SiCKO

[ulthar]

Read a little about some of these cases, or even experience one yourself. I'm not speaking of a doctor that someone is trying to get a diagnosis from over the phone, I'm speaking of people that GO to the clinic, and the doctor doesn't bother to even look at them.

Where is that happening on a consistent basis?  What doctors would diagnose an illness without examing the patient? SOMEONE has to examine the patient.

But, what you desribe is probably more common in overworked clinics and ER's - that STILL does not apply to ALL doctors.  Clinics and ER's are absolutely full of people that should not be there.  They triage the best the can; that too is an imprecise endeavor.

My wife is on-call every fifth night.  I hear the kinds of calls she gets.  90+% of them are for stuff we don't call the doctor for ("our child has had a runny nose since this morning" or "his throat hurts after yelling all night at the baseball game" or "his fever of 100.1 has lasted 2 hours" etc).  The normal waiting time at the ER here is about 6 hours, because it is easier (and cheaper) for Medicaide patients to go the ER for 'normal' stuff than go to an actual private practice doctor during business hours the next day. 

Even with all this, though, I cannot believe that there is a widespread, systematic problem of people being diagnosed with diseasess without being seen by a physician.

Many doctors are very quick to over-simplify

Here is where we differ.  I don't think they are quick to oversimplify so much as it is that they are making the most likely diagnosis given the information they have available.

, , it's happened to two people in my family that have since died of cancer.

I'm sorry to hear that.  My father also died after a rather grueling and painful bout with cancer.  And for some time after, I too was very angry at the doctors that treated him.

When the acid reflux meds didn't work after the first few weeks, the doctor SHOULD have moved on and looked for something else. He didn't.

Agreed.  Perhaps the concept of getting a second opinion rematerialize.  Doctors are human - they DO make mistakes. 

That's just plainly blaming the patient.

No, it's not.  It's trying to be objective and looking at the parameters of the problem.  The doctor is not a mind reader, nor can he feel the pain the other person feels.  That has to be communicated to him.  The better doctors are partly better because they are better at eliciting the information they need.  But, often, they are termed rude and uncaring, because they don't let THEIR patients ramble on about football scores or that their grandchild graduated magna cum laude.

And it would be nice if it worked like that, but too often it doesn't. My stepfather is one of those victims of 6 months of hemmorhoid treatment and 2 ER visits before the doctor decided to look into it. As I stated earlier, too many doctors conduct themselves as if their own guess is more accurate than the tests, therefore they don't perform them.

Again, tests are expensive, so the doctor has to have a REASON to conduct them.  Believe it or not, a big part of the daily life of a doctor is stupid paperwork done to justify to the insurance companies (and Medicaide is the worst in this respect) that a given test is necessary.  In other words, doctors have to justify why they ordered a test.  That's a professional judgement call, and some are better at it than others.

The way it works is this.  Doctor orders test, which costs HIM money to do.  At the time, he's counting on the insurance company to reimburse him.  If the insurance company later fails to pay, guess what?  No reimbursement.  Doctors cannot practice for free - they have staff salaries, supplies and building leases to pay.   So, before ordering a test, he has to know he's justified - not in a medical sense necessarily, but in the eyes of the insurance company.

the doctor said it was a sprained ankle ... but he insisted on x-raying it, and made a point to get my toes OUT of the picture. After 30 minutes of argueing, I got another doctor to look at it, and x-ray it, and you know what, , a broken toe and two broken midbones. The first doctor still insisted that here was no way I could have broke those the way I said I did. He tried blaming ME for his incompetence and unwillingnedd to listen.

Okay, good example.  But you also just proved that not ALL doctors are like that.  Our disagreement is on just how many are like that.  Too many, I'll grant you.  But I don't think doctors that don't listen is as rampant as you made it sound in your first post - where you were justifying the rampant, out-of-control  sue-a-doctor society in which we find ourselves.

Did you sue that first doctor?  Do you think you should?

I would argue that "no" you should not.  Because you asked for a second opinion, got it, and got the problem fixed.  Talk to his boss..maybe get him fired?  Sure, why not.  But sue him and the hospital for 1.2 million in pain and suffering?  No way.

And who cares if he believes how it happened or not.  He's not there to evaluate what you did - only fix it.  Once the other guy proved your foot was in fact broken, and discussion on his part about it being impossible just makes him an idiot.  Okay, I can forgive him to a point for missing it before the x-ray, but holding to his point in the face of evidence DOES make him among the worst kind of Dr.

