I hate doctors! There I said it. That was liberating. Everyone should give it a try. Most doctors are pretty cool, they do great jobs, most of the time. There should be a law about doctors who let their practices get so big that they have to take in physicians assistance, nurse practitioners, and voodoo witch doctors. My brother has been seeing the same doctor for the last 10 years. He went there because someone told him how great she was. He has never met her! Isn't that against the law?
Do you pay the same when don't see the doctor? You pay less if you go the barber school instead of a real barber. I don't even pay the same for a snowball if my regular snowball lady isn't there. Who pays if the assistant can't take care of it and you have to go back again to see the doctor who, as irony would have it, is the one you wanted to see in the first place? Does the doctor charge a consultation fee if the practitioner has a question about your care?
Doctors should have to give you a copy of all the testing facilities, labs, lasers, cat scan, mri and death star machines they have financial interests in. Do OBGYN docs own the sonogram machines that are used for the mandatory test they are going to send pregnant women for. They don't just send them for one either. There is always something that needs further study.
Everyone has gone to have a mole looked at with a dermatologist. Has anyone ever not had at least one that wasn't suspicious? You will have to have at least one shaved off, but then there will be a question about the edges. They have to take a little more of the surrounding area. You pay for an office visit each time you go too. Each time the samples are sent to a lab, or a tea reader, or someplace. Who owns those places? Does the doc get a kick back? Are you able to find these things out?
Medicine hasn't been the same for me since Dr. Miceli used to have me point my finger at the doorknob when he gave me a shot so the pain would go through my body and out my finger into the door! Ah, memories. We didn't get sent for tests every time we went to see him. We didn't see his assistant or practioner. I don't think he even had a nurse? We may not have gotten cutting edge technology from doctors like him, but you always felt better when you left.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more. I think the answer to your comments are multi-faceted. That issue you bring up about going for tests to multiple doctors I think goes back to one of your earlier posts regarding "Referrals". It is all part of a scheme with the insurance companies and the government to boost the economy.
As to seeing a physicians assistant or nurse practitioner, I think that is a result of our law suit happy society. Because of the number of frivolous law suits being brought for medical malpractice, which is encouraged by ambulance chasing attorneys, malpractice insurance costs have gone through the roof. This has caused many doctors to give up their practice or have scared students who are potential doctors away from the medical field. This has left a void in competent and qualified doctors. I would venture to say that some of those potential doctors have opted to become attorneys.
There are small towns across America advertising for doctors to open a practice in their towns, because there is no doctor within a reasonable distance. The towns have offered contracts that help pay the doctor's medical school loans provided that the doctor remains in practice in that town for a prescribed amount of time.
There was a story on the news the other week about a new trend where doctors are opening what is exclusive practices. The doctor will accept you as a patient only if the patient agrees to pay an annual membership fee, much like Sam's or Costco. The doctor then limits the number of patients that he accepts in his practice. This guarantees that you will see the doctor and be able to schedule an appointment relatively quickly. Then you are billed for his services. The offices of these practices are very posh and make the patients feel pampered. I'm not sure this type of practice includes house calls.
Now that is an entirely different topic. When was the last time you ever heard of a doctor making a house call? Ironically I was shocked to hear of such an incident yesterday while at the supermarket looking for sale items to purchase using my discount card. I met a friend at the store and we were catching up on how our families were doing when he told me about an accident his wife had. She was walking to the kitchen with some plates when she tripped on a rug. She fell face first to the floor hitting herself in the face with the dishes as she hit the floor. She cut her face and broke off 4 teeth. Their regular dentist was out of town but a local small town dentist was available to see her. NOW GET THIS.... He came to the house to see her on a Friday afternoon. He did what he could at the house but she needed more work. The dentist told them that he had some obligations early on Saturday but if they wanted to come to his office later Saturday morning he would call them and let them know when he had completed his obligations. He called and met them at his office Saturday morning and he completed what was needed to correct the problems she had with the broken teeth.
Well, you could agree with me more, you just have to try! I just hope I never need a doctor!
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