《大西洋月刊》
6分鐘
· 感恩節後的第二天，珍妮莎·沃茨收到一條語音留言，留言者自稱是路易斯維爾大學醫院的醫生：“我這裡可能有一位您的家人。”
https://theatln.tc/42D9RS9G
這位家人是她的姑姑；她右腦動脈瘤破裂，接受了手術，並被送入加護病房。沃茨飛往肯塔基州，在醫院與家人團聚。
“我們一直叫我姑姑‘魅力四射’，”沃茨寫道。她總是戴著羽毛帽，穿著閃亮的襯衫，“她一直把我當成自己的孩子一樣對待，我長大後長得更像她，而不是像我的親生母親。”
「現在，她頭頂上半部的頭髮被剃光了，上面釘著一排排的縫合釘，」沃茨寫道。 “她的雙臂上都插著輸液管，床邊的機器正在幫她呼吸。她無法說話。睜開眼睛時，眼珠會轉動。”
「她的大兒子尤其擔心她病情惡化得如此之快，」沃茨繼續寫道。 “他想讓醫生進病房來，解釋一下到底發生了什麼。但我們的一位長輩阻止了他，說我們負擔不起提要求，更別說惹麻煩了，因為‘她一點醫療保險都沒有。’”
「我們知道醫院不能拒絕給她治療，但我們也明白，沒錢的時候，日子過得有多艱難。她唯一能做的就是心存感激，」沃茨寫道。
沃茨講述了她姑姑與醫療保健系統打交道的經歷——這對許多美國人來說並不陌生。
🎨: Ben Hickey
The day after Thanksgiving, Jenisha Watts got a voicemail from a woman identifying herself as a doctor at the University of Louisville hospital: “I believe I may have one of your family members here.”
The family member was her aunt; she'd had an aneurysm on the right side of her brain, and it had burst. She underwent surgery and was admitted to the ICU. Watts flew to Kentucky and joined her family at the hospital.
“We had always called my aunt ‘The Glamourina,’” Watts writes. She wore feathered hats with sparkly shirts, “she always treated me like one of her children, and I grew up to look more like her than like my own mom.”
“Now the top half of her head was shaved and staples ran in a ladder across it,” Watts writes. “IVs were taped to each arm, and a machine next to her bed was helping her breathe. She couldn’t speak. When she opened her eyes, they rolled.
“Her older son was especially alarmed by how quickly she’d declined,” Watts continues. “He wanted the doctors to come into her room so they could explain what had happened. But one of our older relatives stopped him, saying that we couldn’t afford to make demands, let alone trouble, because ‘she don’t have a lick of health insurance.’”
“We knew that the hospital couldn’t deny her care, but we understood the tightrope you walk when you don’t have money. All she could afford to be was grateful,” Watts writes.
Watts writes about her aunt’s experience with the health-care system—one that is familiar to many Americans
: Ben Hickey
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