Comments on: Why I’m A Bad Doctor – Part 2

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:06 +0000

Bravo for speaking out and shedding some light on the fallacies of Medicare “law”.

I wish I had a doctor that paid more attention to individual issues like you do. Instead, I am labelled as a hypochondriac with fibromyalgia. Trouble is, the symptoms aren’t specific to fibro and I feel as if they are tired of seeing me and are shoving me out the door with any diagnosis just so they can say they did something to help me. I could cry right now. I’ve had it with the doctors group in my area and can’t afford to travel to get a second opinion.

Oh, and let’s not forget the six years I didn’t have health insurance, couldn’t afford private insurance, and my state no longer offers adult coverage due to budget cuts. Nothing says “shortcuts” and “speedy service” like knowing your patient can’t pay for scans and lab work.

Forget it. Sadly, many doctors in my are are NOT like you. I’ve lost trust in them.

By: FooFighter

FooFighter — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:48:25 +0000

Bravo! Never a truer word spoken. Another variant is “In a bureaucracy, all work achieved is simply a by product of repeated delegation”

By: teachme

teachme — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:56:22 +0000

Hey, sounds like you medical professionals are getting the same deal teachers got years ago! The administration devises the standards and metrics, then you get to adjust your lesson plans to cover the metrics. Soon, you spend more time trying to please the metrics than teaching the kids. This started in schools 20 years ago – how’s those student test scores looking now? Expect your patients’ health to look just as dismal 20 years from now.
As far as adding additional documentation, I assume you do your notes on a computer. Take the time to write all those standard phrases and keep it on your desktop. That way you just have to cut and paste the appropriate phrases. Yes, it still takes time, but not as much as typing it all out each time.

By: Highlights from the Health Reform Bill « WhiteCoat’s Call Room

Highlights from the Health Reform Bill « WhiteCoat’s Call Room — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:25:18 +0000

[...] However, the government does plan to establish a “quality reporting initiative” for end of life care that will essentially coerce physicians into doing what the government wants under the threat of being deemed a “low quality provider” if the physician does not comply. If the government states that “quality care” for end of life involves removing life support on patients that show no improvement after 72 hours, any physician that keeps comatose patients on life support longer than 72 hours will get quality “demerits” from the government. The government may then use those demerits to dock the physician’s pay or to post the physician’s name as providing “low quality” end of life care on some web site. Think about a tremendous database of physicians similar to the “HospitalCompare.gov” web site now. Because of Hospital Compare, hospital administrators strive to be at 100% “quality” even though “good” care may sometimes cause excessive costs without benefit, may be more likely to misdiagnoses and wrong treatments (I commented on this issue previously and the link to the actual article on a government website mysteriously went bad), or may even be more likely to contribute to patient deaths. [...]

By: The Oncoming Train | Musings of a Distractible Mind

The Oncoming Train | Musings of a Distractible Mind — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:08:06 +0000

[...] of misguided guidelines that were supposed to increase quality, but ended up hurting patients (a good example was given by ER physician White Coat). So how can quality be encouraged without causing these [...]

By: E Collemo

E Collemo — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:35:09 +0000

It’s the first time I comment here and I should say that you provide us genuine, and quality information for bloggers! Great job.

By: How following hospital quality measures can kill patients | Telecom News

How following hospital quality measures can kill patients | Telecom News — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:56:21 +0000

[...] quality measures can make or break a hospital’s reputation, especially if they are being widely advertised. [...]

By: How following hospital quality measures can kill patients « The ACUTE CARE Blog: Non-Urban Emergency Medicine

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:41:12 +0000

[...] Kevin MD’s comments on WhiteCoat’s [...]

By: Bad juju « DUNCAN CROSS

Bad juju « DUNCAN CROSS — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:49:29 +0000

[...] blog under the headline: “How following hospital quality measures can kill patients.” Whitecoat’s complaint is that HospitalCompare.hhs.gov has labeled him “downright dangerous”. Kevin sums up [...]

By: anon

anon — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:19:01 +0000

"This is the thing that will be happening if we end up with UHC. You’ll have people with no real background deciding who will get treated for what disease." Hell, we have that already! Insurance company paper-pushers decide what tests and treatments are permitted or not permitted, and the patient's health needs be damned! Since when are unlicensed non-medical professionals allowed to effectively practice medicine??? I went several rounds with an insurance company almost 20 years ago - had two different doctors saying yes, I needed surgery. The insurance buffoons said no, not necessary in their response letters. So I called the company and was told that my case didn't fit the criteria, so no authorization and no pay-out if I went ahead and had the procedure. I asked what were the criteria? I don't know. A committee makes those decisions; they know what they are. OK, can I talk to one of the committee members? NO. Nobody gets to talk to them! What they didn't count on were my being blessed with two wonderful doctors who wouldn't tolerate having their patients' care dictated by desk jockeys, and weren't afraid of a fight. Thanks to them, the company finally caved in.