Nobody asked for that, the point is, that when a doctor's initial diagnosis is incorrect, SOMETHING ELSE has to be checked. Too often it is NOT, or the checks do not jive with what the patient has described.

Yes.  And they do this.  Some may not...statistically speaking they are a small number.  Our whole debate started on whether or not the many medical law suits are frivolous.  I contend they are.  It sounded ilke you were justifying suing doctors for their first guess being wrong.  I contend that such suits are frivolous, and the only people getting rich off them are the lawyers.

Think about what you just wrote there. . .More of a cop-out, as if people ASK to get sick, injured.

Nope - not my point, and I think you know that.  You don't ask to get sick or injured.  You ask for treatment.  That's a choice you make.

There is no natural law that states that when you get sick or hurt, someone with highly specialized training has to be available to make you better.

Nobody except you stated anything unrealistic, nobody mentioned perfect. Doctors don't get sued for being imperfect

Sure they do.

Obviously you have some stake in defending medical professionals, else you wouldn't slant everything towards every problem being the patients fault.

I'm not saying the problems are the patient's fault.  I am saying that there are frivolous lawsuits, in response to your initial comment that the lawsuits were justified.  Let's stay on point.

To re-cap the basic facts:

Doctors are human, and make human errors.
Practicing medicine is a VERY complex endeavor.
Patients are very poor at communicating the necessary information to doctors.
Doctors make diagnoses which often are simply a best guess given the information at hand.
When new information comes to light, good doctors modify their diagnosis accordingly.
The doctor cannot guarantee the success of any treatment.

Given these basic facts, you still CHOOSE to go to a doctor when you need help.  To blame the doctor by suing him is completely unreasonable.

You mentioned some specific anecdotal evidence of doctors exercising poor judgement in the diagnostic process.  They were wrong. (Happy?  I agree with you on that point).  But anecdotal evidence does NOT equate with statistics or trends. 

As for having a stake in 'defending doctors,' I'm not really doing that.  But we all have to pay higher costs because of frivolous lawsuits and the higher insurance premiums because of them.

What I am saying is that the real problem is lawyers and insurance companies (which amounts to the same thing), not the doctors.  Go ahead, find the one doctor in 6,000 that should be sued and sue him.  The problem now is that the other 5,999,  EVERY doctor, ALL OF THEM, have to pay crushing malpractice premiums just to practice medicine.

These problems are systemic, however.  If we returned to a system of "user pays" and get rid of health insurance for all but catastrophic injury/illness, I happen to believe a lot of these problems would go away.

[Susan]

ER's and clinics are full of people who don't really need immediate care - in fact particularly the ER room where on a few occasions including one where my mother was bleeding profusely from the head from being struck hard by an attic ladder - they were seeing people before her who just had the sniffles. People with no insurance getting a free ride, the irony is that you can get health care here if you are an illegal immigrant. I even went to a clinic and i hardly EVER go to the doctor unless i'm fall down dying sick. And I was about to pass out - after filling out the paperwork in an almost empty office th lady asked for my cell # so she could call me when they were ready. In...3 hours they might have an opening. This is  WALK-IN clinic, which meant if they were empty they probably had several people on the waiting list. I've never been to a walk-in clinic where i waited more than a half hour.

Give everyone free health care and people will feel like if they're being taxed for it they're going to take advantage of it and go for every little checkup and thing they can. You bet, the mentality is already there that americans have to get treated for everything. Got a hiccup? You might have Restless Hiccup Syndrome and need prescription medicine - see your doctor. Your kid have a runny nose? Instead of letting them build immunities, take them to the doctor to get fed antibiotics and weaken their immune system so they'll be nice and sick for their next visit. And you gotta love the doctors who want to run a full MRI for a pinky sprain.  Is your child moody or doesn't listen to you? Well take them to the doctor for numerous tests and get him on ritilin because they probably have ADD or Difficult Child Syndrome. Can't sleep? You need Ambien! And will we give you results on the phone? No, you have to actually come into the office so you can pay another office visit fee.

Also the amount of malpractice lawsuits directly impact health care costs. Doctors are subject to human error, but the good old american way is to sue. While some are valid there are way too many, so one has to question the validity, the motive and also the doctor/hospital. i know that doctors and nurses are overworked, that to me is a crazy mix trying to get quality care if the hospitals make them do ridiculous shifts.

Also to "Him" - i don't provide excuses, merely examples and scenarios. I'm not easily led to believe our system is perfect, but before turning over to a new system i would have to be convinced that this system would be effective in our country.

