Increasing Learning
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us

On Hospitals and Masks

10/2/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
If you’ve followed my blog over the past year, you know that my wife is a stroke survivor who cannot wear a mask without risking another stroke.  She tried wearing a mask in July of last year and ended up with temporary paralysis of her right side.  Since that event, her symptoms from the stroke have flared up with a vengeance, and we have been attempting to get her tested and treated for whatever is causing it. 

We have successfully managed to get her seen by a couple of neurologists, and she has had a CT scan done.  Each step in this process has been a constant struggle with hospitals and doctors to get them to see her without requiring her to wear a mask.  We have had multiple appointments canceled on us just because we let each doctor know ahead of time that my wife would require an exception to their mask policies.  We have endured this with much patience, but when my wife called me yesterday morning and said that she wanted to just curl up into a ball and die after being denied treatment once again, that was the last straw. 
 
I am through playing nice.  I don’t care if I have to spend every last penny paying lawyers to sue doctor after doctor.  I am going to see that my wife gets the treatment that she needs no matter what ridiculous policies stand in the way. 
 
After that call with my wife yesterday, I called Brookwood Baptist Hospital back and asked (politely) for the scheduler who had just called my wife to explain to me exactly why my wife’s appointment for an EEG was being canceled.  The scheduler, Dianne, told me that every patient was required to wear a mask without exception because Governor Ivey had issued a mandate requiring hospitals in Alabama to have that strict of a mask policy.   I’m sure you realize by now that, if such a mandate had been given, I would certainly have been aware of it and would have written about all the laws that such a mandate would have violated.  Governor Ivey has not issued a mandate requiring just hospitals to force people to wear masks, but I decided to play along and ask if Dianne could tell me more about this fictional mandate.  She became frustrated when I asked for more details, so I asked to speak to her supervisor instead.
 
After I had waited on hold for several minutes, Dianne came back on the line to tell me that her supervisor was ready to speak with me, and she transferred the call to Brad Wideman.  I asked Brad if he could give me any details about the new mandate requiring hospitals to require masks of all patients without exception.  He said that he did not know the details but he could find out for me.  I thanked him for his willingness to help, explained my wife’s medical history and asked him if he could also find out what we needed to do to get accommodation for her as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Brad promised to ask about that as well, and we hung up.
 
Brad called me back a short while later and asked if my wife could wear a face shield instead of a mask.  I explained that face shields greatly increase her anxiety which triggers both her asthma and paralysis of her right side.  Brad then said that, if my wife was not able to wear either a face shield or a mask, then the hospital would not be able to see her to conduct an EEG.  I asked Brad if he had found any information about the mandate requiring this policy, and he admitted that there was no such mandate.  He said that it was simply the hospital’s policy.  I thanked him for confirming that, and I asked him if he had also asked about the hospital’s liability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  He said that he had not asked about that, and he offered to do so and call me back.  He did not call me back.
 
Four hours later, I grew tired of waiting, and I called Brad’s direct line at Brookwood Baptist Hospital.  Brad did not answer, so I left him a voicemail.  I reminded him of why I was calling, and I asked if he had found an answer to my question.  I asked him to call me back and let me know if the hospital would allow my wife to enter without a mask in accordance with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
 
Brad called me back about five minutes after my voicemail and began apologizing for the “misunderstanding.”  He assured me that the hospital would allow my wife to get the EEG that she needed, and he explained that the room where the EEG would be done was right next to an exit that we could use to enter and exit the building without any other patients seeing my wife enter without wearing a mask.  My wife is now rescheduled to have an EEG done at the same time as the appointment that had been cancelled.
 
So, why did I just bare my soul to the world regarding all of this?  Am I looking for your sympathy?  No, the real reason that I shared all of this is that many of the people reading this article are the reason that the hospitals have the courage to treat us this way in the first place. 
 
During the course of my discussion with Brookwood Baptist Hospital yesterday, I happened to just mention a bit about the situation in a comment on someone else’s post in a facebook group, and I was IMMEDIATELY bombarded with responses from people accusing me and my wife of being the reason that the pandemic has lasted for so long.  I was told repeatedly (and not for the first, second, third, tenth, or even hundredth time) that my wife should not be allowed to go out in public until the pandemic is over.  I had several people voice their concern about the family members and friends that we were actively killing by not wearing masks, and of course, there were plenty of the obligatory shouts and curses from people who claimed to care about us.
 
