Posted on 09/01/2012 8:36:40 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
SHREWSBURY, Mass. — Ida Davidson is the first to admit her weight goes up and down, but the Shrewsbury resident said she was stunned when a new primary care physician said she could not become a patient because she weighed more than 200 pounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at wcvb.com ...
If a physician accepts a patient, they have taken on an obligation to treat and not abandon the patient. But since Lincoln freed the slaves, they cannot be forced to accept a patient. Zero may change that, but for now slavery is still against the law.
If the patients are mobile without assistance, I’m not sure how the doctor’s staff gets injured. Even helping the patient balance while she’s climbing onto the exam table could lead to injury, but in that case the patient could be examined in a chair or standing. I’ve seen dentist-style chairs used in dermatology offices, which would be an extra expense but allows the patient to be raised up and reclined.
If the the doctor sees HMO patients, she might be concerned about the capitation (set fee for each patient) and the higher potential costs in treating overweight patients.
I’m a nurse and an EMT, and I really don’t see a problem treating independently mobile obese patients in the doctor’s office. You’re not going to hurt yourself lifting a heavy arm to take a blood pressure.
Dr. Chunk certainly doesn’t look like she’s missed many meals either.
In Canada, some physicians treat only low complexity patients, the so-called ‘worried well’, because, they are easier to deal with and there is no significant difference in reimbursement between low and high complexity patients.
When these pay-for-performance schemes are tried, providers often engage in ‘cherry picking’ patients likely to have better outcomes. Even when bureaucrats counter by trying to give more consideration to more complex patients, the math usually works put in favor of numerous non-complex patients. Providers can also take advantage of overly rigorous patient compliance rules which can be implemented to exclude and discharge patients that fail to comply with treatment regimens. This makes the provider’s profile look better to reviewers.
The lady in blue and white is the patient. The doc is fairly thin looking, she shows up at about 30-45 sec. in.
That’s not the doc - that’s the patient.
Cacomorphobic
Fear of 2nd hand fat
Hatred for people of the Fat Race !
I understand this doctor. My mom was a emergency room nurse and she suffered with slipped disks and hernias from obese patients they had to lift coming into the ER.
depending on the insurers and the contracts, the doc may get a significant bonus for keeping medical costs down, by excluding the obese, she increases her chance of getting a big bonus.
I’m not saying that her behaviour is right but you tend to get more of the behaviour that is rewarded.
Funny doctors can choose, but a baker or Inn keeper can’t?
Welcome to the future. Wonder if the doctor asked her if she had any guns in her home?
The hospitals have the resources to accommodate overweight patients with wider operating room tables, wider wheel chairs and stronger beds and lifts.
A private primary care doctor probably can’t do that. They make very little money after they pay their malpractice insurance, rent and staff salaries and benefits. (Surgeons and radiologists may be another story.)
Plus three of her staff members have been hurt trying to move/assist her overweight patients. She’s probably making high worker compensation payments too.
The poor woman is still gaining weight even though it’s not healthy for her and she had agreed to try to control her weight. Nobody wins in this scenario.
Is Spag’s still next to Lizer?
It’s been a while since I have been to that area. I did see a few shows at the Centrum but that was late 80s.
How I miss Spag’s! I used to love to go there for their free tomato plants every year. I could never keep them alive and thriving but it was a nice annual tradition one the less. It’s been replaced with a Building 19. :-(
it would be better if restaurants refused to serve her
Britain-style socialized medicine comes to Massachusetts.
Soon to be in a community near you.
News at eleven.
sorry my bad..... brain went into stupid mode
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