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Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

cancer.nautil.us

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Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#141

Post by HillaryBriss »

CydeWeys wrote: post #114

I abandoned an orthopedist last year because I felt that he was using hard-sell tactics on me to get me to agree to surgery for my broken ankle. Basically, he had a surgery slot open in a few days and it seemed like he wanted to book it, with increasing discounts (including exploding offers!) on the surgery as I kept demurring. He was a referral from the urgent care clinic that I went to immediately following the acc…

maybe it goes without saying, but you also avoided the infection risks which come with surgery.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#142

Post by jacquesm »

CydeWeys wrote: post #100
jacquesm wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, but it's not an absolute: there is no guarantee anybody will get ill, it's rolling the dice with a somewhat higher chance of someone else getting ill but a much bigger chance of you yourself getting ill. As an analogue: if you want to categorize the non-vaccinated person as a 'drunk driver' who is not allowed to partake in traffic then you prioritize (rightly, imo) their choice to be drunk over the risk…

> The counter point (to that convenient strawman :) ) is that the chances of someone getting ill are not as easy to determine and that that someone might have gotten ill anyway. Cause and effect are a lot more distant in that case and much harder to relate to each other. This is wishy-washy logic. There are real evidence/data-based scientific studies that show the specific measurable increase in infections of various…

I'm fully aware that some people will suffer because of this. That doesn't mean that we should force our views and our beliefs on those that do not share those, even if we have the science on our side.

There are some pretty basic elements at play here and if you want to over-rule the right to basic bodily integrity you're going to have to do better than to quote statistics.

By that rule we should force everybody to eat healthy, to have an alcohol lock in every car and so on.

Finally your emotional appeal is nothing but the 'think of the children' argument.

Yes, it is a tragedy, no that does not mean that anti-vaxxers should not have the right to do as they please with their own bodies.

Principles only matter when there is a price to pay and in this case that price could very well be my own child. Even so, I still stand by my support of those that decide otherwise because not to do that means giving the state way too much power over our bodies.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#143

Post by mhneu »

theoneone wrote: post #61
csydas wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, randomly billing me for stuff weeks or months after an appointment with cryptic explanations thoroughly pisses me off -- even it if is only $15.00 (going to get a new podiatrist over that one...). This part gets me a lot as well, and having experienced other pay-for healthcare systems, it's extremely frustrating remembering just how much I would pay in the US even when I had fair insurance through my employer…

So 3000$ for a biopsy: ticket to Greece and back to USA : let's say 1000€. Biopsy procedure if it's ultrasound guided around 300€. Lab fee for examining the biopsy:around 200€ max, maybe less. Hotel room for 2-4 days in Thessaloniki 120€-150€ in a decent hotel. Total:1500€ or even less. All these can be done by highly and well educate medical doctors, treatment in private clinics is very good(since you are paying in…

It's already mostly the other way around.

If you have cancer and can afford it you come to the US for surgery and chemo consults because the best treatment is here.

That's partially because of the money made in US by drug and device makers. But it's mostly because of US government funds spent on research, and because of the US university system with its medical research that attracts minds from all over the world.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#144

Post by mhneu »

cmdrfred wrote: post #74
surgeryres wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So are you going to fly back when the biopsy is positive for your surgery or chemotherapy?

Chemo is often every week or month for a period of time, but the surgery is probably a one off. I'd go for it if I was able.

If you need cancer surgery and you want the best you do the opposite-- fly to the US. E.g. MD Anderson has many patients come from all over the world for surgery.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#145

Post by DanBC »

salesguy222 wrote: post #132
giardini wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fungus or the steroid cream?

Which have you tried? :) p.s: anyone that downvotes this, you should really allow HN to be a place with a small dosage of humor sometimes!!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609289

scott_s

> I agree with what people have already said, but I think there's one more point to add: people usually over-estimate how funny their own comments are. We have a tendency to think, "This idea of mine is hilarious! And different! Surely this witticism is the exception." And we are usually wrong. When you have N people all doing that, there's a lot of noise.

> I try to gently point this out to people who complain when their attempt at humor has been downvoted by the community. It's not that we don't like humor. We just don't like banal attempts at humor, which becomes noise. Or, put in a less charitable fashion, "You're not as funny as you think you are."

