Re: Semantics
From: Garry E. Siegel, M.D. (garrys@mindspring.com)
Thu Dec 30 08:51:51 2004
Thanks, Gordon and Joe.
Gordon, your actions were loud and clear, in a dignified and intelligent
manner, and they rallied our employers (the patients!) to whom we owe
allegiance to act.
My hat is off to you, and it inspires me to continue to resist actively
whenever appropriate.
Resistance is NOT futile. . .
Garry
At Wed, 29 Dec 2004, Gordon M. Goldman wrote:
>
>Garry,
>
>You have the 'right stuff'!!!!
>
>One of my pet peeves, also. I have for the past 10 years or so, been
>crossing out "Health Care Provider" under signature lines for all forms.
>There was a very interesting article about a decade or so ago from an
>internist in California. I think it was in a Time Magazine series called
>'My Turn". He berated society for accepting all the euphemisms that they
>(managed care) use to describe the practice of medicine. Something to the
>effect that he didn't go to 'health care provider school', he went to
>medical school, etc. A really good article if you can lay your hands on it.
>Thanks for spreading the word, even if it is the 'old fashioned way', one
>patient at a time.
>
>On another note, last July we received a notice from one of the insurance
>plans, that as of our liability renewal date, we would be dropped from their
>plan, unless we raised our coverage limits from the state mandated minimum
>of $500,000/$1,000,000, to their minimum of $1mil/$3mil. I don't know what
>the differences are in other states, but in Missouri, it amounts to about
>15-18% increase in premium.
>
>We sent them a letter explaining our reasons for not doing this. Their
>response was that they would make a final decision closer to our anniversary
>date in January. Well, when we had not heard from them by December, We
>decided to 'draw the line in the sand'. We sent a letter to all of our
>patients in that plan, some of whom we had taken care of for 20 years. We
>explained to them why we might not be able to continue their care and
>specifically, the reasons why.
>
>We sent the letter on a Thursday. The next Monday, we got a call from the
>health plan asking why we did that. We told them because it was in our
>patient's best medical interests to know they may have to change physicians
>soon, and why. They said we lacked a spirit of cooperation. We said, all
>we did was to be upfront and honest with our patients, so they could prepare
>accordingly. We asked them if there was anything dishonest in what we said
>in the letter..... dead silence. They called again two days later, stating
>they had been deluged with angry calls from benefit managers and patients,
>and asked us not to send any more letters. We told them, as soon as we have
>an answer from them, another letter would be sent out. The tone and content
>of that letter would be entirely up to them and what they had decided.
>
>Within 10 days of the time we sent the letter, we received a letter back
>from them retracting their demand for increased liability coverage.
>
>I guess what I am getting at, is that we have enormous power to influence
>what the public perceives medicine to be, or not to be. The little things,
>like what you just did, will be passed on by that patient to others and the
>'snowball effect' will come into play.
>
>Thanks for doing that,
>
>--
>Gordon M. Goldman, M.D., FACOG
>Private Practice, St. Louis, Missouri
>
>"Will you now be my care provider?"
>
>I didn't miss a beat when I said, "No, I'll be your Obstetrician."
>
>Garry
>
>--
>Garry E. Siegel, M.D.
>Private Practice
>Roswell, GA
>
--
Garry E. Siegel, M.D.
Private Practice
Roswell, GA
