Patient recovery or monetary revenue?

Tags

Allopathy, Conventional medicine, Healthcare, informed patient, monetary revenue, recovery, respect

It is not seldom that when hearing patient stories that I am told about their previous experiences within the realm of conventional medicine. Quite shockingly, these explanations frequently disclose a therapeutic relationship that makes me shudder. It seems that doctors and health care providers are increasingly focusing, not, on the aim of providing speedy patient recovery, but are seeking opportunities for the application of costly treatments and medicinal regimens. This is a somewhat worrisome development in orthodox healthcare. Where are we at if patient illness is viewed as a means of increasing monetary revenue, rather than a state of suffering that needs to be relieved? What are the consequences of such comportment? Must we as patients fear to receive unnecessary therapeutic procedures to create an income for a hospital or clinic? Are we guinea-pigs for regimens that ensure the greatest monetary support for an individual practice or an institution?

The following excerpts of patients experiential reports of the comportment of medical staff towards them in their care, have unveiled some disturbing conduct that clearly has not the patients well-being prioritized. These cases painfully highlight that something is not right in the healthcare sector.

1. During an incident at a hospital, an entire team surrounding a surgeon exerted immense pressure on the patient to immediately undergo an emergency surgery. When demanded an explanation of the situation at hand, its urgency and insistence, the surgeon denied the details requiring such emergency handling. He responded with the words: “No! I don´t have to! I will not tell you because you will not understand!”. Somewhat baffled at this exclamation, the interrogation was continued. Yet, the response always remained the same: “I will not, and must not, because you will not understand!”.

Following such irritation, the patient asked to view test results and exam data, but was denied these on the same account that they simply would not be understood. Only long discourse, arguing and true battling for access to exam images and laboratory print-outs, finally gave access to these, albeit only under severe protest. During this time, the heating in the room, where the patient was resting, was increased. The patient and his family began sweating and were increasingly becoming very uncomfortable. When asking for the temperature to be turned down, this request was briskly and quite harshly denied. It was even warned to keep all doors closed and to not permit ventilation. Nobody did quite understand this. A short while later a nurse came to take the patients temperature. This was now elevated by about half a degree as opposed to earlier measurements. Now, once again the entire team of doctor and medical personnel pressurized the patient with the insistence that he now was in an inflammatory, an emergency state (due to the elevated body temperature) and would now have to undergo surgery imminently. Ehh? What? What bogus behaviour from persons that stand in the service of patients and their health care! They turned up the heating to increase the body temperature such that this would suggest an inflammation, so that they would get their way of conducting a surgical intervention??

The situation was resolved by the family’s decision to leave this hospital immediately. The surgeon pretended to be in utter shock and questioned how one could possibly dare to take such an irresponsible step. Once the decision was made, the entire team, doctor, nurses and carers, stopped assisting or tending to the patient. Nobody was there for the patient in his acute state anymore.

The patients’ family took him out of this hospital, and straight into the next hospital, where the doctor at the emergency room frowned: “We know that doctor, he likes to do surgeries”. The patient eventually got sent home with some painkillers (!). Surgery was declared as not imminently essential, but could potentially be considered in the event of a recurrence of symptoms, which may or may not happen.

Was patient health, in this case, really the prime focus of doctors doing, or were there economic factors dictating behaviour? Remember that patient healthcare, is to be paramount to conventional practitioners, and they swear to honour it in their Hippocratic Oath?! How on earth could a practitioner not disclose patient data, test results, exam images, and exert pressure to convince a patient to undergo surgery?

2. Another patient shared the following story, which permits a similar trail of questions. This patient had been admitted to hospital. The one doctor visiting in the morning interpreted the patient data as such that he found surgery to be absolutely unavoidable. He scheduled the surgery for the following day. The visiting doctor in the evening stressed that the patient was improving and surgery was absolutely not necessary. How can a patient make an informed decision from such statements? Which doctor can be believed; whose statement is correct? How can a patient decide for himself, what the best healthcare decision is in his state, if one doctor says we do surgery now and the other says no way?

