The Invisible Burden: When Fragmented Care Becomes a Family’s Job
When the healthcare system drops the baton, families pick it up. Claire never asked to become her mother’s care coordinator, but fragmented care made the role unavoidable. She juggled appointments, medications, symptom monitoring, and endless phone calls — all while working and managing her own health. This unpaid labour is the hidden cost of poor coordination, and it’s pushing millions of caregivers toward burnout. Medication errors, delayed follow‑ups, and repeated readmissions don’t just harm patients; they strain families and overload the system. Fragmentation doesn’t disappear — it shifts, quietly and relentlessly, onto the people least equipped to carry it.