[CheezeFlixz]

ER's and clinics are full of people who don't really need immediate care - in fact particularly the ER room where on a few occasions including one where my mother was bleeding profusely from the head from being struck hard by an attic ladder - they were seeing people before her who just had the sniffles. People with no insurance getting a free ride, the irony is that you can get health care here if you are an illegal immigrant. I even went to a clinic and i hardly EVER go to the doctor unless i'm fall down dying sick. And I was about to pass out - after filling out the paperwork in an almost empty office th lady asked for my cell # so she could call me when they were ready. In...3 hours they might have an opening. This is  WALK-IN clinic, which meant if they were empty they probably had several people on the waiting list. I've never been to a walk-in clinic where i waited more than a half hour.

Give everyone free health care and people will feel like if they're being taxed for it they're going to take advantage of it and go for every little checkup and thing they can. You bet, the mentality is already there that americans have to get treated for everything. Got a hiccup? You might have Restless Hiccup Syndrome and need prescription medicine - see your doctor. Your kid have a runny nose? Instead of letting them build immunities, take them to the doctor to get fed antibiotics and weaken their immune system so they'll be nice and sick for their next visit. And you gotta love the doctors who want to run a full MRI for a pinky sprain.  Is your child moody or doesn't listen to you? Well take them to the doctor for numerous tests and get him on ritilin because they probably have ADD or Difficult Child Syndrome. Can't sleep? You need Ambien! And will we give you results on the phone? No, you have to actually come into the office so you can pay another office visit fee.

Also the amount of malpractice lawsuits directly impact health care costs. Doctors are subject to human error, but the good old american way is to sue. While some are valid there are way too many, so one has to question the validity, the motive and also the doctor/hospital. i know that doctors and nurses are overworked, that to me is a crazy mix trying to get quality care if the hospitals make them do ridiculous shifts.

Also to "Him" - i don't provide excuses, merely examples and scenarios. I'm not easily led to believe our system is perfect, but before turning over to a new system i would have to be convinced that this system would be effective in our country.

You get props for that ... KARMA!

Doctor over medicate people then give them medication to counter act symptom from another med and yet another to counter act those. It's a endless vicious circle of drugs. I'm not a big fan of curtailing freedom of speech, but I'd support putting an end to drug advertisements on TV. I've never seen so many disorders, dysfunctions, and syndromes ... no wonder health care in this country so expensive, the medical profession comes up with a new ailment nearly everyday.   

[Susan]

Doctor over medicate people then give them medication to counter act symptom from another med and yet another to counter act those. It's a endless vicious circle of drugs. I'm not a big fan of curtailing freedom of speech, but I'd support putting an end to drug advertisements on TV. I've never seen so many disorders, dysfunctions, and syndromes ... no wonder health care in this country so expensive, the medical profession comes up with a new ailment nearly everyday.   

big pharma actually comes up with made up "syndromes" in order to target an audience of people to use their drug as treatment. Then they run to their doctors with lingo like "RLD" and the doctor who welcomes as many office visits as possible. They actually sit arond in a room shooting ideas of catchy syndromes with good anagrams. Big Pharma is turning us all into patients

this is actually a really funny article - god knows we need a laugh
http://www.newstarget.com/z011506.html

[ulthar]

Big Pharma is turning us all into patients

No doubt.

I agree that drug advertisements on TV are not a good idea.

[Susan]

they should make it illegal here - i don't see any difference between them and big tobacco to tell the truth. except that somehow we think smoking is bad is bad for you and drugs are good for you

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_o2YtAUA4o

[ghouck]

Where is that happening on a consistent basis?  What doctors would diagnose an illness without examing the patient? SOMEONE has to examine the patient.

The ones that think they know it from the start, like the one that diagnosed my Stepfather's bleeding colon as 'roids. . .FOR MONTHS

Here is where we differ.  I don't think they are quick to oversimplify so much as it is that they are making the most likely diagnosis given the information they have available

I would agree, if it weren't for the patient info that is often ignored. . Like I said, when you tell a doctor you've never had 'roids, and the guy still, without anything more than a casual glance says the the large quantity of blood being expelled from your anus is from just that, You CAN'T blame that on the patient like you're trying to do.

I'm sorry to hear that.  My father also died after a rather grueling and painful bout with cancer.  And for some time after, I too was very angry at the doctors that treated him.

Nice Try, , , It's NOT a matter of being mad just because my father died, it's the fact that the doctor didn't take the situation seriously, when we virtually everybody KNEW there was something worse.

