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Originally Posted by scandium
Not to burst your bubble but people don't like visiting the doctor. Unecessary doctor visists rank up there with unecessary dental visits for unecessary tooth fillings.
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Not to burst yours, but people make unnecessary visits to the doctor all the time. Have you ever been in an American ER waiting room? Many of the waiting patients are not emergency cases, but they all have to be seen.
Deathblow's comments, examples, and
facts are spot on. He isn't preaching an agenda and he's not sniping at everything your country does.
I agree with you completely about generics, but that complaint should be addressed to the Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical companies, not doctors. It's the FDA that restricts generics.
As far as medical professionals having a "vested interest," I find that remark to be *WAY* out of line, insinuating as it does that American doctors have no ethical standards. My father is an opthalmologist and I've known dozens of doctors well. To be sure, they all want job security, but they don't fleece people to do it. Staying in practice is incredibly expensive and taxing of one's personal energy. You have overhead in the form of staff salaries, building maintenance, and equipment purchasing and maintenance. You have malpractice insurance. You have the costs of staying certified. Nowadays, most new doctors in practice also have to pay for the money they've already spent on their education - that comes out of earnings, too. You (and your family) have ungodly hours. You have uncooperative insurance companies. Medical professionals do not choose the career because it's easy (it's not) or because they want to "get rich," or because they only want to help
some people but not others.
I can't tell you how many times my dad never charged patients who could not pay for their treatment. I've also seen him unable to collect from tightwads who could have afforded it ten times over. When he started in practice, his hours were from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. He took call at least one week a month, and very often
every week a month because no one else was available. He took call and performed surgery for 30 straight years and in all that time I can think of two days he missed because
he was sick. Weekend outings planned weeks or months in advance were cancelled at the last minute because a patient "had to be seen." More often than not, they weren't really emergencies, but after a week and a half of ignoring their problem, they finally decided they had to be seen, "right now!"
Excuse me for going off on an anecdotal tangent, but I FIRMLY believe that your characterization - entitled to your opinion though you are - of the U.S. healthcare system is grossly oversimplified and in part inaccurate. If you (the general "you," not you personally) aren't involved with it you don't have a complete enough picture to be able talk about the reality of it.