So often Dr. Heather Allen sees it – a patient arrives, most often a woman, with anxiety buzzing inside her head like a power drill.
Fear is a natural response to a threat, the physician knows, and the threat her patient has received – a diagnosis of breast cancer – can leave her patient too shell shocked to focus on survival, particularly if she does not believe a legitimate counterattack is at hand.
It should have been a wonderful time for Dr. Dale Carrison.
But as he received an award for contributions to the community, he knew that the business of medicine too often had gotten in the way of keeping in close touch with friends and family.
At three in the morning Dr. Florence Jameson helped bring a new baby into this world. Five hours later, she stood in the lobby of the Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada clinic and excitedly talked about giving birth to a facility to help the uninsured.
Given his background and what he says happened during a recent four-day stay at Summerlin Hospital, it should come as no surprise that Marine Corps veteran and retired entrepreneur Ivan Fankuchen let administrators know he was unhappy both in person and by letter.
