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Sampling medical tourism turned me against American Doctors and it can spoil you.
I had some ongoing tingling in my right arm, American Dr. put me through the X-ray-MRI-MRI With Contrast route, only to then tell me I had to see a Neck Specialist and no, Ortho's can't prescribe pain meds anymore, you need to go to a pain management clinic for them to decided if you're qualified for them.
I moved to Tucson to be closer to Doctors I trusted more, 65 miles south in Nogales.
On a trip there 2 months ago I went to a Dr., explained the tingling in my arm, and within a minute he said: I know exactly what you need! Gabapine!
I thought I was going to have to take it the rest of my life, every day, but surprise, surprise. I took one that lasted me 2 weeks, before I overdid it physically one day landscaping. And, no, no need to go to a Pain Management Clinic when I'm an hour away by car to Mexico.
I tend to avoid American Dr.'s for the overemphasis on imaging. I'm surprised they don't require an MRI for merely stubbing your toe!
"Experts" and "scientists" are human beings first and foremost, among them there are the good, the bad, the ugly, and they are to be trusted or not trusted by the same measure as everyone else.
Good Luck!
Nope. Not when they work in an industry that is far more corrupt and dishonest than most others.
Are there some doctors with solid integrity? Yes, a few. And you'll find the needle in the haystack first.
Just came across this thread. Stay away from ENT doctors if you can. The common surgery of turbinate reduction for breathing issues can lead to empty nose syndrome. It ultimately killed my son.
I had turbinate reduction before my cancer surgery, and am now able to breathe normally. I spent 50+ years with crappy breathing, and would have had the septoplasty and turbinate reduction a long time ago, had I known.
Empty nose was something I discussed with my ENT prior to surgery, and she explained her plan thoroughly.
For Medicare to pay it has to meet the checklist... otherwise there is no reimbursement.
They made it very difficult for my mom to get a hip replacement and she eventually didn't get one. The first radiologist kept trying to steer us to his surgeon 25 miles away to do a hip replacement, which made me suspicious. So I took her to the hospital two miles from my house for a second opinion which recommended physical therapy. After the first broken hip and the next one, the recommendation was still physical therapy.
The physical therapist asked why she hadn't gotten a hip replacement.
It can work both ways.
My brother had cataract surgery when it wasn't affecting his vision. He was happy with it and the lasik surgery.
They made it very difficult for my mom to get a hip replacement and she eventually didn't get one. The first radiologist kept trying to steer us to his surgeon 25 miles away to do a hip replacement, which made me suspicious. So I took her to the hospital two miles from my house for a second opinion which recommended physical therapy. After the first broken hip and the next one, the recommendation was still physical therapy.
The physical therapist asked why she hadn't gotten a hip replacement.
It can work both ways.
My brother had cataract surgery when it wasn't affecting his vision. He was happy with it and the lasik surgery.
So many are so much quicker to do surgeries and many are rabidly against it unless life or death. I grew up with a mother who was so against "they are not going to open me up", so I am sure that's some of my resistance, plus I've had a couple not great outcomes. We can do so much to control advancement of issues.
I'm truly sorry that has been your experience it hasn't been mine.
There are bad people in all occupations. However, most doctors I have seen in the past were competent practitioners who knew what they were doing.
I've learned the hard way that I could have saved a lot of time, money, and anxiety if I had simply been willing to listen to my family doctor when he first gave me some advice. He is the kindly sort and never pushes too hard. Its a pity he didn't hit me over the head and demand certain courses of action from me.
I'm not saying this is true in your case. Oftentimes, though the problem is a patient who refuses to listen to his/her doctor.
Exactly! Some of this second, third, fourth, etc opinion seeking is just because the patient doesn't want to hear what the doctor is saying.
Well, I had to have a stent put in for an aneurysm when the coiling didn't work. The doctor who advised me of this (after an angiogram) was, surprise, surprise, the head of the neurology department. Did I trust him? You bet your sweet bippies, old hippies.