No, it's not.  It's trying to be objective and looking at the parameters of the problem.  The doctor is not a mind reader, nor can he feel the pain the other person feels.  That has to be communicated to him.  The better doctors are partly better because they are better at eliciting the information they need.  But, often, they are termed rude and uncaring, because they don't let THEIR patients ramble on about football scores or that their grandchild graduated magna cum laude.

Re-Read the part that quiote relates to. . .Jees, you're just trying your hardest to not see it. Nobody said a doctor needed to be a mind reader. Enough with the strawman arguement. That whole "football score" drivel is just you trying to blame the patient. Give it up, it's not working.
 

Again, tests are expensive, so the doctor has to have a REASON to conduct them.

Months of a treatment not working isn't reason enough? What a joke. .

Okay, good example.  But you also just proved that not ALL doctors are like that. 

One more time: I NEVER SAID ALL DOCTORS WERE LIKE THAT, I NEVERSAID ALL DOCTORS WERE BAD. STOP WITH THE STRAW-MAN ARGUEMENTS. IT'S INMATURE.

Our disagreement is on just how many are like that.  Too many, I'll grant you.  But I don't think doctors that don't listen is as rampant as you made it sound in your first post - where you were justifying the rampant, out-of-control  sue-a-doctor society in which we find ourselves.

When did I say that? WHERE. . .Time to stop being so defensive and be honest. .

Did you sue that first doctor?  Do you think you should?

No, but if they won't listen when a guy explains how his foot hurts, what are they going to do when something isn't as obvious?

This is pointless, there are people here that can't address the simple, direct points I'm trying to make, and I hope to god they're not doctors themselves, but i fear they are. 

[ulthar]

My only question to you, ghouk:

When you and everybody else KNEW that you were getting "bad" medical care from a particular doctor, then WHY did you not go to a different doctor?

You keep saying I am blaming the patient.  No, I am not.  I am not "blaming" anybody.  But the patient has a finite set of choices:

(1) Keep going to the same doctor, even though he was unhappy with the service he was being given.

(2) Change doctors; find one who will "listen" as you put it.

(3) Don't go to a doctor at all.

It's really that simple.  That's reality.

I'm truly sorry that you are so embittered with the US medical profession.  But I find it a little more than interesting that someone who is so 'down' on the profession went to a hospital, staffed by doctors, when he broke his foot.  And though it took two tries, you found a doctor that gave you a good diagnosis and proper treatment.

Do you not see the sort of moral dilema you paint yourself into with this argument?

For each anecdotal story that you tell of how a doctor did not listen, someone else could probably tell 40 of above excellent care they have received.  Neither is scientific data that speaks of trends to the current state of the system.

Finally, no, I am not a medical doctor.  But I know a few.  The ones I know work 80-90 hour weeks, including weekends and holidays, and literally give their lives to helping others.  I know some truly crappy doctors, too.  But at least in my circle of acquaintance, which includes probably about 100-200 medical doctors from all over the country, the good ones so far exceed the bad - in fact, I can only think of one that it truly frightens me the thought of her having an MD.

[Susan]

Finally, no, I am not a medical doctor.  But I know a few.  The ones I know work 80-90 hour weeks, including weekends and holidays, and literally give their lives to helping others.  I know some truly crappy doctors, too. 

If a doctor/nurse has to work 80-90 hours a week and is responsible for making critical decisions from performing surgery to just adding the right dosage of medicine in a drip or reading a chart to determine if a person has an allergy - how is this a good thing? I've heard many who work in the medical profession complain that this is a big factor in why mistakes are made. My uncle is a pediatric nurse and often walks around like a zombie because of his shifts

I realize the hospital works on a budget but they may have to reduce the salaries in order to provide additional staff. I think even airline pilots cannot fly after a certain amount of hours. Nobody wants a sleepy pilot in charge of their life

[ulthar]

If a doctor/nurse has to work 80-90 hours a week ... how is this a good thing? I've heard many who work in the medical profession complain that this is a big factor in why mistakes are made. My uncle is a pediatric nurse and often walks around like a zombie because of his shifts

Indeed.  And everybody knows it.  In fact, I believe it was 2004 that new Federal Law went into effect that put a maximum hr/wk on residents: 80 hours.  Plus, for the first time, there is now a max number of hours a resident can work in one shift: 30 hrs.  So, in that regard, it's better than it was before (no max's).

This was offered only to exemplify the altruism of these folks.  Working 80 hrs/wk, you literally have no life outside of work and sleep.  And the folks that do this, choose to do it.  And they do it for years at a time.

