RLR
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Well, those are very kind words but I regrettably must defend my colleagues by virtue of the rather dramatic influence that the nature of professional medical practice can impose. As you well know, I'm nearly 90 years old and in my prime, the practice of medicine was far and away different than what patients commonly experience in the contemporary healthcare arena.
It was a time where the patient's well-being was of paramount importance and physicians weren't as driven to meet their quota in order to survive the absolute outrageous requirments associated with liability insurance and gradual assimilation of physicians and other practitioners into a healthcare system under the direction of corporations that is being witnessed today.
I was also very, very fortunate to have mentors who consistenly demonstrated the absolute highest regard for the art of medicine and its unbiased application to treatment of human disease and illness. Patients in those days were not viewed as incapable of understanding the nature of their difficulties, despite the inherent complexity of medical science. Simply because someone is ill, does not relegate them to the corridors of ignorance. This is a perception that many young physicians today fall prey to and one that I aggressively despise.
It was also an era about the unswerving patience to encourage greater awareness and understanding as a direct means to reduce fear of the unknown, a factor which typically served in the establishment of irrational beliefs. If a patient is not properly educated regarding their medical concerns, then it produces a dependency upon the doctor and the healthcare system, for if a person fails to properly understand the nature and course of a medical dillema, then they can not anticipate its truest and most probable course or be able to determine precisely where they stand in relation to risk.
I often regret that I am past my prime in many regards and my participation in forums and annual visits to the Childrens Hospital help restore my purposefulness at such a late age. Many of you may not be aware, but it was my late wife who first introduced me to this forum several years ago. She was always an active volunteer and spent the better part of her time working to ease the strain others may be experiencing. Any measure of my capacity to care was absolutely pale by comparison to her own.
Today's physician is embroiled in a network of care that has gradually replaced their ability to spend in-service time necessary to provide reassurance by virtue of the need to see enough patients to keep the doors open. Reimbursement has been reduced to fees for service that are being shopped daily in order to achieve the highest profit margin with the lowest expenditures. This is what corporations do and it's what makes the art of medicine, in their eyes, nothing more than a cast of sophisticated mechanics who turn a fancier wrench.
Your ability to spend time with your doctor is gradually giving way to attendance by assistants and master's level practioners, all of whom exist in a lesser reimbursement scheme. It is, for all intents and purposes, practice of medicine by proxy. It is the full-on demonstration of medical practice by corporate board members whose hands are on the lever of what type and how much medical care they believe is necessary.
It is a sad transformation indeed. I would never trade my memories of a very satisfying career in medicine, for it serves as a reminder of just how far distant the physician has unwittingly come to stand from their patients.
Again, I appreciate the kind words. At the very least, we exist on this forum to mutually benefit from an exchange between us. If it brings but a brief moment of satisfaction, then it is well-served.
Best regards and Good Health
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RLR: What does my dr. mean? (Read 5283 times)
