Posted on 11/18/2008 1:18:58 PM PST by socialismisinsidious
Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
And 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The lawyers and the government are destroying the US health care system. The scumbag lawyers are just greedy, but the government is trying to bring in socialized medicine. I’ve talked to several doctors and pharmacy owners who are getting out as soon as they can by taking early retirement even though they could have another 10-20 productive years.
Honest answer: negligence is whatever a panel of twelve of your nitwit neighbors say it is.
John Edwards built a 28,000 square foot house on the foundation of this time tested legal principle.
I don’t think a cardiac surgeon will ever be treated quite as lowly as a Family doc. The listening and thinking specialties — Women’s health, geriatrics, pediatrics, psychiatrists and those of us who do it all as Family Physicians — will be discounted, but the super-sub-specialists will be much more likely at least be paid at the top of the scale.
On the other hand - you may not want her to hang out with the cardiovascular surgeons - by the time they win a fellowship, most of them become mean. Some even out later, thank goodness.
True, I was thinking of general surgery, ortho and CV.
“Just wait until the government steps in and pushes for docs to see more patients/hour.”
Judging from England they won’t do that. If anything they will decrease the number of patients seen.
“If you can’t show that you are legally in this country, you should have your bleeding staunched and get a bus ticket to Mexico.”
While I agree that illegals should not be given the red carpet treatment your proposal is quite dangerous.
Prove your innocent or face the consequences. Get mugged and shot and wake up in Tijuana. Yep that’ll work.
Re: “You need at least 8 additional years of higher education and another 4 years of internship to become a credentialed surgeon.
Under Socialized Medicine, they would earn no more than a welder or a car salesman.
Who needs that?”
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Just like the old Soviet Union, circa 1976. When I was there in ‘76 we were told that everyone had a “job” and that a taxi driver earned the same as a physician. There’s a real motivator, eh?
Texas rocks!
Listen to this — an old (true)story from the seventies:
A family friend in NYC, highly respected and wealthy executive had a middle-aged wife who suffered some sort of hideous brain aneurysm. One of the very best neurosurgeons in the city was summoned and performed surgery.
Unfortunately, something peculiar happened during surgery, a total accident, so that the patient went into a coma and stayed in that coma for nearly a year. Finally the family “pulled the plug” realizing there was nothing more to be done. Remember, this was the seventies.
The renowned neurosurgeon was devastated along with the family. Some people told the widower to sue the heck out of the surgeon but you know, this very intelligent, reasonable widower, recognizing there was absolutely nothing to be gained from such a lawsuit, refused to sue the surgeon. He knew it was an accident, not intentional, and wished to put it all behind him. I thought that was just about the classiest decision I’d ever heard of.
Imagine something like that happening now in today’s litigious world. I doubt it would ever happen like that now.
OK, I’ll bite... who won?
I went to school with a doc who moved to Canada to work (because of his wife). He says he likes working there because it is strictly an 8 hour a day job. He can go home at the end of the shift and pass the patient along to someone else at the practice. I was kind of shocked to hear him say that, but he basically swallowed the socialist hook and turned his back on medical care on a personal level. He doesn’t care if the patient returns or not because there is always another patient coming down the line.
Unfortunately, although don't have the same degree of government meddling in the American medical system as Canada - at least not yet - there are all too many MDs in the US who will acquiesce to socialized medicine. The American Medical Association (AMA) has been tilting left for decades. The major medical group on our side of the fence is the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).
Thanks. Full disclosure: I am keenly aware of the scholarly definition of “negligence”. Although I personally have not been involved in a lawsuit I know quite a few Docs (including some of my partners) that have been sued.
Tort reform in Texas has worked pretty darn well. Malpractice rates are down, and the number of Docs trying to get their license in Texas has markedly increased. Tort reform has worked so well, in fact, that there are rumblings of the plaintiff attorneys and the defense attorneys working together in lobbying to get it changed (increasing the limits) or even eliminated.
Then they could get a bailout like the UAW.
Wait until they see the new income tax rates. There will be a rush for the door.
What is the incentive for a bright student to go to med school these days? Fierce competition all through school to get top grades with small shot at admission to a reputatble med school; if admitted, endless days and nights for years on end, big debt for tuition, don’t make any income at all till age 25 or older, depending on specialty ... all while your contemporaries are out starting their lives and careers.
Then you invest in an office, equipping it, hiring staff .. but mostly paying malpractice insurance so you can treat medicaid/medicare clients and make maybe fifty cents on the dollar.
Certainly, there are those called to heal, but it’s at a high cost.
why bother doing the tough jobs anymore...
Nobody likes being a wage slave either.
Atlas is Shrugging.
Good insight. I know a few mean (neuro)radiologists myself, and after reading your post, vow to treat our own FP even better than I have in the past.
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