Re: Doctors herding patients
From: R. Daniel Braun, MD (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:44:58 -0600 (CST)
At Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Stacy wrote:
>
>Markeeta,
>When I was 26, my body and metabolism went through some major changes. I
>started gaining weight even if I ate half as much as I used to eat. It
>might just be that you are getting older...
>
>Whether you are pregnant or not, you need to find a doctor you can
>trust. PERIOD. It may take going to a few of them before you find one
>you like, but in the long run, it's your health and your decision and
>you have to trust your doctor. Since you pay them, that means they work
>for you. You can fire them anytime by finding another doctor. If your
>insurance is HMO, this may not be as easy for you, but none the less
>important. Maybe if more people realized they had a choice in the
>matter, there'd be fewer doctors who treat their patients like cattle,
>herding as many of them through the office as possible, instead of
>actually listening to what we have to say and answering our questions,
>etc.
Stacy, you are perfectly right.
However(there is always an However), WHO will PAY for it???
The Doctor is paying his office staff and his rent and utilities etc,
for all the time he is seeing you(his costs of doing business). So if
you take longer, you have to pay more. THat applies to whether you are
talking to the Doctor or having a procedure done. Time costs the Doctor
and he has to pass that on to the customer(I prefer the word patient but
in this case customer makes my point a little better). HMO's say the
Doctor has to see so many patients an hour in order to get paid.
I don't like it any better than you do but it is the reality of the
world. If I spend an hour talking to each patient and only get paid $15
and I am paying my office staff $100 for that same hour, I am not going
to be around very long.
Ther is no real good answer to the problem, I just wanted to point out
to you that there is another side to the issue.
RDB
And if you are indeed pregnant, it is that much more important
>that you like your doctor, and can agree with his/her decisions
>regarding your prenatal care and especially childbirth. Just imagine,
>hypothetically, that you are in labor and all seems just fine from your
>point of view, but the doctor wants to do a c-section or maybe something
>you didn't want to happen... if you didn't trust your doctor to begin
>with, what a horrible situation to be in! No way, you have to respect
>your doctor and believe in his decisions, whether you understand them at
>the time or not.
>
>--
>Stacy F
>
>At Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Markeeta wrote:
>>
>>Try this one on for size. I am a 26 year old mother of one 4 year old ho had a tubal one New Year's Eve 3 years ago.
>>
>>3 years after the fact I now would very much like to have another child. A few doctors believe I was pregnant earlier this year and the pregnanc terminated on its own. After charting my periods and desparately trying to become pregnant, I eventually gave up. Then 3 weeks ago I started gr wing nails, gaining a little weight, experincing increased appetitie and falling asleep within one hour of arriving home from work. I NEVER grow nails or fall asleep so early in the evening unless I am pregnant and I ave been 5'3" and 108 lbs since high school with the exception of my pre nancy!
>>
>>I would take a pregnancy test but they are useless for me until I am at east 5-6 weeks along. My periods are never a good indicator either as t ey persist well into 2 months of pregnancy. I could see my OB-GYN but I ad to select another because my previous one retired and I don't care fo him much. As a matter of fact, I believe he would actually cause harm o any baby I might be carrying in order to make money on a tubal reversa that I am considering.
>>
>>Additionally, I am concerned about early diagnosis of my pregnancy as I as high risk and pre-eclamptic in my previous pregnancy.
>>
>>For the record, my tubal involved cauterization (which I understand dras ically reduces the likelihood of a pregnancy) and I have had 2 known pre nancies, 2 suspected pregnancies and one life birth.
>>
>>Should I wait this out for a few more months (just in case i'm imagining a pregnancy) or consider finding another OB-GYN? And if I should go to nother OB-GYN how ever do I get them to perform something other than the urine test since it's so early
>
--
R.Daniel Braun, MD FACOG FOG
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