Well, guess what, I’m through playing nice with you people too.  YOU are the reason that we have been kicked out of multiple businesses, hospitals, and doctor’s offices over the past two years.  YOU are the reason that we had to leave our church and join a different one that didn’t try to shame us into compliance.  YOU are the reason that we had to sell a house that we loved and move to one without stairs since my wife can’t get any treatment for her condition.  YOU are the reason that this pandemic has lasted so long.  It is YOUR compliance that has given others the courage to treat us this way.  YOU are the ones so afraid of dying that you are willing to sacrifice anything and even anyone at the mere whisper of the possibility. 

Take a moment to let that last sentence sink in a bit.  I know it stings, but think about it.  ALL of the illegal and unethical responses to the pandemic can be traced back to a single cause.  The “Christians” in America are afraid of death.  Jesus Christ came into this world to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:15)  What does it say about YOU when you willingly submit to the bondage of forced masking, forced shutdowns, forced curfews, forced vaccinations, and more just because you are afraid of death?  Have you REALLY been delivered from the fear of death?  Is your life here on this earth really so valuable to you that you are willing to submit to any level of shame to avoid losing it?

If there is anything that I have gained from the past two years, it is a better understanding of the imprecatory Psalms.  After a day like yesterday, I am more than willing to join David in praying, "Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame." (Ps. 40:15)  Maybe one day I’ll be able to look back on your cowardice with more pity than contempt, but at this point in time, those of you who have tried to force my wife to wear mask might not want to ask me to pray for you.  I’m far more likely to ask God to "Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them" (Ps. 69:24) than I am to ask Him to bless you. 
 
So go ahead.  Keep cursing us for not wearing masks.  Keep accusing us of killing people.  Keep panicking yourselves into giving away the freedoms that none of us deserve in the first place.  Just don’t expect me to care too much when you finally come to your senses and realize what you’ve lost.
4 Comments
Joshua Town
10/2/2021 12:42:09 pm

💯🙏 Thank you for this! Definitely needs to be said! Thankful for your persistence and that the hospital finally scheduled your wife for this needed appointment! If Christians would stop complying with all this craziness it would be over!

Reply
Jenelle
11/5/2021 07:48:23 pm

I'm sorry your wife and you are going through all this.

The medical negligence and abuse is bad enough, but its even harder when those who call themselves your friends, family, or fellow Christian start blaming you and falsely accusing you of atrocities you can't control and are not responsible for.

Christians have been taking a very unbiblical stance regarding all this. None of them look at the whole Word of God for the big picture of what God requires in such situations. They use vague verses of their choice to try and "reason" why such tyanny is "loving."

God set up a government ruled by Him. In that perfect picture of government, never once does He show us what Christians today are propping up and spewing out of their fearful hearts. God does show us what a government can and should do in cases of serious diseases, and it isn't much.

Anything God did not mention for government to do in disease situations is off the table. For some reason though, Christians have this mindset that if God never said they couldn't, it means they can. Backwards thinking.

If I grant my child authority to bake cookies, whatever kind she likes, does that mean she now has authority to start a cake bakery in my home? The Christian mindset towards God Word would say yes.

The fact that I didn't give her permission to start a cake bakery in my home is evidence that she has no authority to do so. The fact that God gives no permission for government to control populations to the extent they are is evidence that they have no authority to do so.

Right now government would not feel like they could get away with their tyranny if it wasn't for those Christians that say, "well God didn't mention they can't."

It is their fault. Completely and totally. And some day they will realize it too late.

So much freedom they could have if they truly divided the Word of God, and so little suffering there would be now from all this disaster. But they desire to be in bondage and they want you and your wife to be in bondage of their fear and misreading of God's Word with them.

I truly hope you and your wife can find a thoughtful and understanding doctor to help her. I would suggest a wellness way clinic, but I don't know if they have treated stroke victims before. At any rate, a consultation wouldn't hurt to find out if they can help in some way.

In the meantime, Ignore these aquaintences that make themselves as useless as Job's "friends."

Stay strong and continue to be an encourager and comforter to your wife.

Reply
Edwidge Sejour-Gonzalez
2/1/2023 01:30:00 pm

Pffffff!!!!!!!
These paragraphs just SOARED for me! Thank you for articulating these sentiments and truths as you have.

"Well, guess what, I’m through playing nice with you people too. YOU are the reason that we have been kicked out of multiple businesses, hospitals, and doctor’s offices over the past two years. YOU are the reason that we had to leave our church and join a different one that didn’t try to shame us into compliance. YOU are the reason that we had to sell a house that we loved and move to one without stairs since my wife can’t get any treatment for her condition. YOU are the reason that this pandemic has lasted so long. It is YOUR compliance that has given others the courage to treat us this way. YOU are the ones so afraid of dying that you are willing to sacrifice anything and even anyone at the mere whisper of the possibility.

