Guest guest Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 In a message dated 10/13/2009 10:33:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time, summedic@... writes: Amen to that. This is why medicare, medicaid and private insurance rates are so high. All due to misuse of our medical system. Good thing fraud, over charging for things like 4x4's ($ 62.50 for two boxes in my one in Patient case last year) and ridiculous malpractice suits don't ever come into play. If all the abuse stopped in a week from the Patient side of health care (not just EMS mind you) we'd still have a pretty FUBARed system in the US. ever even hear anyone in Jefferson's funny city have the balls to try these two words TORT REFORM? Sorry Gene et al with the JD's on the list. Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI Freelance Consultant/Trainer/Author/Journalist/Fire Protection Consultant LNMolino@... (Cell Phone) " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude " " Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people " Eleanor Roosevelt - US diplomat & reformer (1884 - 1962) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 Amen to that. This is why medicare, medicaid and private insurance rates are so high. All due to misuse of our medical system. A portrait of America > I present this article from the EMED-L list, without comment, for your > consideration. > > GG > > with apologies to Doc Holiday and all my non-American colleagues.... > > We have become a nation of whining hypochondriacs, and the only way to fix > a broken health-care system is for all of us to get a grip, says DR. > THOMAS > A. DOYLE > Sunday, October 11, 2009 > Pittsburgh Post-Gazette > Emergency departments are distilleries that boil complex blends of trauma, > stress and emotion down to the essence of immediacy: What needs to be > done, > right now, to fix the problem. Working the past 20 years in such > environments has shown me with great clarity what is wrong (and right) > with our > nation's medical system. > It's obvious to me that despite all the furor and rancor, what is being > debated in Washington currently is not health-care reform. It's only > health-care insurance reform. It addresses the undeniably important issues > of who is > going to pay and how, but completely misses the point of why. > Health care costs too much in our country because we deliver too much > health care. We deliver too much because we demand too much. And we demand > it > for all the wrong reasons. We're turning into a nation of anxious wimps. > I still love my job; very few things are as emotionally rewarding as > relieving true pain and suffering, sharing compassionate care and actually > saving > lives. Illness and injury will always require the best efforts our medical > system can provide. But emergency departments nationwide are being > overwhelmed by the non-emergent, and doctors in general are asked to treat > what > doesn't need treatment. > In a single night I had patients come in to our emergency department, most > brought by ambulance, for the following complaints: I smoked marijuana and > got dizzy; I got stung by a bee and it hurts; I got drunk and have a > hangover; I sat out in the sun and got sunburn; I ate Mexican food and > threw up; I > picked my nose and it bled, but now it stopped; I just had sex and want to > know if I'm pregnant. > Since all my colleagues and I have worked our shifts while suffering from > worse symptoms than these (well, not the marijuana, I hope), we have > understandably lost some of our natural empathy for such patients. When > working > with a cold, flu or headache, I often feel I am like one of those cute > little > animal signs in amusement parks that say " you must be taller than me to > ride > this ride " only mine should read " you must be sicker than me to come to > our > emergency department. " You'd be surprised how many patients wouldn't > qualify. > At a time when we have an unprecedented obsession with health (Dr. Oz, > " The Doctors, " Oprah and a host of daytime talk shows make the smallest > issues > seem like apocalyptic pandemics) we have substandard national wellness. > This > is largely because the media focuses on the exotic and the sensational and > ignores the mundane. > Our society has warped our perception of true risk. We are taught to fear > vaccinations, mold, shark attacks, airplanes and breast implants when we > really should worry about smoking, drug abuse, obesity, cars and basic > hygiene. > If you go by pharmaceutical advertisement budgets, our most critical > health > needs are to have sex and fall asleep. > Somehow we have developed an expectation that our health should always be > perfect, and if it isn't, there should be a pill to fix it. With every > ache > and sniffle we run to the doctor or purchase useless quackery such as the > dietary supplement Airborne or homeopathic cures (to the tune of tens of > billions of dollars a year). We demand unnecessary diagnostic testing, > narcotics > for bruises and sprains, antibiotics for our viruses (which do absolutely > no > good). And due to time constraints on physicians, fear of lawsuits and the > pressure to keep patients satisfied, we usually get them. > Yet the great secret of medicine is that almost everything we see will get > better (or worse) no matter how we treat it. Usually better. > The human body is exquisitely