Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#251

Post by hestipod » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 3:35 PM UTC

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #247

hestipod wrote: post #117

I was preparing to make a long post asking for ideas/help (been saying that for weeks but it's ready and I was waiting to Monday since weekends are slower) This sort of thing ruined my life, cost me everything, and has finally brought me to the precipice. I was convinced 15 years ago to have surgery to "prevent later disability" and it ironically left me disabled and in severe pain. I later found out abroad from seve…

This won't help with the physical problems, but do check out Shinzen Young's material on pain relief. He describes practices that have helped many many people (known as 'sensory splitting' in the western medical world). I personally went from suicidal from chronic pain to being able to enjoy life due to these practices. https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_synop...

Thanks. I have read Young and many other things during this journey. I have taken bits from all that help to some degree but nothing has been able to "completely change my life" as I see some say happened for them. It IS better than without meditation and other techniques...but its still not something I can keep dealing with along with all the practical issues making it worse.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#252

Post by 0568p11xf » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

hliyan wrote: post #37

I live in a 3rd world country (Sri Lanka). Healthcare is not as advanced as it is in the US, but it is decent for all except the most complicated cases. The vast majority of people use the free services at state hospitals. If you want slightly better care, you can go to a private hospital and still come out with most of your wealth intact. I recently had a minor surgery to remove a conjunctival granuloma from my left…

Interesting. There are hundreds of other cost issues in the US in addition to malpractice. Perhaps foremost is the obesity epidemic and the chronic diseases that result from it.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#253

Post by kiliantics » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 12:49 AM UTC

TallGuyShort wrote: post #142

hestipod wrote: post #117

I was preparing to make a long post asking for ideas/help (been saying that for weeks but it's ready and I was waiting to Monday since weekends are slower) This sort of thing ruined my life, cost me everything, and has finally brought me to the precipice. I was convinced 15 years ago to have surgery to "prevent later disability" and it ironically left me disabled and in severe pain. I later found out abroad from seve…

>> vague forms hurridly shoved in front of me as I was being prepped and legally he as allowed to One of the many problems when the legal system has just become "formalities" that only get used by the powerful against everybody else. Last time we had a baby the hospital was so prepared they were able to bill us for the entire pregnancy when we arrived for our first prenatal check-up. But somehow they couldn't show my…

There hasn't really been a time when that wasn't the primary purpose of the legal system

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#254

Post by learnstats2 » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #40

learnstats2 wrote: post #29

The article pins part of its argument on the claim that advances in diagnostics have not changed the death rate for (e.g.) breast cancer during the past quarter century, but a superficial search immediately suggests this to be grossly false. "Death rates from female breast cancer dropped 39% from 1989 to 2015." - all other things being equal, it ought to have increased: age is a risk factor for cancers, and we have a…

There are other likely explanations for that data. If more women are getting screened more frequently then their cancers will be detected earlier and improve survival rate. That doesn't mean the diagnostics tools themselves have improved the survival rate, only that the diagnostic tools are now used more frequently.

There may be other explanations, but the article denies the truth of the data to claim this point.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#255

Post by emiliobumachar » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:19 PM UTC

paulsutter wrote: post #240

emiliobumachar wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doctor needs to be somehow shielded from lawsuits, or they'll be incentivised to give undue weight to the risk of leaving something real untreated.

Good point. Of course, the overdiagnosis is then caused by the legal environment (not the scan). As an individual of course you can always sign a release for your doctor. If he seems uneasy about nontreatment, just write a letter to release him from liability for nontreatment so he knows he can relax and actually consider your wellbeing rather than liability.

Interesting. But you also don't want to bias them toward nontreatment (do you?). I wonder if one would get better outcomes in lawsuit-heavy countries by just starting all interactions with health professionals by handing out unsolicited full liability releases like candy. "I want you to do what you think can work, not what is easy to justify if it fails." Maybe only if one has a particularly difficult health condition.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#256

Post by saint_fiasco » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 6:20 PM UTC

conanbatt wrote: post #128

saint_fiasco wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add a regulation that says every hospital must publish anonimized aggregated patient outcomes. Remove as many other regulations as it would take for them to be willing to compromise and accept this one.

Good reason to shy away care for bad patients if it affects your stats. Surgeons do this today to maintain a high success rate.

Either make that count as a forfeit or hire specialized diagnosticians who make the prognosis and rate the surgeons on how well they do relative to the prognosis.