MJA
MJA

Rural patients travel for health care

Linda J Samera
Med J Aust 2014; 201 (10): . || doi: 10.5694/mja14.01195
Published online: 17 November 2014

A country doctor comes face to face with the devastating realities of needing specialist care in a distant city

Today, I entered the world of the chronically ill. I am forced to grapple with the shattering diagnosis of a life-threatening autoimmune disease. My medical career and life as I have known it are shelved for the foreseeable future. Hopes and dreams are buried under the rubble of severe illness. Suddenly, my husband is my carer, and his career hangs in the balance too. Roles within the family radically change in a moment, and nothing looks familiar. The devastation does not stop there, though. Being casually or self-employed means income ceases immediately for both of us. We have entered the unchartered waters of financial insecurity.

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