[articles.mercola.com]

"Knowing How to Play the 'Hospital Game' Could Save Your Life

Knowing how to prevent disease so you can avoid hospitals in the first place is clearly your best bet. But knowing what to do to make your hospital stay as safe and healing as possible is equally important. As Dr. Saul explains:

"[People] need to understand that when they are faced with hospitalization, the most powerful person in the most entire hospital system is the patient. The system works on the assumption that the patient will not claim that power...A patient can say, 'No. Do not touch me.' And they can't. If they do, it's assault, and you can call the police. Now, they might say, 'Well, on your way in, you signed this form.' You can revoke your permission. Just because somebody has permission to do one thing, it doesn't mean that they have the permission to do everything.

There's no such thing as a situation that you cannot reverse... You don't want to cry wolf for no reason, but the patient has the potential to put a stop to absolutely anything. If the patient doesn't know that, if they're not conscious, or if they just don't have the moxie to do it, the next most powerful person is the spouse... If there is no spouse present, the next most powerful people in the system are the children of the patient...

You'll notice that I haven't noticed doctors or hospital administrators once. That's because they don't have the power. They really don't. They just want you to think that you do. It is an illusion that they run the place. The answer is – you do. They're offering you products and services, and they're trying to get you to accept them without question.

...[W]hen you go to the hospital, bring along a black Sharpie pen, and cross out anything that you don't like in the contract. Put big giant X's through entire clauses and pages, and do not sign it. And when they say, 'We're not going to admit you,' you say, 'Please put it in writing that you refuse to admit me.' What do you think your lawyers are going to do with that? They have to [admit you]. They absolutely have to... It's a game, and you can win it. But you can't win it if you don't know the rules. And basically, they don't tell you the rules. In [the book] Hospitals and Health, we do.""