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Before government intervention (and socialism), many private charities operated hospitals and clinics.
The poor got "free" or low cost care, but had to endure the lesser accommodations of an open ward, whereas the "paying customers" got private rooms.
In some hospitals and clinics, the staff were religious ZEALOTS who worked for NO remuneration, viciously caring for the sick and dying. (sarcasm flag off)
Funny thing, you don't hear about people being bankrupted by medical costs BEFORE the glorious socialist revolution. . .
Move on, nothing to see here, go home.
And do you expect:
1. physcians to undergo post high school education for 13 years and work for free?
2. nurses, techs, and support staff to work for free?
3. In the era of "charity hospitals", medicine did not have expensive MRIs,CTs, chemotherapeutics, surgeries were very limited in scope and medicines were quite primitive.
4. Do you expect MRIs, CTs, anesthesia machines, OR tables, instruments, pharmaceuticals, and disposables all to appear for "free"?
Your contentions reflect the sentiments of one who harbors jealousy and resentment toward the medical profession. You are probably one who had designs to go to medical school, but could not achieve a high enough GPA and MCATs to do so. There is a good reason that the bar is set at a certain level- many people are just not cut out to be physicains either intellectually or emotionally.
I don't believe everything I hear about Canada. I haven't said anything about the Canadian health care system on this thread. If you want to believe swine like Mercola, you'll lose your cred faster than you can say "Jack Robinson".
the Henry J Kaiser institute and Healthcare IT News and Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan using cites from sources like the CDC aren't acceptable to you?'
It ain't my credibility you need to worry about.
However we'll just try again with a couple more of the hundreds I've found Perhaps you'll find at least one of them acceptable to your lofty standards. I won't hold my breath while you continue sipping your KoolAde:
the Henry J Kaiser institute and Healthcare IT News and Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan using cites from sources like the CDC aren't acceptable to you?'
It ain't my credibility you need to worry about.
However we'll just try again with a couple more of the hundreds I've found Perhaps you'll find at least one of them acceptable to your lofty standards. I won't hold my breath while you continue sipping your KoolAde:
Most countries rewrote their Constitutions after WW2 and determined healthcare was a human right.
Healthcare is not a human right in the US.
We do however enjoy taking other countries to task for human rights violations unless they are an ally, in which case we overlook their transgressions.
I don't agree with your assessment.
It is not a Constitutional right. It is a human right. And we can make anything a right that we want to.
...
d. the average physician is more intelligent than the average citizen
...
6. I would LOVE to be an employee with no overhead. Can you find me that position locally?
That seems very debatable sometimes.
As far as #6, isn't that why so many doctors join HMOs, for example. Or the general medical practice I go to -- one owner, 4 regular doctors, 4 NPs, 4 specialists that spend part of each week there.
And yet when you're sick do you go see your doctor or your handy man? Intelligence aside, I can assure you that anyone who gets through college, the MCAT, med school and residency is damn hard working and committed to becoming a doctor. The average citizen either is not intelligent enough or doesn't want to work hard enough to attain a medical degree. Doesn't really matter which.
No, simply because most of us, at one time or another, have had lousy doctors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinm Physicians are NOT more intelligent than the average citizen. Most apply knowledge from trial and error from generations of doctors that came before them. Memorizing a bunch of medical jargon is not "intelligence". Many doctors are dumber than a box of hammers when it comes to anything other than medicine.
Should you ever find yourself in need of open heart surgery, you might want to consider keeping your erroneous perceptions to yourself before your doctor holds your life in his hands.
Or maybe you might consider it a DIY project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
Should you ever find yourself in need of open heart surgery, you might want to consider keeping your erroneous perceptions to yourself before your doctor holds your life in his hands.
Or maybe you might consider it a DIY project.
I think the truth is somewhere in between. Some doctors are brilliant, some are pretty average guys. And there is a lot of "trial and error" in everyday medicine. For example, Thursday I go to the doctor for a follow-up of discovering that I have a gall stone. There is already a jumping to a conclusion that the symptoms I am having is because of the gall stone. I will have to push to get a further consideration that it could be the gall stone and/or other digestive system issues. Been there with other medical issues, done that.
In fact the best example for me was when I started having mild tachycardia 5 years ago. First time I went in -- "Oh, you're just dehydrated". Second time I went in...the same diagnosis. Third time I went in...same diagnosis. Fourth time I insisted on some testing. "Well, Mr. L----, you were right. You do have a heart issue. Too much jumping to conclusions based on what the most frequent diagnosis is. Just a month or so ago there was a study released that indicated that the majority of patients will suffer from at least one significant misdiagnosis in their life time.
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