Time to target bureaucratic medical forms
My good friend John Lyle Ledlow is crusading against bureaucracy in the medical field.
His fight began when he had to fill out several pages of forms for his daughter’s visit to a new dentist.
Ledlow put a big “X” over anything he didn’t want to answer.
“Why do they need my Social Security number to clean my kid’s teeth?” he grumbles, crossing out the question with his pen. “Have these people never heard of identity theft?”
Ledlow picked up some right curious Yankee ways after he moved up North. When he came back, folks down here weren’t quite sure what to make of him.
He gets away with a lot by sheer gall. Although his irascibility runs contrary to good Southern manners, his gumption is admirable.
“If they want my money, they can get by without poking their nose into every single detail of my personal life,” he says. “And it’s clear by these questions, they rank money right up there with healthy molars.”
Ledlow refused to sign a portion of the form that requires him to relinquish all rights to his shirt, 401(k) plan, house and other property if he doesn’t pay his bill.
“If they require payment at the time of service,” he argues, “why do they need me to give up my property?”
Ledlow wants to know why it matters when his daughter started walking.
“I don’t remember when she started walking,” he says. “She’s walking OK now. Besides, I’m not asking them to fix her legs. She just needs a good teeth-cleaning.”
Why do they need to know if she was bottle or breast fed? When was she potty-trained?
“Jiminy Cricket!” he declares, making another dramatic “X” on the form.
Ledlow suspects a lawyer — or worse yet, multiple lawyers — influenced the form.
It remains to be seen whether the dentist will treat Ledlow’s daughter without proper documentation.
He said he’s not sure what he will do if they call his hand on this, but he is trying to serve a higher purpose.
“I’m not doing this for myself,” Ledlow says. “I’m doing this for every poor man or woman in this great nation who has ever been unnecessarily encumbered by arbitrary bureaucratic forms.”
