[kelnos]

The problem is that when she was asked if she had a plan, she didn't give a thought-out answer. If she had said "no" -- which at that point was actually the truth -- it likely would have triggered something in the customer support rep's script that would have fixed the situation damn-near immediately.

It's annoying that this is how it works. It would be great if the customer support rep could be better trained, akin to a medical technician's knowledge at least when it comes to the medical condition at hand. But that sort of thing is just not reasonable to expect in the world we live in. Someone with a chronic condition needs to advocate for themselves. Even just "I'm not at home and need you to send the new pump to my hotel" would have likely fixed the entire problem.

I don't know if this is about "blame" or something else entirely. To me, this was very instructive and reminded me that we need to take charge of our own care. Even though it sounds like the author was never in any real danger (by her own admission), this entire situation could have been avoided with a single sentence, one that's incredibly reasonable and not difficult to say.

(I'm also baffled by her incredibly hostile attitude toward people who make insulin pumps. I can absolutely understand being angry at the idea that you need a piece of technology made by a third party in order to live. But calling the people who make that technology -- technology that has worked for her for 25 years before the first problem came up -- her "mortal enemies" crosses a line for me.)