Prayers UP!..................
NO!! God Bless Stossel.
Kindred we are.
Prayers all the way!
Another example ofNew York values.....hospitals in other parts of the country..usually red..are superb. I speak from first hand experience
X-rays? I suspect that is how they found the tumor in the first place.
EKG tests? Let's make sure your heart doesn't have some underlying dysrhythmia before surgery.
Echocardiogram? Was something wrong with the EKG? You need an echo so you can be placed on appropriate medications before surgery. It is better to get tuned up before you get on the table than crash during surgery.
Blood tests? Ummm, let's find out if you are anemic, hyponatremic before surgery. Let's also make sure your don't have any bleeding problems before the knife touches your skin.
If he only had obamacare he would be dead.
“answer to consumers”
There are great barriers to entry (med school, hospital certificate of need), so these people and institutions don’t really have to care if you are pleased.
“e-mail”
Doctors don’t have enough time for hands-on care, so they certainly don’t need e-mail burdens added to their workload.
IS he a smoker?
Is he a cigarette smoker?
Stossel is oversimplifying what it takes to effectively treat serious diseases. Just because the diagnosis is lung cancer does not mean that he doesn't suffer from sufficiently serious heart disease making surgery impossible.
I survived multiple medical crises two years ago and owe my life to a team of half a dozen specialists working together to get me through. It cost my insurer a bundle and I don't resent a single dollar of it.
If those doctors live in mansions and drive expensive cars that I can't afford, I'm fine with it.
prayers
An “Our Father” on the way for John. God Bless him!
He might want to wait until he’s done with treatment before he says bad things about the hospital staff.
Yes- prayers for you John.
As a lawyer- I find it astounding that in 2016 there are still a significant amount of doctors and medical institutions using hand written medical records!
I was diagnosed and treated for cancer over three years ago. The short answer to his question is "yes, it's very likely that ALL those tests mentioned are needed."
A longer answer (and I'm surprised that it didn't occur to Stossel before he asked the question), is that communication between doctors and patients is a two-way street. Doctors and nurses may have information to share, but if the patient does not ask the question, the doctor may omit the answer. This is not out of respect, not that they are trying to mislead, or run up a bill. There's a lot going on. If you, as a patient, have a question about your tests, or about your tests results...ask your doctor.
If you, as a patient, are feeling anxious or nervous about hearing a diagnosis or results from a test, take a friend. Take a spouse. Take someone not as emotionally-tied as you that can be your advocate...someone that can write down notes, or be more impartial.
If your doctor doesn't give you or your advocate a satisfactory answer, that's a different story.
Prayers for a speedy and full recovery Mr. Stossel.
[I know you understand, we *believers* pray]
Positive thoughts your way.
I hope he’s correct that he’ll be fine.
Looks like that hospital ranks 20th on the U.S. News list of top cancer hospitals. He’d be better off transferring to Sloan-Kettering also in New York. It’s #2.
When my wife had surgery on her neck after a bad car accident, the experience was so bad that it would take pages and pages to describe completely. When we got the bill it was super expensive, so I demanded an itemized list. It was riddled with errors. We were charged $300 four times for a C-Collar that was literally worth less than $20. I called the insurance company and they said that if I had a problem with it that I needed to contact the hospital and straighten it out with them. After fighting with them for a year, the bill was reduced by half. There were still dozens of problems, but I finally got tired of fighting with them and none of it made any difference with the amount that we were responsible for. But the whole process was insane.
He’s right. I needed a medical test. Repeat customer for both the doctor and the facility. Had to fill out a medical history (at least they are all pretty much online around here, no more filling out by hand) for the doctor, and an almost identical set of forms for the facility. With information that should already be in my files.
The doctor’s office calculated the estimated out of pocket and told me I had to pay that 3 business days before surgery. Turned out, I had to drive over there so they could copy the info from my credit card, but they don’t actually put the charge through until the day of the test. No reason they couldn’t have swiped the card when I showed up for the test.