Even after residency and entering into the cushy world of private practice, it's not uncommon for a working Dr. to still work 60 hrs per week.  The stereotype of Dr's just sitting around or playing golf every afternoon is not reality - ESPECIALLY in rural areas.

For example, I know on pediatrician who after residency started his own practice in a small, rural town.  If you think about this for a moment, you realize it means he is ALWAYS on-call.  No trips out of town, unless he pays someone out of his pocket to work in his place, no "partying" EVER.  He has to 'be there' for his patients 24-7-365.

I realize the hospital works on a budget but they may have to reduce the salaries in order to provide additional staff. I think even airline pilots cannot fly after a certain amount of hours. Nobody wants a sleepy pilot in charge of their life

(1) Well, it's also a question of availability. There are more pilots than there are piloting jobs.  It's a little different in the medical field.  Pretty much everyone who graduates med school gets a job as a resident.  There just are not enough people graduating to staff the positions so they get to work easy 8 hr shifts 5 days a week.  Whe the new Federal Law went into effect, residency programs did have to increase their  program sizes.

(2) Residency is a continuation of on-the-job training.  The idea is that a after X years, a resident should have seen enough of the oddball stuff that they are truly prepared for "anything" in their specialty later.  That means they have to work enough to see enough cases that the odds are high that they will see "everything."  This means a certain total number of hours.

(3) If the program is three years, you then divide the total number of hours it takes for proper training by 153 weeks to get the hours / week (allowing for 1 week per year off).  This is why some residencies are longer than others. 

Okay, you say, just add a year to the program and lower the hours/week.  See (1) above.  Before a person even STARTS residency, they have spent 8-10 years in school.  The residencies currently run 3 - 6 years.  So, take your average high school kid that wants to be a doctor.  At 18, he's looking at being 29 AT LEAST before he even is a doctor able to be fully board certified and practice on his own.  If he wants to be a surgeon, he'll be more like 34-35 for he is ready for his first "job."  If you start adding years to existing programs that have traditionally been 3 years, just that many more people are going to say "forget this..."

Now, let's take a brief look at that 11 or so years of preparation.

Step 1 is getting an undergraduate degree.  To get into medical school, you have to pass the MCAT exam, which pretty much requires you take (and pass, and LEARN) biochemistry and physics.  You don't take biochemistry without organic chemistry.  I've taught organic chemistry and have seen the dreams of many an aspiring young doctor crushed.  You don't take organic without general chem, and ditto that last sentence.  The undergraduate program for a person on the med school track is usually not one with a lot partying and ball games - it's a lot of science classes with labs.

Step 2 is taking the MCAT...which is usually done while an undergrad student.  At least the first attempt is.  Sometimes, to be competitive and get into med school, students will take the MCAT more than once.  It's only offered at certain times per year; one cannot just take it whenever the spirit moves one, AND it costs money to take it.

Step 3 - Med school.  Four years.  The first two years are classroom work and labs.  Classes are 8-5 five days per week, except those afternoons that have 3 hour labs.  To keep up in Gross Anatomy, students typically go into the lab after dinner and may stay until midnight or so.

The second two years are clinical rotations - working shifts at the hospital.

Step 4 is residency.  By this time, a person may be in their mid to late twenties, and they are still considered a "student."  And thus the hard part begins.  As stated above, pretty much everyone graduating from med school gets a position as a resident.  Some don't, but that's actually fairly rare.  In a class of 60-80 med students, there may be one or two that have to 'scramble' for a position - look for an unfilled position somewhere.

Residence is the hardest part of the process, both physically, emotionally and spiritually.  It was not too long ago that the suicide rate during the internship year was high enough that nearly every program had at least one per year (or at least that's what i have read).  Divorce rates were astronomical.

Even now, with the improved laws and more "friendly" programs, it's a tough job.  Many programs are 3 years, and it's a battle of will to survive just that.

My point is the system is a giant equilibrium.  Le Chatlier's Principle states that you don't monkey with an equilibrium without causing a change to reestablish equilibrium.  So, you cannot add a year at the end of the process without changing something.  That something might just be a reduced number of available residents and thus, no more people to work the shifts.  Back to square one, long work hours for those that ARE there, plus, you've added a year to their committment.

Maybe it is not ideal.  The alternative is to force people to become doctors and make sure the costs are covered.  The Soviet Union tried it this way; it did not work out too well.

[Jim H]

Give everyone free health care and people will feel like if they're being taxed for it they're going to take advantage of it and go for every little checkup and thing they can.

