Election Results

[Miakoda]

Doctors are also damned if they do, damned if they don't.

A doc is sued for malpractice if he doesn't run a bunch of tests, thereby taking a conservative route, and it turns out the patient has a major issue which those tests would e devalued earlier.

A doc is sued for malpractice if he runs a bunch of tests after opting to take a more aggressive diagnostic stance, and it turns out nothing is wrong with the patient.

My uncle is a retired OB/GYN. He might've made a nice salary, but when you pay over $750,000 in medical malpractice insurance, your paycheck doesn't look that great after all.

Another friend of mine is a pediatrician. After 9 years in school, and close to $100,000 in student loan debt, his $110,000/year salary doesn't seem all that great after all.

One of my concerns lies with the government reducing doctors' profits, thereby slashing yearly salaries, what incentive will there be for someone to give up 8-12 years of their life to college and medical school, not to mention the sacrifice of a social and family life?

[Renee750il]

The flip side of that is that it is EXTREMELY difficult to prosecute a medical malpractice case. And expensive. IF you can find doctors and medical professionals who will testify -- IF you can, they don't often do it from the goodness of their hearts. It can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars to pay ONE witness, and docs have special immunity from being subpoenaed, so even if you've paid out $25,000 in deposition costs, your expert may decide to ditch you and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.

They do, however, often testify gratis on each others' behalf.

Frankly, I have to wonder if the insurance industry hasn't used hyperbole and creative statistics to jack up the med/mal insurance rates.

[release the hounds]

Originally Posted by Renee750il

Frankly, I have to wonder if the insurance industry hasn't used hyperbole and creative statistics to jack up the med/mal insurance rates.

They absolutely have do. Anything to do with lawyers makes it an easy target to direct the ire of the masses at. Malpractice rates have risen in the hundreds of %'s over the past decade alone, meanwhile claims and payouts have remained relatively constant for at least the past 20 years.

and it is very difficult to bring about a case in the first place, let alone go to trial or have enough evidence to even win a negotiated settlement, let alone a trial.

Doctors aren't immune either. A lot of the "cover your ass" testing you hear about is a bunch of crap. That we have to test for everything so we don't get sued. A much more realistic portrayal would be saying "we'll treat you to the level of your insurance coverage".

But again, lawyers and lawsuits are easy targets. Nobody is immune. Great example, 82 year old man comes in, an obvious case of shingles. A monkey in med school could have diagnosed him. It took a 2 minute history and a 5 minute exam that asked for nothing more than to look, listen and feel.

He had an accurate and correct diagnosis that cost no more than 100 bucks to figure out. BUT when you're in a large hospital group there are other forces at work than just doctoring. He was immediately scheduled for an MRI at a cost of 1800 bucks, just to "rule things out". But it was mostly because he had a Medicare supplement that covered everything at 100% that medicare didn't cover. Only a single example of many.

If he'd have had medicaid, or no insurance, He'd have been given a script for maybe an antiviral and some topical pain reliever and sent out the door.

[sparks19]

I'm so thankful for my doctor. I hope she doesn't have to pay the price for any of the bad doctors out there

[milos_mommy]

I want to specify, most of the time I don't think the doctors are at fault (although sometimes I certainly think they are).

You know how we all don't trust vets with dog food because dog food companies run the nutrition seminars at vet school? Of course it's slightly different in human medicine, and doctors DO have to take actual, hopefully unbiased classes in all areas of medicine, but when a pharmaceutical company is sponsoring seminars and classes for doctors, how are you supposed to trust they're getting the truth?

[release the hounds]

Originally Posted by milos_mommy

I want to specify, most of the time I don't think the doctors are at fault (although sometimes I certainly think they are).

You know how we all don't trust vets with dog food because dog food companies run the nutrition seminars at vet school? Of course it's slightly different in human medicine, and doctors DO have to take actual, hopefully unbiased classes in all areas of medicine, but when a pharmaceutical company is sponsoring seminars and classes for doctors, how are you supposed to trust they're getting the truth?

