Quote:
Originally Posted by Talk Host
You shouldn't automatically assume that I am without some experience in this matter.
From 1995 to 1998 I ran "MedLink" the worlds largest independent international medical and surgical referral company. I had over 200 doctors working for me and patients on three continents. I spent hours and hours and days and days with doctors and patients in countries all over the world, inlcuding the United States.
I have lectured at the famous Federov Clinic in Moscow and the Lontock Clinic in Novosibirsk, Siberia. I worked closely with the top heart surgeons in Brazil and Armenia. I have not only hosted groups of US doctors on trips abroad, I have hosted foreign doctors on educational trips to the US.
Every single day, I had a stack of applications for surgery and treatment from patients all over the world. Every single day, my staff would "try" to work with doctors and hospitals to secure treatment for these people. Many of the doctors were personal friends of mine and were a joy to work with. Some those those that I had dealings with were the most arrogant individuals I have ever met in my life.
The larger hospitals, I dealt with personally. I had a laundry list of patients who wished to be refered to a famous medical facility in Maryland. Even though I met with them face to face and received assurance that they would provide service, THEY DID NOT RETURN MY PHONE CALLS. It is my opinion that all those people in that international department at that hospital were totally incompetent.
It was me that had to contact our patients in, say, Brazil and tell them that we could not provide service for them.
After two and a half years, I walked away from the job. Not because of the patients. I am fully aware that was 11 years ago and times change.
I have a great deal of respect for some doctors.
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I am well aware of your experience as noted above, and recognize that part of it give you your due respect. I thought I was being relatively clear in what I was refering to, with regard to doctor patient relationships and difficulties of not only practicing in today's environment, but the difficulties of dealing with the type of "feedback" situations described above. I have a hard time standing by as near blanket condemnations and innacurate portrayals of physicians at large are bandied about, but that is my problem.
You give me some of your experiences, let me give you some of mine.
I am the one that has to tell people they are dying.
I am the one that has to tell families there is nothing more I or anyone else can do as they become angry and frustrated and scream at me.
I am the one that has to miss ball games, dinner at home, a decent nights sleep, when things don't go as planned or a patient deteriorates (much more often than not).
I am the one that will sit with my patient whose family won't come so they don't die alone.
I am the one that will deal with upset, angry or sad families during the day while keeping my attention focused on the other 15 patients I have in the hospital.
I am the one that divides my time between the patients and families that can talk while answering 30-40 calls and pages a day, treating the heart attack in the E.R., while my patient in ICU goes into respiratory failure, and still making constant decisions by phone and with nurses.
Every day I have to work with "arrogant" administrators and insurance company representatives that are far removed the the real world of patient care, some..the most arrogant people I have ever met in my life.
I have lectured in hospitals, to medical students, and do bedside teaching with patients and families every day.
I call teaching institutions for transfer of patients and they don't return my calls. Who wants a "no-pay" patient with a rare condition that has been in my hospital for weeks and likely has many more weeks to go if he survives.
I am the one that does all of the above, tries to sort though proper billing and procedure codes each day for every patient, and attends comittee meetings that some refuse to and others dodge.
I am the one that has to make the split second decisions as someone deteriorates in front of me and pray to God my instincts and knowledge are accurate.
I am the one that will face the lawsuits EVEN if there is no malpractice invloved when the outcome is poor.
I am the one that bears the brunt of anger and frustration for long waiting times that are beyond my control in every way.
I am the one that takes care of the alcoholic in for his third admission this month for liver failure, his family having forsaken him, with him doing the same thing over and over and slowly dying but wanting to be "fixed" again. I am his last advocate, no matter my level of frustration or sadness.
I am the one that will go the home of a terminal patient so they dont have to trudge in to be seen.
I am the one stopped in the store, at the ballgame, in the restaraunt, or in the halls of the hospital to discuss personal issues and get a curbside consult.
This is a snapshot (not all inclusive) of my day. I would never recommend anyone else go into medicine in this environment without their eyes wide open, and then take great pause before proceeding. Why do I do it? Because at the end of the day I still feel it has been a privlege to be able to do nearly all that I outlined above. And you know what, there are thousands just like me, many in more demanding situations, many better at it than me. They are not all in it for the money ( a laughable thought at this point) or somehow angry because they are "feeling the pinch". They do what they do because they are blessed eonough to be able to. I just wish they got the same attention as the bad guys. As I said, all I ask is that you give the same courtesy and thought process to them that you ask for yourself.
Thank you for indulging me.