January 29, 2010

Whatever happened to the good old gray haired, reliable family doctor who showed up at our house if we were too sick to travel to his office and prescribed medications that cured us without failing.

These doctors had office hours in limited time because part of their days was spent on house calls. These doctors were reachable on the telephone and not through a third party. There was time when it was even almost pleasant to be sick because we looked forward to see our doctor in our house.

Things changed. Doctors can not be reached anymore. Doctors don't make house calls. If you don't feel good they tell you come in to the office. God forbid you tell them that you can not make it.

As I said it before I live in New York. Maybe in other places, in smaller communities things are different, nicer but here in the Big City that is how things are.

The Hippocratic Oath is an old oath historically taken by doctors swearing to ethically practice medicine.

Hypocrisy is the act of persistently pretending to hold beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually hold. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie.

The way I pronounce these two definitions they seem to be very similar.to one and other. I wonder if am I the only one who sees it that way and, is it my twisted English pronunciation that creates the similarity.

I don't intend this to be an attack on the medical profession but nevertheless it is.

To help people, to heal people, to spend one's life making others life more bearable is an honorable devotion.

I know several doctors within my family and also acquaintances who are good, honest and honorable individuals.

They chose this profession encouraged by an inner force that guided them through the hardships and pitfalls until they reached their desired goals and became full fledged medical doctors.

And they remained true to their dedication throughout their career.

On the other hand we are surrounded with doctors whose career is guided by the mighty dollar. Unfortunately these are the ones that ruin everything for the public.

These doctors not only mastered their craft they also mastered all the tricks of how to play the insurance companies and every institution that compensate them for their services. They inflate their prices, they list procedures that were never used and little by little they all add up to a mountain of unnecessary and wasted cost.

Each doctor thinks that his little extra will not break the system but will help his bank account. But all these little extras together are breaking the system.

And who is paying at the end? We are!

Because of this insurance premiums are skyrocketing, prescription prices are out of this world.

Why is it that a simple office visit that cost maybe $100 if paid in cash will show up on the insurance sheet as a $350 visit plus various procedures combined with it?

No wonder the doctors don't want socialized medicine. If we would have it that would be the end of the country club memberships, the Mercedeses and the fancy house in the upscale neighborhood. Then their demigod status would end and they would be like regular people who have to work for a living.

I asked a friend of mine once, a dentist, how come he knows so much about running a business, insurances and other similar financial things. He told me that in his case in dental school they offered small business management courses. And the dental association provides continuing education that deals with insurance regulations.

I am sure the AMA does the same thing where they teach their members how to circumvent the system and get away with it.

When a doctor has an office on Park Avenue and employs four to six people or even more and has certain equipments in his office we can be sure that his expenditures are huge. This is not even counting his malpractice insurance and other regular expenses. He has to make lots of, lots of money to cover the expenses and have money left for his cushy lifestyle.

The doctor will see more patients in order to make his enterprise more profitable. This means less time spent with each patient and that culminates in deteriorating care.

So what's the result of all this? Inflated costs to the insurance companies, more unpaid charges to be paid by the patients and eventual increase of the premiums.

This is a vicious circle that can not be stopped unless doctors decide to be doctors and stop milking the public.

I accept that doctors hold life or death of their patients in their hands but this is where the Hippocratic Oath should not be confused with Hypocrisy.