You'd like to think that, but sadly a lot dont' know anything more about a new medication than what was told in the sales pitch. There are some that will dig into the research on their own, but not close to all.

[milos_mommy]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

You'd like to think that, but sadly a lot dont' know anything more about a new medication than what was told in the sales pitch. There are some that will dig into the research on their own, but not close to all.

Exactly. And how many times (it happens to me a lot) does a dr put you on a medication, and when it has side effects, they just put you on another medication by the same company, to counter those effects.

Plenty of people think that's ridiculous and just stop taking the first med, or switch to something else, but lots and lots of people don't.

[*blackrose]

Originally Posted by milos_mommy

Exactly. And how many times (it happens to me a lot) does a dr put you on a medication, and when it has side effects, they just put you on another medication by the same company, to counter those effects.

Plenty of people think that's ridiculous and just stop taking the first med, or switch to something else, but lots and lots of people don't.

My dad is a pharmacist in charge of the ICU ward at a hospital. He has told me before that doctors don't know jack when it comes to prescribing something. Lol But, just like in veterinary medicine...you don't like it, get a second opinion. Go see someone else. Ask the pharmacist. Speak to someone. If the medication isn't working for you, that isn't the doctor's fault if they don't know. And if they do want to put you on another medication to counter a side effect, that may be the best thing for what they are trying to treat. It may not. Ask about other options. This works for our pets, dont see why it wouldnt work for us.

[release the hounds]

Originally Posted by *blackrose

My dad is a pharmacist in charge of the ICU ward at a hospital. He has told me before that doctors don't know jack when it comes to prescribing something. Lol But, just like in veterinary medicine...you don't like it, get a second opinion. Go see someone else. Ask the pharmacist. Speak to someone. If the medication isn't working for you, that isn't the doctor's fault if they don't know. And if they do want to put you on another medication to counter a side effect, that may be the best thing for what they are trying to treat. It may not. Ask about other options. This works for our pets, dont see why it wouldnt work for us.

That is how people need to view it. The problem I have with it, is we're schooled and PAID like a professional. Supposed to be the "expert" and why time and knowledge is so expensive because it's supposed to be valuable.

Now if a regular patient is supposed to know enough and be able to have the background knowledge to make informed decisions on medical decisions then why exactly is healthcare so expensive?

A first opinion puts people in the poor house sometimes now they have to go pay for a 2nd one and go further in a hole? and for what? If they don't know, they don't know. If they do, then they are met with resistance for questioning the "expert".

It isn't easy, but certain groups of people are paid the respect and MONEY to KNOW things. I'm glad they all went to school, but doctoring doesn't stop there, that's just the start.

[darkchild16]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

That is how people need to view it. The problem I have with it, is we're schooled and PAID like a professional. Supposed to be the "expert" and why time and knowledge is so expensive because it's supposed to be valuable.

Now if a regular patient is supposed to know enough and be able to have the background knowledge to make informed decisions on medical decisions then why exactly is healthcare so expensive?

A first opinion puts people in the poor house sometimes now they have to go pay for a 2nd one and go further in a hole? and for what? If they don't know, they don't know. If they do, then they are met with resistance for questioning the "expert".

It isn't easy, but certain groups of people are paid the respect and MONEY to KNOW things. I'm glad they all went to school, but doctoring doesn't stop there, that's just the start.

We went through that just now. I KNEW that there was something wrong with Savannah and both the er doc and her doc wrote it off and caused even MORE problems. *I* had to trial and error on the side and TELL the dr what the problem was.

HECK you get that for just asking questions from some drs.

Morgan had a reaction to a vaccine that put him in the hospital. We have been spreading out Savannahs vax's and I asked the dr that saw her last to do it again. She said sure she will just get 2 shots.

She got 2 shots with FIVE vaccines! Ended up having a allergic reaction to her formula AND her shots.