Not intended as virtue-signaling or heroism — just encouragement as to what normal people can do
I went to a doctor this week for an issue related to my shoulder. The outpatient facility is operated by one of the bigger healthcare providers in the Chicago area.
During check-in, the receptionist said, “Are you experiencing any cold or flu symptoms?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake.
Can we see what she was doing, no doubt because the protocol prompted her to do so?
This is the healthcare system screening for “respiratory illness things” as an excuse to try to “test.” The results of that test, whether positive or negative or inconclusive, are then reported to the public health surveillance system and (as we all now know) used to pretend that the “behavior” of certain pathogens is being tracked in some scientifically or medically honest and meaningful way.
Unless I were going to a doctor because of “cold or flu symptoms” — which I don’t see why I would ever do again, unless it was a true emergency or I’d developed Actual and Problematic Pneumonia — there would never, ever, ever be a reason to say “yes” or to submit to any kind of testing purported to be “diagnostic,” even were I experiencing those symptoms. For example, I can see wanting to be tested for strep throat or another suspected bacterial infection, if it’s the only way a doctor would agree to prescribe antibiotics or necessary treatment otherwise inaccessible.
If you live in Illinois, you should be aware that a healthcare provider CANNOT make you take a COVID test (or any other kind of test, as far as I know).
Regarding the former, a nurse tried to get me to take one last year and I was super direct about refusal. The interaction went something like this:
Me: “No, and state law says you cannot force me to take that.”
Nurse: “Okay, well I’ll check on that.”
Me: “That’s fine, you can check, but I know I cannot be made to take it and I’m not taking it anyway.”
[Nurse leaves and returns 10 minutes later…)
Nurse: “Okay, so you don’t have to take the COVID test.”
Me: “Yep, I know. Thank you.”
Going back to this week’s visit…
The receptionist also asked me about the visit being recorded versus the doctor taking notes on the computer. I don’t recall the exact phrasing, but I had encountered an Actual Consent Form in this health system last year when I took my daughter for a visit, so I knew this was about consenting to input for training an AI system. I refused to let my daughter’s visit feed that beast, and likewise refused what sounded like the same thing for my visit.
Why I was not being presented with the form I’d been given for my daughter, I’m not sure. Perhaps there isn’t a form anymore and patients are simply asked to consent verbally — with most saying yes, without being asked or informed in any meaningful way? I’m not sure but the ethics of this approach are highly questionable, at best.
I share these instances not to trumpet my “virtue” — or to suggest I’m doing anything heroic — but because they are concrete examples of how regular people can help disempower continued efforts by the U.S. government and other industries who seek to create emergencies and pretend threats exist that simply do not.
When as many individuals as possible stop committing daily participatory acts urged by government health and military authorities — as Katherine Watt has put it (and I’ve endorsed) — it sends a very loud message to The Overlords:
You do not have the authority over our bodies to do what you are trying to do. We see your game and refuse to play or be your pawns. Leave us alone. Thank you.
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