Your Rights as a Consumer

Our May meeting was held tonight and was a huge success! We had a total of 14 people there, including a couple daddys and LOTS of kiddos! It was wonderful. It was so great to see new faces, and have great input from those new folks. I certainly hope everyone comes back next time, and brings along a friend- or several. :)

We had a lot of lively discussion about our rights as consumers of health care, and I feel a lot of good information was presented. We may have to revisit this topic again in the future to make sure we cover everything, as it is such a broad topic- but a VERY important thing to understand.

So often we are pushed and shoved through a medical system that treats us as lesser, as if we have no choice. You would never go to a restaurant where a waitress told you what you were having and how you should eat it, or a store where the clerk told you what to buy and what to do with that item, would you? That is exactly what we do when we let medical professionals tell us what to do without making it clear that these things are OPTIONS! Our rights as HUMANS and our rights as CONSUMERS are overshadowed by the view of these people as authority. We have a choice, to consent to or decline any test or procedure that is presented. Most importantly, we have a right to the information that is needed to make an informed decision to consent to or decline. Information is imperative, and support in those decisions is vital in success. THAT is what Dar a Luz is all about.