There is a discrepancy here!

3. The following case emphasizes why one must always be critical! A patient, a middle aged man, slightly corpulent, but not excessively overweight, sought help from a cardiologist for symptoms of angina pectoris. The doctor, an internationally known expert in the field of cardiology, looked at the patient, told him that he was too fat, prescribed Statins and concluded with the words: “If you do not take these you will die!”. The patient objected, as he did not quite understand why he should be taking Statins, as there were no clinical indications of them being necessary. Test results had shown no arterial deposits or elevated cholesterol levels. Somewhat shocked by the ‘impending death unless…’, the patient stated that he was also concerned about the potential side-effects of Statins. The cardiologist belittled the patients concerns, stating that the patient should not believe the media reports on such adverse-effects. He insisted that the efficacy of Statins was long proven, and that the patient could safely trust his prescription.

Ehhh? How safe is a prescription when there is no true indication for it? And have not just recently Statins been slammed for their adverse effects and not so beneficial impacts? What has the employment of fear to do with ethical comportment? Has it become a tool in the medical industry? It appears that monetary factors are increasingly becoming the prime importance over patient healthcare, and the fight for patients is evolving to somewhat of a dirty business. This is indecent and irresponsible, and reflects the attempt to make the patient submissive to the will of an industry!

But, what is happening out there? The doctors are the helpers in need, the sick patients hope for recovery, and here they are exerting pressure, keeping information from the patient, and threatening him or her with death if their will is not complied with.

Sadly, doctors are still frequently seen as ‘Gods in white’, and their recommendations and suggestions are all too often accepted as best of choices, and most competently made decisions. Hardly ever are doctors orders questioned or analyzed for their appropriateness. Most patients rely on, and trust what their general practitioner says. Most believe that their doctor knows best, mainly because they themselves are not knowledgeable in the specific field. Therefore, they trust the assumed competence and integrity of the medical professional to make the best choices for them, and to suggest the most appropriate treatment protocol. But, the above cases have illustrated that the patient must not be submissive to doctors orders unless they are convinced of what has been suggested as best for their cure and well-being. It is necessary for patients to critically question what their Conv.med. Practitioner recommends!

The above mentioned examples are hopefully only isolated cases of prejudice in the patient / orthodox practitioner interaction! But, they are scary descriptions of ‘how-not-to’ comportment in the so-called trusted union of patient and medic.

I have huge respect for the work that allopathic doctors are conducting. They have much responsibility resting on their shoulders when patients are placed into their care. But, as a patient, I wish to be respected, be informed, listened to, and treated by the best possible therapeutic regimen that has the greatest potential to reinstate my health in the fastest and least invasive way! I do not wish to be rendered ‘under-age’, minor, or deprived of the ability to maintain responsibility for my own healthcare, of making my own informed decisions.

I very much hope that the above incidents are only extreme snippets and do not represent a trend in the medical industry. Albeit the fact that money has become a primary factor in healthcare I do hope the Hippocratic Oath does not lose its premise and remains a commitment to the representatives of the medical profession. It is a question of integrity and respect, to act responsibly for someone ill and vulnerable, who has entrusted his recovery and healthcare to someone competent in his stead.

This should not be forgotten!

The importance of being an informed patient

Tags

data, Doctor, general practitioner, informed choice, informed patient, knowledgeable, package insert

When seeing a healthcare provider most of us are assuming a position that appears somewhat inferior to that of the doctor or general practitioner. This is somewhat natural as we are usually seeking assistance from these professions because we have fallen ill and are as a consequence not feeling strong, vitalized, but weak and vulnerable.

We are, by seeking help from another usually not knowledgeable in the field of their practice, and may therefore feel unable to make decisions on the matter at hand that are in our best interest considering our presenting state. Thus we are seeking the experts educated and speciality informed skill to aid in our relief. This too is natural. But should we therefore blindly trust anothers’ decision-making, should we assume a passive role and wholly hand the responsibility for our recovery to the skilled healthcare professional?