Ya know, I think that's true, and it makes me sad.  I have heard stories of that sort of person occasionally being a problem in the UK, but I certainly think it would be far worse in the US.  The amount of over-medicalized and drug using paranoid people around the places I've lived in America continues to astound me.  Hypochondriacs are good for business, after all.  Good point.

Maybe we should go for a German system of non-profits (which basically results in you having to pay for insurance, it just costs less).  It's such an interesting idea, I think, and might be more workable in America.  I dunno, I don't know a huge amount about it either.




BTW, on a very small sidenote, is this new Michael Moore film, "Sicko" I think, worth seeing?   

[Him]

The whole notion of there being a mad rush to the doctors office due to universal Health care is just nonsense. If there are people who go to the doctors office for minor things it's because that's what they are told to do by people in the medical profession.

[Susan]

The whole notion of there being a mad rush to the doctors office due to universal Health care is just nonsense. If there are people who go to the doctors office for minor things it's because that's what they are told to do by people in the medical profession.

It's not nonsense, we're a nation conditioned to seem medical attention for everything and overmedicate. I have seen people who have gotten extremely cheap insurance milk everything they could out of it because of the dirt cheap cost, they wanted to get every penny's worth and more. In fact I know someone who was trying to figure out if she could fake a hernia because if you had one during elective surgery she was considering for weight issues then it would be covered, free.

I've seen people wrap an enormous line around Kohl's just to be the first in line to receive a crappy radio worth less than $10....just because it's "free". It's just a reality check, i really don't want to be on any 6 month waiting list.

[CheezeFlixz]

Yep you start giving away health care employers will have to start re-evaluating their sick leave policy because everything some one doesn't want to go to work they'll go to the Doctor instead (at least a percentage of the population will) and why not, it's so-called free right. In this nation of hypochondriac were 90% of the population is medicated they'll be a line around the block for nonsense visits, meanwhile people that really need attention right now, set and wait. Hell every other commercial on the TV is "See your Doctor" from dry eyes, restless legs, acid reflux, limp tallywhacker and who knows what else, never fear there's a pill for you, just ask your Doctor about it.
Even if you did away with the commercials, did away with the big money, did away with the kick backs, it's to late. you already have a conditioned society to believe they have something a pill can fix.     

[Susan]

Yep you start giving away health care employers will have to start re-evaluating their sick leave policy because everything some one doesn't want to go to work they'll go to the Doctor instead (at least a percentage of the population will) and why not, it's so-called free right. In this nation of hypochondriac were 90% of the population is medicated they'll be a line around the block for nonsense visits, meanwhile people that really need attention right now, set and wait. Hell every other commercial on the TV is "See your Doctor" from dry eyes, restless legs, acid reflux, limp tallywhacker and who knows what else, never fear there's a pill for you, just ask your Doctor about it.
Even if you did away with the commercials, did away with the big money, did away with the kick backs, it's to late. you already have a conditioned society to believe they have something a pill can fix.     

It's true - when I was a kid we hardly EVER went to the doctor. I think the only times i remember going were to get my vaccinations when we travelled overseas and once i dropped a juice jar on my toe. But my mom swears my brother had meningitis now that she looks back, because back then you just didn't go to the doctor unless you broke something or were bleeding profusely. People doctored themself at home, they rode out the flu bug, they only went when it was necessary. My entire family came down with the Hong Kong Flu and nobody saw a doctor. Now, parents take their kids to the doctor more times a year than mcdonalds so they can medicate their colds and sniffles. You can get your moles lasered off, seems like everytime you turn around there's another annual test you're supposed to get. We drug ourselves up on cold medication or allergy season, then we take more drugs to counter the drugs. Then we feel like crap and go back to the doctor.  I know someone determined to take her child to every doctor until somebody told her something was wrong with her because she was 4 and throwing tantrums. She wanted someone to tell her that it wasn't her, it was the child and they need medication. At some point in the past 30 years there was a definate shift in mentality when it comes to doctors. Maybe then we were scared of them, it meant something was really wrong.

It's amazing to me that I'm surrounded within a 5 mile radius by 3 hospitals. And there are TONS of these little medical clinics and emergency care for children clinics and the like popping up all around me. There's one strip that looks like a shopping district around the corner but it's nothing but specialized care for spines, specialized care for kids, dermatology and cosmetic surgery clinics, private practitioners, dentists who specialize in zoom whitening and more. Why not, we are such regular patients it's become a really profitable place to be for some doctors.