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March 22, 2009 My wife has been having some skin issues lately. She got one big weird rashy bump on her right arm that spread to about two hundred small rashy dots down her arms, chest, back, and legs. She's visted a doctor and they tested a few things. The doctor's initial diagnosis was specific type of psoriasis. She was given some sterroid cream that didn't do jack and the rash kept spreading. We were never told if it was contageous, so for two weeks, I didn't touch my wife, let along help her rub in the ointment on hard-to-reach places like the middle of her back. Remorsefully, and, I admit, perhaps with a little germophobic paranoia, domestic arguments insued. Lab results came back inconclusive as maybe, potentially, simply "psoriasis", a broader diagnosis...after a LAB TEST. So they referred her to a dermatologist. Results: psoriasis. You've gotta be kidding me. So, now chances are that she'll wind up going to an allergist too...if they give her the referral. Insurance won't cover it without a referral. After this experience, and a few other shady ones involving myself, I was (and still am) a little cynical and distrustful regarding the medical community. A friend from the previous city in which we lived was misdiagnosed for over a year by a handful of doctors until someone eventually discovered a neglected tumor in her chest, for which she was finally treated with radiation, put into a coma for a week, got a trache and feeding tube, and is now back home with a much smaller tumor and no more trache or feeding tube. Treatment will continue for months, maybe years. And all of this could have been caught earlier if a doctor had paid more attention. I haven't heard much about her lately, so I guess no news is good news. Similarly, my uncle has had a few spinal, muscular, and gastrointestinal ailments in the last year for which doctors kept saying, "I can't find anything wrong with you. You're fine." Well, he wasn't. Fortunately, he now has been treated for most of it, but not until after a big runaround. And he's a gritty kind of guy who doesn't take any crap from anybody. Part of the runaound could be incompetence. As with any job, some people are really good at it while others aren't so great. You can't expect every doctor to be a supergenius, but this is peoples' health, and in some cases -- their lives, we're talking about here. Another friend was having a series of unexplained medical issues -- headaches, heart racing, fatigue. She made a number of trips to her doctor's office and ER as well, without much explanation as to what was going on. Thankfully, the symptoms stopped and, in the end, they wound up removing her gall bladder. With that one in particular, she kept going for test after to test to "prove" that it was her gall bladder. In that situation, the problem wasn't so much with the doctors as it was with insurance. Her specialist who performed the surgery, along with her family doctor who referred her to the specialist, insisted from the beginning that it was her gall bladder. But because no test confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt, she and her husband took the risk that insurance wouldn't pay for the procedure because it might be deemed "unnecessary". Never mind the fact that she was in excruciating pain and was perpetually nauseated. The specialist said she was still certain the gall bladder was the culprit, but sometimes they can't prove it until after it's out. Then those crooks informed their victims of the whole insurance situation. My friend was irritated enough by then that she told them to just take it out. It DID solve the problem and the post-removal tests confirmed it enough that insurance ate the bill. Her health has been pretty good since then with the minor exception of a recent case of chicken pox, which just needed to run their course. (credit to her husband for most of the words used here) Even though I have two close relatives in medical billing and another through my wife who is a registered nurse, I'm really starting to resent the medical community. I'm thinking this passive method is all a big scam to get some insurance cash and not take any responsibility for any advice they may give. I think doctors are so paranoid about getting sued for malpractice that they've decided they won't do anything anymore. They'll prescribe a sugar pill or a zinc ointment, tell you to come back in two weeks for a follow-up exam (return business), and when that placebo prescription doesn't work, well, "Let me recommend you to a specialist", which basically means, "I wash my hands of you, but go visit my buddy who will blow you off too. I hope I seem caring enough that you'll come back to me when you're sick again." Their REAL patients are the ones who are elderly, chronically ill, or have a ton of kids. And since drug companies are marketing directly to the end user via TV and magazine ads, you have to "ask your doctor about Gloxicol" because they sure won't recommend it. Besides, it hasn't been tested enough and the side effects could kill ya. They want to keep you sick. If you're healthy, there's no need to come back. I'm not really a conspiracy theorist, but this is what I've seen from doctors lately. Shady hacks. You'd swear you're visiting a mechanic. Sorry if I sound ornery about it, but this is my WIFE, my UNCLE, my FRIENDS, and it could be YOU too. |