[Future Useless Eater]

A follow-up from the doctor...

September 30, 2010

Dr. William Davis said...

Although I was frustrated by this (very nice) woman's inability or unwillingness to follow a preventive effort, my primary concern here is the aggressive effort to intervene by the insurance doctor.

This is not the only instance of the clamp-down they have been exerting; we've been seeing it in many others ways. For instance, for most of the routine tests we run, including lab work, we have to get the okay of the insurer. Sounds fine, except my staff spends hours every day on the phone telling the insurance person things like "Their last HDL was 67," or nonsense that has nothing to do with justification of testing.

[dangerdoc]

I agree, this should be handled by a group of experts such as surgical grand rounds rather than by the insurer.

On the other hand, is a major surgery an appropriate choice if you have a woman of nearly 80 unwilling to do the simple things to manage her disease?

There is a significant chance of surgery killing her long before the AAA.

In this situation, she may be much better off with aggressive medical intervention and close follow up with a surgeon familiar with her case.