of course. Thank you for bringing this subject up though. It rises questions that there should be answers to. But sometimes, people just ignore the world around them. And think only for their well-being.
  
  - Jamie

• A comment on Conversation: Will handwriting go extinct like an ancient art only practiced by a handful of people across the world?

  Aug 3 2011: I feel cursive handwriting will disappear. I know personally, at my 7 year old nephews school they recently said they were taking cursive handwriting out of the school and replacing it with keyboard efficiency. Where 10 years ago I was learning handwriting at this same exact school. So I can see this making it's way into other schools and over time becoming the "normal". I do think that it is a shame. My aunts and uncles still seem to be using handwriting quite regularly. But I don't see this in people my age group (20). I only truthfully ever use it when signing my name. Other then that I type. Or print. So in the foreseeable future I don't see all hand written techniques being completely lost. But I am seeing the start of this process of eliminating handwriting even in my little hometown. Thanks for this thought, it raises very good points.
  
  - Jamie
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: More rights for patients and their loved ones.

  Aug 2 2011: Sorry I was not elaborate. I am talking more towards personal experience with my mothers illness. She had been misdiagnosed for years with many different doctors. I had personally given opinions to these doctors of what I thought it may be, after doing research online. And got responses such as "Let me do my job." When in fact it later came out that I was correct with certain things that the doctors did not look into or didn't even consider. So what I am getting at is with atleast 20 different doctors at the hospital my mom spent 3 years in and out of. I was never heard when speaking my opinion. They talked to my mother and I as if we were a third party. We were not able to be involved with the process. And in the end, my mother recently passed away July 6th. Of interstitial lung disease. Which was one of the things I brought up to the doctors in 2009. And was quickly met with an answer of "This does not match interstitial lung disease." And we got many second opinions on her overall health situation. And the answer was always "She has pneumonia." Everytime she was admitted to the hospital, every doctor said she had pneumonia. And in my research. Interstitial lung disease is often misdiagnosed with pneumonia because it is an inflammation of the lung. So what I'm getting to is that with 20+ doctors at this specific hospital, they all gave the same diagnosis. And I guess it just seems very unfair that everyone treated my mother, and her family as uneducated and unequipped to make any assumptions of her healthcare. When in fact, in the end I was correct on what her disease was for 2 years. And there was no treatment for it.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: More rights for patients and their loved ones.

  Aug 2 2011: Thank you Kate. I have tried to think from the doctors point of view. And understand the notion that family may be a bit dramatic and cause more of an issue. Rather then helping the problem. So I completely understand that. But there is a difference between a histerical patient or loved one and a educated patient or loved one. And most people could tell the difference between the two. A big reason we did not seek help from other hospitals is we lived literally 3 minutes from our hospital. All the other "good" hospitals were 45mins-2hrs away. And we could not afford the gas money to be hauling back and forth everyday to see our mother. My brother Jason and I traded 24 hours shifts being in the hospital for my mother for 3 years. And she was in the hospital every 2 months. So we could not afford the gas required to be with her the way we felt we needed to.
  
  I just want people to know, that you should speak out for what you believe. And don't give up if you get shot down like my mother and I did numerous times. Made to feel stupid. I am personally going to college this coming fall to be a Respiratory Care Specialist. Because I want to do what I can to help things like this from happening. And I will make the promise to put the patients first and always listen to what they have to say and take it to heart. Because everyone deserves to be heard whatever their education level may be. It's their life. Let them have a say!
  
  But thanks again Kate. I do understand and have put myself in the doctors shoes. Listening to a loved one try to diagnose something would be difficult to take seriously. But it should be taken seriously. And that is what I'm getting at in all this.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: "WHY is the patient the most under-used resource in healthcare?? How did that happen?" (Follow-up to LIVE TED Conversation July 27)

  Aug 1 2011: Hello Dave. I want to thank you first off. For standing up for such an important thing. And ask you a couple things. My mother recently passed away, July 6th. And she passed away after a long fight with something called interstitial lung disease. Now, for the majority of her illness doctors misdiagnosed her with pneumonia every time she would be brought to the hospital. Put her on antibiotics and high doses of prednisone and off she would go. They thought the antibiotics were helping her. When really the prednisone was. In late 2010 I was searching the web for reasons why this would keep happening to my mother. And interstitial lung disease popped up. And matched her illness perfectly. I brought it up to a doctor. And was told "Let me do my job." After it was all said and done, and my mom passed away. I was met with a surprising cause of death Interstitial lung disease.
  
  I agree with the patients having more power. But my question is. Do you think family should be aloud to be more involved in the process of diagnosing as well? Because there were treatments my mother could of had options to at least try if this was caught sooner. Or even just considered. Not saying it would of been some miracle cure. But at least something could of been done other then treating for pneumonia every time and sending her home with nothing other then pain medicine for her pain.
  
  Again, I want to thank you. Because I strongly believe in this. And I am going to be going to college this year to become a Respiratory Care Specialist because I want to help prevent situations like this.
  
  - Jamie from Ohio