The surgery went off without a hitch and I've been fine ever since. This was when I was on Medicaid, too, so this was an excellent chance to charge as much as this doctor wanted. I really don't know what he charged, but he was the doctor who saved my life after the aneurysm had happened and when he recommended the stent, I wasn't going to hesitate, as the angiogram showed blood was still leaking from the aneurysm.
Sometimes you just have to trust that doctors know what they're doing. Are people here who don't trust doctors going to vet them if they end up in emergency for something serious?
What the hell kind of surgery is done for floaters? If they're caused by an impairment that can cause blindness like retinal tear or detachment, then surgery is done to repair those conditions, not the floaters themselves which often result from vitreous breakdown, a part of the aging process.
They can do laser surgery for floaters. I have huge floaters after a vitreous separation of the macula in both eyes over two months. It's like trying to see through glasses with huge fingerprints smeared on them. I was told most people become used to this, but 18 months later it's still driving me crazy.
If the surgery was offered and I could afford to pay for it, I'd have it done in a nanosecond. Right now my optometrist wants to wait until I need to have my cataracts removed and given how little those are bothering me, I'll probably be 100 when that happens. Of course, maybe the cataracts don't bother me that much because of how much the floaters do.
Well, I had to have a stent put in for an aneurysm when the coiling didn't work. The doctor who advised me of this (after an angiogram) was, surprise, surprise, the head of the neurology department. Did I trust him? You bet your sweet bippies, old hippies.
The surgery went off without a hitch and I've been fine ever since. This was when I was on Medicaid, too, so this was an excellent chance to charge as much as this doctor wanted. I really don't know what he charged, but he was the doctor who saved my life after the aneurysm had happened and when he recommended the stent, I wasn't going to hesitate, as the angiogram showed blood was still leaking from the aneurysm.
Sometimes you just have to trust that doctors know what they're doing. Are people here who don't trust doctors going to vet them if they end up in emergency for something serious?
Glad to hear you were able to get that stent, and it's been that successful in controlling your aneurysm. Hopefully you have many more years ahead of you to enjoy your life.
I just wanted to comment on what you said about the Medicaid and charges for services. It could well be the doctor that did your surgery was salaried ( especially if he was a faculty member in a university setting, or an employee of a large medical group managed by an outside entity), in which case he'd get the same salary whether or not he operated on you, and it wouldn't matter what you were charged, or what your third party payer reimbursed for your surgery.
Also, doesn't matter what a provider charges Medicaid for services, Medicaid, like Medicare and third party payers will reimburse only a portion of those bills. And from what I've seen, quite often those reimbursements are a fraction ( have seen as little as 10-20% of the billed amount with Medicare, and I'd bet Medicaid isn't much better) of the bill. So it always makes me laugh at the idea that docs are making an absolute financial killing on a surgery or procedure.
I hear you about having to trust doctors sometimes, although I'd prefer to vet them, as you say, by checking credentials, looking at references ( like dentists, word of mouth from a trusted source means a lot to me), but in an emergency life or death situation you can't always do that so you hope you get lucky.
I've been pretty lucky myself in that department, though. I had a general surgeon to whom I was referred by my PCP last year for a colonoscopy ( positive occult blood) patiently listen to my "nothing wrong with me you won't find anything" rant, suggest an upper GI too ( leading to more ranting on my part at first), find and treat several bleeding ulcers I had no idea I had. I'll forever be grateful to him for his skills, his concern and caring.
I'm in a similar boat this year, with ongoing cardiac issues that if I chose to minimize or ignore ( or figured I could treat myself), could ( and would, eventually) prove to be my undoing. I'm in the process of working on, and considering the options suggested by the cardiologists to manage these issues, and have found them knowledgeable, caring, responsive and considerate of my perspectives as well.
We have no choice in an emergency, we have to trust doctors. Many people have had their lives saved by doctors, especially surgeons.
But we can't simply have blind faith in doctors either. They are not very good with chronic diseases or anything involving the immune system. There is not enough understanding of many kinds of diseases.
If you need antibiotics (I mean REALLY need) or surgery, then an MD is likely to help you. But don't worship them because of that. They are educated to think that drugs are medicine.
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