talented at healing. If bodies didn't heal > by themselves, we'd be up the creek. Even in an intensive care unit, with > our > most advanced techniques applied, all we're really doing is optimizing the > conditions under which natural healing can occur. We give oxygen and > fluids > in the right proportions, raise or lower the blood pressure as needed and > allow the natural healing mechanisms time to do their work. It's as if you > could put your car in the service garage, make sure you give it plenty of > gas, > oil and brake fluid and that transmission should fix itself in no time. > The bottom line is that most conditions are self-limited. This doesn't > mesh well with our immediate-gratification, instant-action society. But > usually > that bronchitis or back ache or poison ivy or stomach flu just needs time > to get better. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning wasn't your > doctor > being lazy in the middle of the night; it was sound medical practice. As a > wise pediatrician colleague of mine once told me, " Our best medicines are > Tincture of Time and Elixir of Neglect. " Taking drugs for things that go > away > on their own is rarely helpful and often harmful. > We've become a nation of hypochondriacs. Every sneeze is swine flu, every > headache a tumor. And at great expense, we deliver fantastically prompt, > thorough and largely unnecessary care. > There is tremendous financial pressure on physicians to keep patients > happy. But unlike business, in medicine the customer isn't always right. > Sometimes a doctor needs to show tough love and deny patients the quick > fix. > A good physician needs to have the guts to stand up to people and tell > them that their baby gets ear infections because they smoke cigarettes. > That > it's time to admit they are alcoholics. That they need to suck it up and > deal > with discomfort because narcotics will just make everything worse. That > what's really wrong with them is that they are just too damned fat. > Unfortunately, this type of advice rarely leads to high patient > satisfaction scores. > Modern medicine is a blessing which improves all our lives. But until we > start educating the general populace about what really affects health and > what a doctor is capable (and more importantly, incapable) of fixing, we > will > continue to waste a large portion of our health-care dollar on treatments > which just don't make any difference. > > Read more: > http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09284/1004304-109.stm#ixzz0TjPscpNR > > > > > > > > -- > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 Gene, -having just opened up an invoice from the emergency physicians group which serves christus santa rosa children's hospital in san antonio and perusing the 2 line items (physician charge and pulse oximetry), I get it. The charge was over $1100.00, and the insurance contractual allowance did away with the $38.00 pulse-ox charge. My son received excellent care in the er, and in the hospital(he bought an admit for exacerbation of asthma that my pcp and I couldn't get turned around at home). My point is, during the er visit(early september, before the flu hit) I watched as entire families were being marched through the er. There was a high school kid bigger than me whose mom had 4 kids being checked out at once. Are you kidding me!!! My son was triaged promptly, and was moved into the er promptly based upon the findings; I asked the nurse assigned to us how she coped with the numbers, and how much abuse of the ER was there? She replied that there was definitely a majority of work that could be handled in a non-emergency clinic. I am paying what I was billed(deductible), and I know that I am paying for the masses of people that receive care in true emergencies who don't have the money to pay, and I'm paying for the absolute abuse of the system that poverty and/or apathy bring about. Nice article. Thank you for sharing. Socialized medicine still isn't the answer. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed A portrait of America > I present this article from the EMED-L list, without comment, for your > consideration. > > GG > > with apologies to Doc Holiday and all my non-American colleagues.... > > We have become a nation of whining hypochondriacs, and the only way to fix > a broken health-care system is for all of us to get a grip, says DR. > THOMAS > A. DOYLE > Sunday, October 11, 2009 > Pittsburgh Post-Gazette > Emergency departments are distilleries that boil complex blends of trauma, > stress and emotion down to the essence of immediacy: What needs to be > done, > right now, to fix the problem. Working the past 20 years in such > environments has shown me with great clarity what is wrong (and right) > with our > nation's medical system. > It's obvious to me that despite all the furor and rancor, what is being > debated in Washington currently is not health-care reform. It's only > health-care insurance reform. It addresses the undeniably important issues > of who is > going to pay and how, but completely misses the point of why. > Health care costs too much in our country because we deliver too much > health care. We deliver too much because we demand too much. And we demand > it > for all the wrong reasons. We're turning into a nation of anxious wimps. > I still love my job; very few things are as emotionally rewarding as > relieving true pain and suffering, sharing compassionate care and actually > saving > lives. Illness and injury will always require the best efforts our medical > system can provide. But emergency departments nationwide are being > overwhelmed by the non-emergent, and doctors in general are asked to treat > what > doesn't need treatment. > In a single night I had patients come in to our emergency department, most > brought by ambulance, for the following complaints: I smoked marijuana and > got dizzy; I got stung by a bee and it hurts; I got drunk and have a > hangover; I sat out in the sun and got sunburn; I ate Mexican food and > threw up; I > picked my nose and it bled, but now it stopped; I just had sex and want to > know if I'm pregnant. > Since all my colleagues and I have worked our shifts while suffering from > worse symptoms than these (well, not the marijuana, I hope), we have > understandably lost some of our natural empathy for such patients. When > working > with a cold, flu or headache, I often feel I am like one of those cute > little > animal signs in amusement parks that say " you must be taller than me to > ride > this ride " only mine should read " you must be sicker than me to come to > our > emergency department. " You'd be surprised how many patients wouldn't > qualify. > At a time when we have an unprecedented obsession with health (Dr. Oz, > " The Doctors, " Oprah and a host of daytime talk shows make the smallest > issues > seem like apocalyptic pandemics) we have substandard national wellness. > This > is largely because the media focuses on the exotic and the sensational and > ignores the mundane. > Our society has warped our perception of true risk. We are taught to fear > vaccinations, mold, shark attacks, airplanes and breast implants when we > really should worry about smoking, drug abuse, obesity, cars and basic > hygiene. > If you go by pharmaceutical advertisement budgets, our most critical > health > needs are to have sex and fall asleep. > Somehow we have developed an expectation that our health should always be > perfect, and if it isn't, there should be a pill to fix it. With every > ache > and sniffle we run to the doctor or purchase useless quackery such as the > dietary supplement Airborne or homeopathic cures (to the tune of tens of > billions of dollars a year). We demand unnecessary diagnostic testing, > narcotics > for bruises and sprains, antibiotics for our viruses (which do absolutely > no > good). And due to time constraints on physicians, fear of lawsuits and the > pressure to keep patients satisfied, we usually get them. > Yet the great secret of medicine is that almost everything we see will get > better (or worse) no matter how we treat it. Usually better. > The human body is exquisitely talented at healing. If bodies didn't heal > by themselves, we'd be up the creek. Even in an intensive care unit, with > our > most advanced techniques applied, all we're really doing is optimizing the > conditions under which natural healing can occur. We give oxygen and > fluids > in the right proportions, raise or lower the blood pressure as needed and > allow the natural healing mechanisms time to do their work. It's as if you > could put your car in the service garage, make sure you give it plenty of > gas, > oil and brake fluid and that transmission should fix itself in no time. > The bottom line is that most conditions are self-limited. This doesn't > mesh well with our immediate-gratification, instant-action society. But > usually > that bronchitis or back ache or poison ivy or stomach flu just needs time > to get better. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning wasn't your > doctor > being lazy in the middle of the night; it was sound medical practice. As a > wise pediatrician colleague of mine once told me, " Our best medicines are > Tincture of Time and Elixir of Neglect. " Taking drugs for things that go > away > on their own is rarely helpful and often harmful. > We've become a nation of hypochondriacs. Every sneeze is swine flu, every > headache a tumor. And at great expense, we deliver fantastically prompt, > thorough and largely unnecessary care. > There is tremendous financial pressure on physicians to keep patients > happy. But unlike business, in medicine the customer isn't always right. > Sometimes a doctor needs to show tough love and deny patients the quick > fix. > A good physician needs to have the guts to stand up to people and tell > them that their baby gets ear infections because they smoke cigarettes. > That > it's time to admit they are alcoholics. That they need to suck it up and > deal > with discomfort because narcotics will just make everything worse. That > what's really wrong with them is that they are just too damned fat. > Unfortunately, this type of advice rarely leads to high patient > satisfaction scores. > Modern medicine is a blessing which improves all our lives. But until we > start educating the general populace about what really affects health and > what a doctor is capable (and more importantly, incapable) of fixing, we > will > continue to waste a large portion of our health-care dollar on treatments > which just don't make any difference. > > Read more: > http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09284/1004304-109.stm#ixzz0TjPscpNR > > > > > > > > -- > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.