On Jul 29, 11:04Â am, John Stafford
winona.edu> wrote:>> [... Snip ...]
>> And yet the solution to the biggest causes of of the problems are
>> within each persons resources.
>> If people took responsibility for their own health, the current %% of
>> gross national product that is currently allocated to medicine, would
>> be more than adequate to look after genuine cases.
>
> I think that's probably true. Another point is that it is really the
> patient's responsibility to pursue proper medical care. Doctors are not
> one-stop shops. The daunting part of pursuing proper care is that the
> current USA paradigm discourages it by making it expensive to get second and
> third opinions. It also requires a bit more intelligence than the average
> person has. It should not be that way.
>
> There is something fundamentally broken in our USA medical system at the
> professionals' level: a matter of professional degrees tightly coupled with
> responsibility/power and all to artificially drive up MD pay levels. There
> is an unnecessary social division there. To date this social situation has
> attracted nurses (sub-professionals in MD speak) who pander to the Doctor as
> Father figure. That's got to be broken. MDs are paid too much. Nurses are
> paid too little and not given enough responsibility. (Note that there are
> levels in the USA of nursing. I am not speaking of the three tech school
> programs.)
>
> Persons who wish to get to the hard-core facts of this issue might research
> the work done by Dr. Penny Powers, Canada. She's brilliant and brave,
> unrelenting. Not an easy read, but gratifying..
>
> Starters
here:http://research.tru.ca/researchers.php?section=single&id=160
I agree that medical practice and health delivery in the USA has to
be improved.
The danger in the USA is that every one with a diploma claims to be
'professional. This 'creep' is currently rampant in the USA but is
progressively 'infecting' Europe and the rest of the world.
Electricians, plumbers, police, fire(wo)men, nurses, secretaries, etc,
etc claim to be professional and demand salary levels accordingly.
The same applies in the medical area. What level of nurse should be
paid more? As you note, there are diploma nurses that graduate from
tech schools with only the limited training and expertise required
to tend to basic human needs of patients. Other nurses are
qualified to adminster drugs and routine treatment. When nurses are
trained to a level that they are qualified to triage, make diagnoses,
and refer patients to specialists do they, IYO, have an expertise
equivalent to the general practioners (Drs) trained in European
medical schools? .
Only a small number of General Practioners in Europe are
competitively selected for intensive training to become specialists
in their chosen area. In the UK. they then insist in being
addressed as Mr, rather than as Dr!
In the USA, all MDs qualify as specialists after completing their
required Residency. Even family medicine (general practicei has been
elevated to specialist status.
IMO many MDs in the USA are so remote from general medicine that
they have a problem in referring their patients to aproriate
specialists. As a consequence, patients are passed from one specialist
to another until finally, after exhorbitant and unnecessary expense,
the patients' condition is recognized and treated.
My neice is a part-time GP in the UK, my daughter a full-time ObGyn
specialist in the USA. My daughter envies her cousin's income and
life style. In the USA, there is a huge difference in the average
income of MDs in the different specialities. Dermatologists and
Radiologists are rarely on call, have few emergencies but command
incomes significantly higher that ObGyns. So much for the 'market
place'.
Child birth is a natural procedure but malpractice insurance premiums
for ObGyn MDs is horrendous compared to that for many other
specialities. Insurance companies even demand large lump sum
payments when MDs choose to cease the practice of obstetrics. Why? To
indemnify themselves against claims that child delivery malpractice
is responsible for medical problems that may develop until the
delivered child attains 18 years of age. .
Malpractice insurance for midwives is much less, because malpractice
suits are directed against the 'deep pocket' insurances of their
supervising MDs. Not surprisingly MDs are reluctant to sponsor and
supervise the practice of midwifery.
Zinnic
