Do you want Govt Health Care?

[DFWAJG 4]

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Hey, if you're not happy with your pay, maybe you shouldn't had gotten into the medical field.
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Maybe, if you're not happy with Aids, you shouldn't have had sex.

I didn't go into medicine for the money. you cannot endure what we as doctor's have to endure, just because of some money. there are much easier ways to make money. It's passion that drives me. And it's rewarding to me when I experience a patient that is no longer suffering because of intervention that I may have contributed to.

Maybe the private doc's are so shitty, not because they aren't nice doctors or because they aren't knowledgable, but because they are overtaxed by work just to keep their practice to break even. The cost of private practice is overwhelming. And because of such low reimbursement, doc's have to see more patients in fewer hours. I was previously in a Family Practice residency. I learned quickly that I because of HMO's and overhead, I would have to see a patient about every 10 minutes to pay for it all. I wanted more time with my patients. I wanted to get to know them. So I went into psychiatry. But HMO's destroyed my field. The only way to break even in my field is to a. Marry a rich man, charge cash and wait 5 years to build a cash only practice, or b. take insurance and see 5 patients per hour. I sooo wanted to have a nice, small private practice where I gave patients the time they needed. I closed 9 months after I opened because I couldn't stay afloat. It was a very successful practice...I just didn't get paid for what I did.

Sadly, the only place where I can get paid what I'm worth is in the California State Prison. I'm scheduled 12 patients a day, and I can pretty much spend as much time with them as I want to spend.

The first comment, is obviously sarcasm and not my true compassionate self. Before you criticize others, you need to walk the criticized shoes.

[freethefly 6]

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Maybe, if you're not happy with Aids, you shouldn't have had sex.

Maybe, you should learn the proper spelling.
Here's a quick lesson... AIDS. It is an acyronm. Its letter are for these words, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

And I am not happy with but, I have learned to deal with it. Had I had known more about it in 94, I'd had taken precaution to protect myself. I was completely ignorant of it and believed that only gay people got it.

You talk about working long hours as if only doctors do such. My last job in a factory had me welding from 3am till 3pm. Long hours under a hood in extreme heat. $17.95 an hour plus time and ahalf. Before that I was welding pipe in the weather from sun up to sun down. When I was testing rail and welds, I was away from home for 3 to 4 months at a time. Usually worked 6 12 hour days. When I would do the Mexican test, I was in Mexico for over 7 months. We worked 7 days a week. A normal work day was from 5am till midnight.
I know plenty of people who put in extremely long hours and work 7 day weeks. Your situation is not uncommon.
I have paid out of pocket for the majority of my medical care since losing my insurance. I know that some on this board will scream "Well, you should! Why should medicare help you out! That money belongs to me!" My point is, is that if I am paying for a service then the doctor that is providing the service best damn do his/her fucking job and I do not give a damn about his/her bills. I care about what it is that I am paying for and it best be right. As a patient, I have the right to expect that I am getting my moneys worth.
According to your figures, a kid at McDonalds makes more money. If so, go flip burgers if you are not happy.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[jenfly00 0]

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My comments were not concerning your hard work, nor your compassion ...just the whining about financial hardship when you have more expensive toys and live better than the vast majority of Americans!

My 'venom' would have directed toward anyone who right out of a basic internship, felt they were sufficiently competent to run an ER.

First of all, I haven't complained about financial hardships. I don't know where you're getting that.

Second, Nobody's competent right out of internship to run an ER. It's scary as hell. But in these little critical access hospitals out in the boondocks, there's nobody else. Residents are the best they have access to. Having a licensed resident available is better than having no physician at all within 60 miles. I don't need YOUR venom to feel the weight of someone dying or having a bad outcome because in an critical emergency I just wasn't good enough. Had they been closer to a larger hospital with physicians with more training they probably would've done better. Your little snide comments don't even make a tiny dent in my feelings about that. But keep on...it's obviously your way.

When recently-licensed residents cover small, rural ERs they're not taking the place of someone more qualified. We're the only ones willing to cover the shifts. It's not like highly-trained ER docs are beating down the doors to cover these little places. MOST people are thankful to have someone. There are SOME people who are gonna bitch about ya' no matter what you do (which is the type of responses I've come to expect from you).