"Take a moment to let that last sentence sink in a bit. I know it stings, but think about it. ALL of the illegal and unethical responses to the pandemic can be traced back to a single cause. The “Christians” in America are afraid of death. Jesus Christ came into this world to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:15) What does it say about YOU when you willingly submit to the bondage of forced masking, forced shutdowns, forced curfews, forced vaccinations, and more just because you are afraid of death? Have you REALLY been delivered from the fear of death? Is your life here on this earth really so valuable to you that you are willing to submit to any level of shame to avoid losing it?

"If there is anything that I have gained from the past two years, it is a better understanding of the imprecatory Psalms. After a day like yesterday, I am more than willing to join David in praying, "Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame." (Ps. 40:15) Maybe one day I’ll be able to look back on your cowardice with more pity than contempt, but at this point in time, those of you who have tried to force my wife to wear mask might not want to ask me to pray for you. I’m far more likely to ask God to "Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them" (Ps. 69:24) than I am to ask Him to bless you."

I'm very sorry for what you wife had to endure, and the part about her saying she is wanted to curl up and die was awful to read, but I'm so thankful for how you stood up for her in the face of all that nonsensical madness.

Blessings!

Reply
Nate Kawal
6/11/2023 06:29:38 pm




There are good doctors who help out when needed, but almost all of them are non-believers, and the statistics show this in their ability to heal by their own power is meager at best.
"A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. (READ THAT CAREFULLY. Medical. Errors. People trust and pay alot of money to these "experts" to heal them, and they fail.) Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer."
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html#:~:text=A%20recent%20Johns%20Hopkins%20study,after%20heart%20disease%20and%20cancer.
Thats at minimum a quarter-million people are inadvertently killed by the hospitals every single year. And you thought Coronavirus was a pandemic? Thats a beesting compared to the pandemic of medical incompetence occurring each and every year.
Let that sink in.
Therefore, its totally understandable that the medical industry would attempt to "mask" its own incompetence by blaming other people—anyone they can find—like, non-maskers, non-vaxxers, smokers, or anyone else who they can blame for causing deaths among the general population.

2Ch 16:12-13 NLT - In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, King Asa (a godly king) developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the LORD's help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

Mar 5:24-26 NLT - Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

1 Honor doctors for their services, since indeed the Lord created them.
2 Healing comes from the Most High, and the king will reward them.
3 The skill of doctors will make them eminent, and they will be admired in the presence of the great.
4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and a sensible person won't ignore them.
5 Wasn't water made sweet by means of wood so that the Lord's strength might be known?
6 And he endowed human beings with skill so that he would be glorified through his marvelous deeds.
7 With those medicines, the doctor cures and takes away pain.
8 Those who prepare ointments will make a compound out of them, and their work will never be finished, and well-being spreads over the whole world from them.
9 My child, when you are sick, don't look around elsewhere, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10 Stay far from error, direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.
11 Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice and a memorial of fine flour, and pour an offering of oil, using what you can afford.
12 And give doctors a place, because the Lord created them also, and don't let them leave you, because you indeed need them.
13 There's a time when success is in their hands as well.
14 They (the doctors) will also ask the Lord so that he might grant them rest and healing in order to preserve life."

Ok. But how many doctors do you know who ask the Lord to bless their efforts in healing their patients? None. why? because sick patients are good business.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Bill Fortenberry is a Christian philosopher and historian in Birmingham, AL.  Bill's work has been cited in several legal journals, and he has appeared as a guest on shows including The Dr. Gina Show, The Michael Hart Show, and Real Science Radio.

    Contact Us if you would like to schedule Bill to speak to your church, group, or club.

    "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." (Proverbs 9:9)

    Search


    Topics

    All
    Abortion
    American History
    Apologetics
    Archaeology
    Atonement
    Benjamin Franklin
    Bible
    Bible Contradiction
    Buddhism
    Calvinism
    Children
    Christmas
    Citizenship
    Coaching
    Context
    Covid
    Creation
    Debate
    Doctrine
    Evolution
    Geography
    Government
    Homosexuality
    Immigration
    Islam
    James Wilson
    John Adams
    Marriage
    Masks
    Meditation
    Morality
    Mormonism
    Open Theism
    Parenting
    Politics
    Sacrifice
    Sam Harris
    Science
    Self Defense
    Self-Defense
    Slavery
    Solon
    Soteriology
    Strategy
    Tactical Faith
    Textual Criticism
    The KJV
    Theology
    Vaccines
    Video

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us