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Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

cancer.nautil.us

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Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#221

Post by majormajor »

mhneu wrote: post #149
falcolas wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents actually had a doctor's office say "why do you care, insurance is covering it", and the insurance company say "we'll get it fixed, but you realize you won't get anything in return". Yeah, the system is deeply busted.

Lack of price transparency is a huge, huge problem. Without price transparency you can't have a market system -- America already has a socialist health care system because no one can price shop.

Price transparency isn't that useful without outcome transparency.

Outcome transparency without thought about capacity leads to other issues: the best don't have enough time to serve everyone.

We need to figure out how to improve the baseline rather than improve the top-end, which is what things are currently focused on (if my insurance has no problem with me going to a more expensive, highly-regarded provider, why won't I try to get in there?). How is a "market" supposed to work for life-saving surgery?

I would be very interested in how much money is wasted on wrong treatments, unnecessary tests, fixing mistakes like disease transfer in hospitals, versus just paying the best doctors and surgeons for their time.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#222

Post by siculars »

cmahler7 wrote: post #219
giardini wrote: post #81

In my case, - reluctance to diagnose and treat the ailment instead of the symptoms and - simply refusing to hear what the patient says. I had an oozing rash break out behind my knees. The dermatologist said "That'll go away easily if you put some OTC corticosteroid cream on it." Wrong! The rash flared up within hours and nearly ate the flesh off the back of my knees. I happen to know that this indicates a fungal infe…

no disrespect to doctors but you really don't have to be that smart to become one. It's more about being willing to take out 300k in loans and stay in school until you are 30+ years old.

Mate, you couldn't be more wrong. Doctors, on the whole, are just about the smartest folks out there. Are there bad, less intelligent doctors? Sure. If you think it's as simple as "taking out 300k and staying in school until you are 30+" you're delusional and frankly don't know what you're talking about. Math, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology and on and on. These are just some of the areas doctors need to be well versed in.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#223

Post by reboog711 »

madengr wrote: post #213
comicjk wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prednisone pills are substantially more dangerous than cortisone cream, no? The one time I've taken prednisone, I had pretty severe mood swings, which is just one of a dozen notable side effects.

Yes, prednisone is the 5-4-3-2-1 dose to wean you off. Had it recently for bad lung burning from bronchitis, and can work slipped discs in back.

Prednisone is common to reduce inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease or Ulcerative Colitis.

I think my dad also takes it in much lower doses for asthma.

But, it has horrible affects both long and short term.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#224

Post by sndean »

siculars wrote: post #222
cmahler7 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no disrespect to doctors but you really don't have to be that smart to become one. It's more about being willing to take out 300k in loans and stay in school until you are 30+ years old.

Mate, you couldn't be more wrong. Doctors, on the whole, are just about the smartest folks out there. Are there bad, less intelligent doctors? Sure. If you think it's as simple as "taking out 300k and staying in school until you are 30+" you're delusional and frankly don't know what you're talking about. Math, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology and on and on. These are just some of the areas doctors need to be w…

> These are just some of the areas doctors need to be well versed in.

I agree that, on average, doctors are smart. But my newly-minted MD fiancee would be the first to tell you that they're not the "just about the smartest" and that she can basic algebra, no more.

And, for example, they only have to pass introductory physics. My undergraduate university had a special lower-level physics course specifically made for pre-med students.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#225

Post by orbifold »

siculars wrote: post #222
cmahler7 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no disrespect to doctors but you really don't have to be that smart to become one. It's more about being willing to take out 300k in loans and stay in school until you are 30+ years old.