My aim is to be more helpful than harmful (which I completely believe that I am), and that the experience makes me a better physician over the years, which I think it's doing.

linz

An honest response. I appreciate your candor.

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"O brave new world that has such people in it".

[DFWAJG 4]

The first comment, is obviously sarcasm and not my true compassionate self. Before you criticize others, you need to walk the criticized shoes.


you obviously didn't read the above, so I'll paste it here. I'm not blaming you for having your illness. None of us new much about AIDS in '94. And the more we learn, the less we know. Education is prevention. And as an Osteopath, prevention is always primary for me.

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My point is, is that if I am paying for a service then the doctor that is providing the service best damn do his/her fucking job

I whole heartedly agree with you on this. You should get what you pay for. And I expect the same when I pay for my healthcare. And I agree, that I don't always get it. And I have complained.

I'm not unhappy with my job. In fact, as I was walking out of the cell block toward the mental health building, I realized how happy I am with my job. I really love psychiatry. And I see that there is a difference in my patients while they are being treated. I enjoy picking out the malingerers, because I know when they are removed from the truly ill, they can't take advantage of my ill patients. Thus, my patients are protected.

My Point is...don't blame all of healthcare's problems on the doctors. We are doing the best we can with a screwed up system. It becomes very frustrating when, running into brick walls while attempting to treat a patient properly, getting bounced around by insurance companies or hospital politics, etc. I can't tell you how many HMO physicians I've told off on the phone because they deny a patients stay in the hospital when indeed the patient is in dire need of care. Those physicians are sell outs to the system. And I don't like it anymore than you. On one occasion when a floridly manic patients stay was denied by an hmo doc, I just handed the phone over to the patient. The patient obviously didn't want to be in the hospital, but needed to be. I just told the patient "this is your insurance company. They want to know whether or not you need to be here." the patient put on quite a rant for the hmo doc, and the hmo had no choice but to pay for the stay. One of my few "wins" with the insurance companies.

Our healthcare system is not fair, for anyone. Prior to my learning about all of the rules about Cobra, I was turned down by Blue Cross in California. The punch line...I'm one of their providers! The system sucks. I agree. Just don't go blaming everything on the docs. We have less control than you think.

Can't flip burgers..I'm vegan.

[freethefly 6]

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Just don't go blaming everything on the docs. We have less control than you think.

And, I don't. I have stated that many doctors have their hands tied and must abide by the rules of the organization that governs them. Otherwise, they are out of a job.
Please do not believe that I have no respect for doctors, I do. I have no problem cleaning a deer or a rabbit but, I wouldn't want to cut open people. When my finger got cut off (it was only left dangling by some flesh and ligaments), I watched as the doctor re-attached it. He hit it up with a local, No pain. He did some fancy sewing, some caterizing, scraped and cleaned where the sheetmetal went through the joint, put it back together and presto! He was done. He did an A-1 job on it. Definetly worth his pay. My major complaint has been with private practice AIDS Dr.'s. I admit that I do have limited experience with them but, in that limited time frame the experience has not been great. My other complaint deals with billing. I've compared bills that medicare and medicaid paid to bills that I paid the entire amount out of pocket and see that I am paying twice as much than what would had been paid had I had insurance. I wonder why a person without insurance must pay more than what an insurance company pays for the same service? My last visit, over two years ago, took that amount of time to pay off. I do know that ins. companies have the ability to bargain and feel that what they don't pay is then passed on to those who cannot afford or get insurance and in turn, eventually wrote off as the poor cannot fully pay. The poor then becomes the fall guy for the reason of high medical cost. It's a past the buck untill it can't be passed anymore. There is no doubt that there is alot of abuse in the system. It's not just those who run to ER's for every little ache but, it is also Dr's who bill for services not rendered or double bill, it's insurance companies that bargain for the lowest cost to them but still charge high premiums and drop clients when they start using their insurance or just refuse to pay. There is plenty of blame to go around. Sadly, it will continue with no fix insight. It is really the system that needs an operation. The only problem is... who will pay for it?

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young