Medical rant

[duff]

To start the story off I have a blister that won't heal. I tried to go to my regular doctor but the stupid plan the county sold me for being a poor college student no longer covers the University Hospital system because they are now out of network(Yay for the county sneaking in a plan just before the PPACA plans were required).

So I call the referral number for my insurance and they send me to Doctor one. The nurse takes all my vitals and leaves the room. Doctor one comes in 45 minutes later and says well with your height and weight you probably have diabetes. Come back tomorrow for a blood sugar test. I was so angry at that point neither the nurse nor the doctor looked at the blister. I finally convinced the doctor to look at it but it looked fine to them so once again come back fasted for a diabetes test. Of course I take the test and no diabetes. In fact my blood test showed extremely healthy results for everything. I leave with the instructions to leave it covered and put vaseline on it.

A few weeks later I still there so I go back to the referral line and explain the problem and how unhelpful the doctor was. So they send me to doctor two. The nurse takes my stats and doctor two walks in a few minutes later. He looks at me and says "You're a big guy you must workout. Do you go to the gym or do martial arts?" I say "Yes" so doctor two says it must be staph so I will write you a scrip for antibiotics. So I said "It doesn't present with redness, the skin isn't warm to the touch, and there is no puss why do you think it's staph?" Doctor two finally looks at it and writes a prescription for a special type of vaseline soaked gauze and says call back in a few weeks.

Finally I was sent to a dermatologist today. Dermatologist spends a few minutes looking at it and consults another doctor and they decide it's an uncommon form of eczema usually brought on by allergys. They write a prescription for corticosteroid cream and antihistamine. 12 hours later it's already looking better than it was.


I am paying you money to heal me. Please at least take a look at me. How can a doctor possibly expect to diagnose something with out even looking at it? I know there are good doctors out there but I have never had a medical problem not go away like this and it messes with your mind. When you couple it with the nonchalance of the person supposed to be taking care of you I was starting to go mad.

[Beer-lord]

That sucks and was a big waste of time and time with sickness could mean death in the worst cases. I'm not taking up for anyone but I can say that having had knee surgery recently, a 45 second send of by a doc for $300 is a bit much. These people usually have too many patients to go with too much paperwork and it's getting worse with insurance problems and an aging population that needs more doctors at the same time that doctors are pissed off about what they're dealing with regarding too many patients.
And, it's only gonna get worse......much worse.

[The_Professor]

You know what they call the guy at the bottom of the class in medical school...


Doctor.

[RickBeer]

The quality of our healthcare system is dropping day by day. The lack of an adequate feedback system where ratings of doctors / hospitals / clinics can be seen doesn't help.

Recently we got involved with the care for some very elderly relatives one of whom is driven to see medical professionals all the time and has been for decades. This person would go from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist, until someone gave them the treatment they desired, most often not needed.

As we took over managing their care, we searched for geriatric specialists. Far and few between, then subtract those that won't take new patients and you are left with a 3-4 month wait for initial appointments (follow-up appointments aren't an issue, just new patients). Old people talk and talk, and physicians need to listen for however long it takes. Expert we found says in 2nd appointment - "Medicare pays me for a 15 minute visit, you have 3 minutes left". Unbelieveable.

We also found that the lack of record sharing between facilities, coupled with those that don't use electronic records or those that don't document visits for weeks compounds problems.

It's not getting better, it's getting worse.

[braukasper]

Tell me about. I am still in the hospital and what sucks is this is the 8th time this year with no answers

[RickBeer]

Or are you? In Matchstick Men, Nicholas Cage woke up in a "hospital" and then discovered it was a freight container on the roof of a parking garage.

Bob, are you at U of M? You said before it was a great hospital.

[duff]

I loved the UofM Health System when I used it. They seemed to make all their info available even when I went to St. Jo's for surgery because that's where my eye doctor recommended. Also I found a primary care physician that would put up with all my questions and wasn't afraid to say "I don't know, I'll get some more info and email it to you."

It still just boggles my mind that 2 doctors didn't even take the bandage off to see the woumd before diagnosing it.

I feel for you braukasper. Mine was only 3 doctor visits not even full hospital stays and it was making me a not happy person. Best of luck and hopefully you get a good diagnosis soon.

As to your treatment shopping relative RickBeer I think some doctors have just given up on actually telling people what they should do and just let the patient do what they want. I have a friend that was diagnosed with stage 2 hypertension at the beginning of the summer. He's on 3 different blood pressure drugs. I've been trying to get my friend to lose weight and get in shape and look at changing his diet to see if he can't at least reduce the amount or dose of the meds he needs to take. His doctor just said well salt doesn't have that big of an effect on you blood pressure and exercise may or may not help. I then found out recently my friend just calls in to see he has an ear infection and the doctor writes an amoxycillin scrip for him. No wonder americans aren't getting healthier.

[RickBeer]

Medicare just pays and pays, so if it costs the patient little to nothing there is no reason not to go.

