A few weeks ago I detected that my right shoulder was sore. I had an initial diagnosis of calcific tendonitis (which I didn't believe because the pain was so reminiscent of the osteo-arthritis pain I have suffered in my hips before they both got replaced)
I had a X-Ray, funded by the public health system, which showed (you guessed it) osteoarthritis in one of the two joints in my shoulder. And a few days after that I fell off my stationary motorcycle whilst dismounting in heavy cold weather gear and on slippery ground. I hurt my shoulder and then had to ride 300km in freezing cold to get home. After two more days of excruciating pain I was worried I had exacerbated the condition and I wanted another X-Ray to see if I had broken split or chipped a bone.
My doctor just said "not necessary" ($38) "take more pain killer" so I headed off to the local hospital with my Visa Card to have my shoulder X-Rayed and assessed as a private patient.
Naive - well not exactly, but I wanted to test the theory that if I want to have my breasts enhanced I simply "apply" to a surgeon in private practice and in time and with the lubrication of the system with money, the job will be done, X-Rays and all, but if I want my shoulder X-Rayed I probably can't.
And so it proved to be true. Despite my willingness to pay whatever the price was - just like a boob job, I wasn't allowed to order and undergo an X-Ray, just because I wanted one.
And the reason . . . "Because we are dealing with radiation"
The heading of this blog is ingenuous because this official response isn't because of our anti-nuclear policy but it is connected with that unjustified fear of radiation which permeated society after Chernobyl (where it was justified) and Mururoa (where it was not) and Fukishima (where the jury may still be out) and the whole of NZ's anti-American cabal of fools who found Nirvana in the policy and the Law as a way of sticking it to the USA. Now the USA is not a perfect place but I would say that they are like the sleeping bear of the world, gross and overweight and uncouth and ugly but totally focused on not being ever fucked again!
My X-Ray - well I walked around the corner to A&E and told them my shoulder was very sore after falling off my (stationary) motorbike and the system then swung smoothly and effortlessly into action. ACC forms, lots of filling out personal details and accident details (were you on a public road tick yes, how fast were you going put 0km/hr in the box) but amazingly no questions about susceptibility to Rontgen radiation nor previous X-Rays, nor my political views and after that it was off to X-Ray to get three pictures and a nice talk to the doctor whilst looking at the scans together so I could see and understand what was going on in my shoulder and confirm I had not cracked a bone. For free!
Slipped my Visa card back into my wallet and headed home for a coffee - safe and sure in the knowledge that the system is stupid and that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.
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