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So my wife was nearly in tears after talking to the nurse by phone - she wondered why she had to take an anti-coagulant drug while the hole in her wrist was having trouble healing. The nurse was brutishly adamant that "you must follow the doctor's order and he damned well knows what he's doing!" This was two days ago. "She didn't have to be so mean to me!"

I sat down with her and explained how the nurse _had_ to say that, because "if she didn't and you died, then the blame would fall on her and she would be liable for malpractice." Such attitudes must be expected in the stratified and hierarchical domain of professional medicine.

Then - since I had been down this road a few times before - I further explained that the anti-coagulant was prescribed to help prevent clotting at the site of the newly installed stent - a potentially fatal risk -, and "your wrist is mostly okay now, and the dose is a carefully researched amount designed to prevent preventable heart attack while the rest of the body can still heal."

Then she went ahead and took the pill even though there was dire warnings about how dangerous it was to people older than 75 who weigh less than 130 pounds - making her afraid for her life as she is so close to both limits.

She is still alive.

It's nice to talk to somebody who is not here. Maybe that's why I say so many prayers.