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#146

Post by jacquesm »

sxg wrote: post #115
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…

I'm not totally convinced your story with the cup of water was an ego related issue. The workflow of doctors in the hospital is complicated, and different doctors and nurses have different privileges for different patients, which can make things appear to be ego related. In your scenario, you're a post-operative patient. Your primary doctor is likely the surgeon that performed surgery on you. I'm thinking the doctor…

> I'm not totally convinced your story with the cup of water was an ego related issue.

Ok.

> The workflow of doctors in the hospital is complicated, and different doctors and nurses have different privileges for different patients, which can make things appear to be ego related. In your scenario, you're a post-operative patient. Your primary doctor is likely the surgeon that performed surgery on you. I'm thinking the doctor that saw you and wouldn't get a cup of water was a consulting-team doctor that was asked by your primary doctor (the surgeon) to see you.

All that's correct.

Even so, I was in some pretty serious discomfort, the guy asked me if he could do something for me, if I could have I would have gotten up myself and instead we spent a couple of extremely uncomfortable minutes waiting for the nurse (busy elsewhere) to perform a 10 second action. That discomfort could have easily been avoided.

If there was a more complex situation at play then there was plenty of time to explain that but no such explanation was given, when I asked later about why the doctor didn't get me the water himself (to the nurse that got it for me) her answer was because they're too good for that.

So FWIW I think the story is simply as it is at the simplest level without any need to bring in larger scenarios or extra complexity.

After 6 hours of surgery without any water and a tube down my throat a bit of water was not too much to ask for to receive right away, my throat was burning and my tongue was parched.

To me that's basic humanity, it's nothing to do with bureaucracy or complex reasoning, after all if I could have gotten up I would have gotten some water myself.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#147

Post by salesguy222 »

rhizome wrote: post #140
salesguy222 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which have you tried? :) p.s: anyone that downvotes this, you should really allow HN to be a place with a small dosage of humor sometimes!!

Right, without you there would be zero humor on this site.

Rosa Parks wasn't the only person who was a victim of institutionalized racism, but she is uniquely remembered for her form of protest

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#148

Post by tonyedgecombe »

jjordan wrote: post #138
salesguy222 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which have you tried? :) p.s: anyone that downvotes this, you should really allow HN to be a place with a small dosage of humor sometimes!!

If I want to scroll through pages and pages of joke threads, I'll go to reddit. HN is special in its high signal to noise ratio.

There is as much noise here as any other place on the internet, we are not special here.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#149

Post by mhneu »

falcolas wrote: post #84
foobarian wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar experience for a minor hand surgery. The thing is, when I called the insurance company (or was it the billing dept at the hospital? I don't remember) they went like, "oh, that's wrong" and like magic $5000 in bills disappeared. How many people just pay without asking? How many people don't care because it's the insurance co covering the bill? The whole system just seems rife with inefficiency.

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.

Re: Why Did My Patient Leave Me?

#150

Post by greggman »

samirillian wrote: post #118
theoneone wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So 3000$ for a biopsy: ticket to Greece and back to USA : let's say 1000€. Biopsy procedure if it's ultrasound guided around 300€. Lab fee for examining the biopsy:around 200€ max, maybe less. Hotel room for 2-4 days in Thessaloniki 120€-150€ in a decent hotel. Total:1500€ or even less. All these can be done by highly and well educate medical doctors, treatment in private clinics is very good(since you are paying in…

Obviously, the problem with this strategy is uncertainty. Part of the point of healthcare is that other people worry about it so you don't have to. Better the Byzantine, inefficient healthcare system you know than a system you don't know at all. That said, I consider myself lucky to have been in Japan when my lung collapsed. The surgery itself was $80!

I love that japanese medical care is mostly inexpensive compared to the USA but at least 1/2 the doctors and dentists I've visited here over the last 20 years were complete quacks and would not be qualified to practice in he USA. No training to certification is required to be a nurse here. And, if you need special treatments like surgery it's common wisdom you should do your research on your own to find a good doctor a and then pay a several thousand dollar bribe to see them. (of course thats still cheaper than the USA for the same treatment)
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