Just don't go to the doctor!
Here are just a couple of examples why you might think twice before seeking care.
From bmj.com
How about this one from CBS News
Ok, I'm sure you've got the point now, but here's one more. From the Arizona Daily Star.
Of course these incidences are not the norm, nor are they typical of the types of unnecessary tests, procedures or treatments that are performed by doctors, but neither are they uncommon.
As long as the government continues to reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, as long as insurance companies are permitted to squeeze doctors into providing care for less and less money, and as long as hospitals are required to provide free care to the uninsured, expect to see more of the same.
Like health insurance companies, health care providers are businesses too, and under those circumstances, the only way health care providers can make ends meet, is to insure they see more and more sick patients and treat them, whether they really need it or not. And short of the health insurers providing second opinions out of their own pockets, who is there to dispute an incorrect diagnosis or an inappropriate treatment.
Now I'm not saying that every doctor will act this way. In fact I would give most doctors the benefit of the doubt, that they would not act in such a manner. But neither am I naive enough to think that there aren't any doctors who would.
All I am really trying to say here is, don't put your full faith and trust in your doctor. Not only might your doctor be unscrupulous, but doctors are human, and subject to making errors.
Always seek a second opinion before beginning any treatment, ask questions, review all your tests, research the internet, ask the advice of someone you trust implicitly and make damn sure you agree with the diagnosis and treatment plan, and know all the potential risks.
I did, and that was when I actually believed the US did have the best health care in the world!
Here are just a couple of examples why you might think twice before seeking care.
From bmj.com
Healthcare group agrees $500m settlement for unnecessary surgery
The second largest health provider in the United States, Tenet Healthcare, has agreed to pay nearly $500m (£270m; 390m) to settle claims that doctors did unnecessary surgery at the Redding Hospital, in Redding, California.
The hospital was raided by 40 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2002 after it received reports that doctors were performing numerous unnecessary cardiac operations
How about this one from CBS News
Because The Doctor Isn't Always Right
It was a nagging cough that first sent Chuck Pandrea's wife Janet to her family doctor in Florida. She was then referred [to] a specialist.
"He confirmed that she had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the very early stages. And the sooner we could start treatment, the better it would be," he says of the doctor.
"I went with her every time to, to the treatments. And she'd be sitting in that chair just religiously thinking it's going to make her feel better, make her better. And it didn't happen again," Pandrea says.
Less than three months later, Janet Pandrea was dead.....
Devastated, Chuck requested an autopsy, The Early Show's Dr. Emily Senay reports.
"He told me that she didn't have cancer and never did," ...More
Ok, I'm sure you've got the point now, but here's one more. From the Arizona Daily Star.
Cancer-free: the appalling, shocking news
After living in the shadow of fatal cancer for years, most people would erupt with joy to find they never had the disease at all.
Not so for Janice Lomen. ....
"I just did not know what to do, what to think," Lomen said of the moment she learned she did not have multiple myeloma, a rare, incurable cancer of the bone marrow ....
Not only did she not have the cancer, but the chemotherapy treatment she had received left her at risk of another disease: leukemia....More
Of course these incidences are not the norm, nor are they typical of the types of unnecessary tests, procedures or treatments that are performed by doctors, but neither are they uncommon.
As long as the government continues to reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, as long as insurance companies are permitted to squeeze doctors into providing care for less and less money, and as long as hospitals are required to provide free care to the uninsured, expect to see more of the same.
Like health insurance companies, health care providers are businesses too, and under those circumstances, the only way health care providers can make ends meet, is to insure they see more and more sick patients and treat them, whether they really need it or not. And short of the health insurers providing second opinions out of their own pockets, who is there to dispute an incorrect diagnosis or an inappropriate treatment.
Now I'm not saying that every doctor will act this way. In fact I would give most doctors the benefit of the doubt, that they would not act in such a manner. But neither am I naive enough to think that there aren't any doctors who would.
All I am really trying to say here is, don't put your full faith and trust in your doctor. Not only might your doctor be unscrupulous, but doctors are human, and subject to making errors.
Always seek a second opinion before beginning any treatment, ask questions, review all your tests, research the internet, ask the advice of someone you trust implicitly and make damn sure you agree with the diagnosis and treatment plan, and know all the potential risks.
I did, and that was when I actually believed the US did have the best health care in the world!
Comments
It's more economical to give the patient pills even though research shows that physchotherapy alone is much more beneficial to the patient.
And the worst part is most of the 17 Million American who have been prescrive Prozak alone probably don't even need it They were merely watching a television commercial that told them they did.
Are you tired, have trouble sleeping, feel uncomfortable in a room full of strangers, do people annoy you, are you kids out of control?
If so, you're not alone. It's called life.