[DaYooper]

The whole "referal" bs is crazy. You see a primary for something he is not familiar with so he can refer you to someone else (his buddy?), delaying treatment and taking yet more time out of your life in the waiting room. I have been lucky in that early on I saw a doctor that brought me into this world so he knew when I should come in or when he could do stuff over the phone for free. With a new job he was then out of the plan although I still use him out of pocket for some things especially when I know it will save me time (=money as well). Now, I am lucky enough to be married to an ER nurse so she knows all the doctors and my primary so she pretty much tells him what he will do with respect to referrals, etc. Shoot, last time I was there she barged in and drew my blood for the physical "so it was done right."

Insurance for doctors is astronomical as well. I mean, who else gets sued for saving - or trying to save - a life other than doctors? "I am alive but you hurt me so give me money."

[Crazy Climber]

Lots of things to agree with in this thread.

A frustration of mine is that a lot of doctors tend to “lock in” on the first thing you say or the first thing they notice, and ignore everything after that. I’ve learned the hard way to always get to the most important point right up front. I used to employ the timeline approach (“it started with…then two weeks later I noticed…”), but as I said, some docs will assume that the first piece of info they hear is THE most important piece of info, and they’ll not even hear you when you get to the truly-important stuff.

Another pet peeve is the fact that some doctors are preoccupied with technology/documentation, and not the patient in the room. (Some of that is forced upon them by electronic records requirements.) I have a very good primary care doctor, but even he tends to spend 80% of his time typing and clicking on his laptop, rather than listening to what I’m telling him. I saw a doctor once who used voice recognition software to dictate his notes into his computer system. It sure had the wow factor, but it took so much longer for him to speak his notes into the software -- and correct any mistakes it made -- than it would take for him to just use a little voice recorder or piece of paper. Technological overkill.

I’ve got plenty of thoughts on the way care is paid for, too, but that would require way more words than any of you are willing to read…even in a “rant” thread!

[teutonic terror]

Medicare just pays and pays, so if it costs the patient little to nothing there is no reason not to go.

Alot of doc's aren't accepting these patients anymore.

That placard has been up at my doctor's office for two years now, and they are one
of the more liberal in town.

[docpd]

I find it both enlightening and disheartening to hear of all the issues you all are having in dealing with doctors and the medical system. Duff, you are right to be pissed off. You cannot diagnose a skin condition without looking at it!

Part of the problem for doctors is that the insurance companies and government (medicare and medicaid) keep cutting what they pay. The doctor's costs keep going up, we have ever more burdonsome and expensive regulations to meet, and more requirements to document everything. As a result they must see more patient in less time and it is the patients who suffer.

Electronic medical records produce better data, but are complex to use. Most doctors hate being "data entry technicians" and we realize that the computer puts a barrier between us and our patients but we are forced to use them. By next year failur to use an EMR will trigger ever larger penalties from the government. Many docs are getting burned out. I have spent my entire adult life trying to provide the best care possible for my patients. As a family doctor, I never expected to get rich, but have struggled to put my kids through college, pay my bills, and save for retirement. Many of my college classmates who got business degrees because they were not "smart enough" to go to med school have made far more than I ever will and are retired. I would not change my choice however. Despite all the hassles, I consider caring for people the best profession in the world, and I am sorry a few physicians don't provide the care their patients need and give the rest of us a bad name.

[duff]

I had a similar discussion with a friend of mine that is a dentist about the money. He gets frustrated sometimes because everybody thinks that doctors and dentists work 20 hour weeks and make money hand over fist. His first job out of dental school was his highest paying but he had a moral problem because the place was run like a factory line on old/poor people who had medicare. Nobody was getting proper treatment it was just the fastest possible cleaning, filling, or whatever needed to be done and then get out of here. Now he has switched to another company but works in 2 different cities and makes a decent amount. But when you consider he has 8 years worth of school loans to try to pay off in addition to his living costs it's really not all that much money. Sure there are some doctors or dentists that are rolling in the dough but it's not all of them.

I have to say I am a lot less angry now because my hand is clearing up so fast. Also I am on much better insurance now and can go back to my original doctor, it took me years to find a doctor that would put up with my questions and give me good answers as well as flat out tell me what I needed to hear. Not being able to go to a doctor that you have established a good relationship with has become outright terrifying to me now.

[braukasper]

my biggest B with them is they do not listen. been hospitalized 8 times this year for the same things. NO RESULTS!! Each Doc has a different opinion.

[DaYooper]

my biggest B with them is they do not listen. been hospitalized 8 times this year for the same things. NO RESULTS!! Each Doc has a different opinion.

Or they "listen" too much. Son's friend got back from the hospital and told my wife (a nurse) the tests. He asked how much. She replied "since you have no insurance, it will be about $2,800." Seems they ran every test under the sun on him rather than "let's try this test, and if not then we will try this." Not life threatening by any means. But, when he got the bill since he was paying cash it was around $300. So, those who have insurance get whacked which drives insurance up while those who don't get subsidized by the crazy insurance premiums others are paying. Who says we havent had Obamacare all along.