Mate, you couldn't be more wrong. Doctors, on the whole, are just about the smartest folks out there. Are there bad, less intelligent doctors? Sure. If you think it's as simple as "taking out 300k and staying in school until you are 30+" you're delusional and frankly don't know what you're talking about. Math, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology and on and on. These are just some of the areas doctors need to be w…

While I don't think doctors are not smart, the amount of physics, math and statistics they actually learn is laughable and does not really go beyond what they already learned in a good high school. Just like in any profession over time they develop deep expertise in very specific problem areas, but that is not much different than in any other profession.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#226

Post by [deleted] »

siculars wrote: post #222
cmahler7 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no disrespect to doctors but you really don't have to be that smart to become one. It's more about being willing to take out 300k in loans and stay in school until you are 30+ years old.

Mate, you couldn't be more wrong. Doctors, on the whole, are just about the smartest folks out there. Are there bad, less intelligent doctors? Sure. If you think it's as simple as "taking out 300k and staying in school until you are 30+" you're delusional and frankly don't know what you're talking about. Math, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology and on and on. These are just some of the areas doctors need to be w…

[deleted]

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#227

Post by mistersquid »

ThomPete wrote: post #187
mistersquid wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My confusion comes because in my first two citations you suggest requiring patients to pay for most of their basic/non-life-threatening healthcare. You say this, if I'm not mistaken, because "free or semi free" healthcare is "operated as a cost center". That is, by requiring patients to pay for most of their basic healthcare, that cost center will be reduced because patients will be discouraged from seeking "unnecess…

I am saying that because then they start paying for when they go to get treated or for checkups which allow for more money being possible to use on more serious situations. I am not sure where you get that I want less people to go to the doctor. I just want to be able to pay for the situations you can't afford by asking for money in situations where most people can. And yes if you don't have any money then you should…

That makes better sense, but covering costs of extraordinary care isn't an issue in state-provided health insurance (single payer), nor is it an issue with private healthcare insurance.

With single payer, taxes cover the cost of care for everyone. With private insurance, the costs for more expensive care is covered by the premiums of healthier individuals, which is sort of like what you suggest but does not financially punish people who get sick.

What you propose may not be workable (or humane, for that matter) because it distributes the costs of extraordinary care to people who already have more-than-routine care. Presumably these people already have paid their premiums and now would shoulder most of the cost for maladies such as broken bones.

EDIT: add missing word "workable".

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#228

Post by Ultramax »

As someone who deals with chronic joint pain, getting opiod pain relief right now is a fiasco.

It is funny: prescribe pain relief, then act like I'm an addict? Give me a break. Who is selling the opiod epidemic story ad nauseum?

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#229

Post by ams6110 »

foldr wrote: post #93
muninn_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you. Previous office I went to I had to wait more than 30 minutes past my appointment time before being seen by the nurse (before being seen by the doctor) which didn't include "arrive 10 minutes before your appointment". Obviously this is annoying. The third time I showed up to the same office I was 10 minutes late to my appointment, and they told me I would have to reschedule or wait about 45 minutes to an h…

What you appear to want is contradictory. Tolerance for people arriving late is incompatible with having appointments start on time, as everything gets backed up.

Always try to schedule appointments early in the day if you care about timeliness. Less chances for schedules to slip.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#230

Post by ams6110 »

madengr wrote: post #134
jacquesm wrote: post #4

I've done this, without feedback. The reason was that doctors seem to come in several varieties when it comes to bringing their ego to work and my doctor had a serious case of that. I was dehydrated after an operation and when he asked if he could do something for me I asked for some water, the doctor then ordered someone else not in the room to come and get me a glass of water. He couldn't be bothered to walk to the…

Alternate explanation is that the nurses are unionized. Simply filling up a cup of water may result in a greivence against the hospital. More than likeli the Dr. is instinctively covering his ass. I'm an engineer. I can't carry a part from one lab to another. Must have a hourly paid union member do that. If I'm caught and they file a greivance, the company has to pay them 1 hour of my salary, then I get chewed out by…

I worked at a place where to plug something in (computer, lamp, etc) you were supposed to call an electrician. To move a chair from one cubicle to the next you were supposed to call a mover.

They don't do that anymore, as most people ignored these rules.

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