Response to TV Ads

Mom called me last night to remind me that she had an appointment the next day with life line screening and Medicare. Someone had just called her to remind her. She had no idea when she had made these appointments or where to go. This was the first I had heard of these appointments.

I called their phone number and they told me that my mother had scheduled these appointments on her own, but they were not until Thursday not Tuesday as she told me.  Since my mother had just been to her cardiologist and urologist last month and goes to the Coumadin clinic every week for a blood test, I canceled her appointments and told her that these tests were for people who do not have regular doctor appointments as she does.

These Life Line screenings are very useful and priced so that people with low incomes and no regular health care providers can afford them. My mother has very good healthcare insurance coverage and is currently receiving excellent and frequent care. Unfortunately she doesn't remember that she has had all these screenings already this year. 

I've asked her not to schedule appointments or buy any services or products before checking with me, but she gets caught up in the moment and goes along with any and every persuasive TV or telemarketers. She sees my involvement only as interference with her personal freedoms, which would be true if she could remember anything that she does.