When the System Is Rigged, Everyone Loses

I often share personal moments of frustration—not because I’m looking for sympathy, but because I’ve lived long enough in a broken healthcare system to see how it wears people down. From medical professionals afraid to step outside rigid protocols, to patients like me left to manage complex conditions on our own, the system isn’t built for those who don’t fit the standard mold. These posts are my way of calling out the gaps, because if no one talks about them, nothing will ever change.

And here’s the thing—I can’t even be mad at the doctors. Not really. Because the way the system is built? It’s set up to protect itself, not us. We live in a country where doctors get sued for trying to think outside the box, so it’s no wonder they stick to the textbook, even if the textbook doesn’t fit someone like me.

I’ve been on the other side of that as a paramedic. I’ve stood on scenes with multiple patients, knowing that I had one critical, fighting for their life, and legally? I wasn’t allowed to leave the others behind. You stay until backup arrives. That’s the law. That’s the system. If that critical patient dies while you’re waiting? It’s tragic. But you followed protocol. Because the system says: Don’t risk three to save one.

And that’s what it feels like when you’re the “one” patient in a doctor’s office whose case is rare, complex, or messy. No one wants to take the risk of doing something that might cost them their license, their practice, or their career. Even if it could help you. And that hurts—because the people like me, the ones who don’t fit the standard protocol, fall through the cracks again and again.

We are the system, but the system is failing all of us.