Medical PSA

[H165]

I have no doubt that he's added several years to my life expectancy, assuming I don't get hit by a bus or something.

In my case I have already benefitted from doctors at a major corporation (Kaiser) adding years to my life, bus or no bus. 16 years ago they serendipitously discovered and treated three asymptomatic blockages in my heart while looking for the cause of an unrelated complaint. I was told my life expectancy was about 90 days if those were left untreated.

I cannnot be convinced that those particular doctors were driven by profit/loss calculations.

[redcrow]

Originally Posted by fazool

TLDR: doctors dont create a for-profit culture in American medicine. Lawyers and insurance agents do.

I have two doctors and two nurses and a nurse practitioner in my immediate family. I was high up in medical device industry.

I have never met any doctor who isn't in it for the medicine.

Our doctors are amazing: their practice was exclusively through a very large HMO. The HMO started dictating how to practice medicine and how much time doctors could spend with patients and how many patients they must see every day.

The entire staff walked out on a Friday and opened up two new practices across town on Monday (where they've been for 20 years). Thast HMO pushed to hard and learned a lesson by being put out of business across the entire state by this.

Doctors care about medicine. Two factors are the culprits:

1) litigiousness : unintended consequence of allowing lawyers to keep 1/3rd of injury/malpractice lawsuits created the massive ambulance chasing industry

2) insurance companies : viewing medicine as a for-profit business and maximizing profit of shareholders

For what it's worth, my assessment of the health care industry is born of almost 30 years of observations as an RRT intensive care practitioner. And I agree that most health care providers genuinely care about the welfare of their clients. However, what they can actually DO about that concern is limited to what insurance officials and politicians are willing to pay for. It's one of the reasons so many front line care givers are abandoning the profession like I did in 1996.

[jpd]

Originally Posted by redcrow

Please remember that in this country, health care is a for profit industry whose primary revenue source is illness. I'm not saying health care providers don't have altruistic motives. The best ones do. Never the less, the care you can get is driven by economics, not by medical need.

HMO's have a basic care system where one size fits all...that is how they make their enormous profit. It is up to you to figure out what the tests and advice are showing...with help from your PCP and specialists. Problem is the advice you get is taken from a scripted play sheet. Never blindly do what your physician(s) recommend until you look at more that just their dogma!

[The Watchman]

. . . and soon enough, AI will take over most of the basic health care business.

[Steve-arino]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

. . . and soon enough, AI will take over most of the basic health care business.

That would be a fantastic use of AI. Certainly not to replace medical professionals, but to help us understand and coordinate care. Goes back to the original intent of this post.

[leew3]

Steve-arino, glad that you're healthy and you're so right. I recently called to schedule a necessary, but unpleasant procedure that should be done every 3 years given my family history. The rather abrupt person answering the phone said quickly 'did we send you a letter?' well, no. I'm advocating on my own behalf that it is time for me to have this scope, so could we please schedule it?

I fear that without this proactive approach it might not have gotten done. Hopefully all is well, and I'll know for sure next month!

[Steve-arino]

Originally Posted by leew3

Steve-arino, glad that you're healthy and you're so right. I recently called to schedule a necessary, but unpleasant procedure that should be done every 3 years given my family history. The rather abrupt person answering the phone said quickly 'did we send you a letter?' well, no. I'm advocating on my own behalf that it is time for me to have this scope, so could we please schedule it?

I fear that without this proactive approach it might not have gotten done. Hopefully all is well, and I'll know for sure next month!

Good for you!! That's the ticket. Advocate for yourself, cause ain't no one else will. I wish you good luck with your test results. Maybe post back when you get them?

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by fazool

TLDR: doctors dont create a for-profit culture in American medicine. Lawyers and insurance agents do.

Well you got it half right. Insurance agents drove up the cost of medical care over the past 50years or so. The lawyers are just doing their jobs keeping the medical folks in check and making sure the bad practitioners don't last long or hurt too many people. Oh yeah, and doctors seem to charge a fortune (more than my lawyer even!) and I don't see too many of them driving junkers or living in shacks.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Talk2Me

... The lawyers are just doing their jobs keeping the medical folks in check and making sure the bad practitioners don't last long or hurt too many people......

That altruism went out the window decades ago.....another unintended consequence.

Very poor people were getting hurt and injured and couldn't hire lawyers to sue on their behalf. Lawyers would not waste their time to risk taking the case of a poor person. To incentivize lawyers to take the case, the government allowed lawyers to receive 1/3rd of a settlement.

This incentivized lawyers to keep filing for more, and more, damages starting the frenzy of ambulance chasing, skyrocketing claims and advertisements of tens of millions of dollars in settlements.

Doctors are not the problem. I would maintain no one should be filthy rich but I would begrudge no doctor from being the highest paid citizen. Personal injury lawyers and malpractice lawyers (I think) make much much much more than the doctors they sue.....even if the doctor didn't drive to court in a junker.

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by fazool

That altruism went out the window decades ago.....another unintended consequence.

Very poor people were getting hurt and injured and couldn't hire lawyers to sue on their behalf. Lawyers would not waste their time to risk taking the case of a poor person. To incentivize lawyers to take the case, the government allowed lawyers to receive 1/3rd of a settlement.

This incentivized lawyers to keep filing for more, and more, damages starting the frenzy of ambulance chasing, skyrocketing claims and advertisements of tens of millions of dollars in settlements.

Doctors are not the problem. I would maintain no one should be filthy rich but I would begrudge no doctor from being the highest paid citizen. Personal injury lawyers and malpractice lawyers (I think) make much much much more than the doctors they sue.....even if the doctor didn't drive to court in a junker.

You're wrong about the income disparity. Doctors make on average $200k per year. A lawyer? $160k.

The contingency fee arrangement did not drive up settlements. No need to settle a case if you're not liable. Mistakes happen. Medical mistakes happen. People who are injured through such a mistake need to be compensated. I know plenty of doctors who whine about their malpractice fees yet admit that if something went wrong it would do serious damage to someone's life and there's no way to make up for it save money for future care. I'm sure they have NO idea how much that costs and clearly wouldn't want to pay out of pocket. Thus insurance (another bunch of cash grabbers) covers the cost.

You "would begrudge no doctor from being the highest paid citizen". I'm not sure why though. They're just doing a job and there's plenty of people that do that don't get anywhere near the pay and work so much harder. Despite what my doctor friends believe they are not gods.