NO!

We cannot, should not, and must not, rely on others to take the correct actions and make the appropriate decisions on our behalf! We must master our own healthcare and must be knowledgeable of all issues pertaining to it, from cause to cure, via intervention, treatment and medication. At all stages must we be informed of what is presenting, what may have caused it, what can be done, what is necessary, useful, and effective in our recovery, what promotes our health, with the least possible of negative impact…

By the above statement though, it appears like we, as patients, should be educated in depth on all issues of illness, disease and healthcare that we could possibly ever be inflicted by. But that is not what it is meant to say! It simply means that we have to be attentive, to our own state of being, but also to what the doctor or general practitioner suggests, intends and does.

It means that we have to be curious. We have to investigate and demand to be correctly informed. We should never, not dare to ask what the GP means if he uses vocabulary that we do not know! Every health practitioner and healthcare provider is doing a customer service; he or she is there for us, the patient, thus we can and must ask about what we don´t know, but what pertains to our case. He or she must provide an appropriate and correct answer, or, where he or she is not capable of delivering such information, he or she must recommend another appropriate source we can resort to for finding the answer.

The above statement also means that we as patients have to be observant! To be watchful, means to be sensitive and aware of what happens, when it happens and how it happens, what changes, what improves and what aggravates. These, sometimes very subtle details can be decisive indicators for a GP to base treatment plans and procedures on.

The below embedded video shows, in a humorous, yet sincere way, how important it is to be an informed patient!

Own your body’s data:

(Source origin: https://www.ted.com/talks/talithia_williams_own_your_body_s_data)

(Found at: http://alternativendhealth.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/who-is-responsible-for-your-healthcare/)

What should we, as patients, know and share when in need of seeing a healthcare provider?

– We should be able to give information relevant to the condition we are presenting with, how we are feeling different now to before we got sick. We should be able to describe the symptoms that we are expressing in some detail.

– We should know our own medical history, surgeries we have had, vaccinations we have received, allergies that have been identified and of course what medications we are currently taking (prescription and non-prescription drugs, as well as supplements). We should know of adverse effects that we have experienced while taking medication, and should always mention suspected side-effects.

– We should know details of the main family medical history. What conditions have close relatives had (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer etc)…

– Treatments, by other healthcare providers should be mentioned, in order to avoid adverse interactions of therapies and medication.

To be an informed patient aids in the provision of the best possible treatment for the presenting condition!

What can we do to become best informed, and to take on the responsibility for our health?

– We must inform ourselves, become informed and be informed… and if in any doubt… we must get a second opinion…

Inform ourselves: Scout the internet for information on our condition, the possible treatments and therapies. But be aware that not all sources of information on the web are credible sources. Seek to search verified sources and double check information obtained. A recommended treatment for acid reflux of a friend, prescribed by a GP, upon research on the www, brought to light that the drug had never been trialed scientifically, and in fact contained an industrial substance that was wholly inadequate for ingestion! Sadly, this drug had obviously passed clearance by the medical and pharmaceutical boards.

Become informed: Ask our healthcare provider and the pharmacist about treatments and medications we are asked to take. A relative was prescribed a drug albeit having informed the practitioner of a secondary condition that with the administration of said prescribed drug could have caused a severe complication with potential lethal consequence. The pharmacist noticed this. The patient had believed the doctor to pay attention to his case-history and consider this in his prescribing. He had not!

Be informed: Read the package insert and ask doctors, pharmacists or medical personnel about interactions with other drugs we are taking, allergies we have or adverse reactions we fear we may get. Also, be aware that the potential interaction of medications, may require other drugs we are taking to be increased or reduced. The last line of the small print package insert of a medication prescribed for a patient,  described a contra-indication, a serious adverse reaction, if a patient had previously been taking another certain type of drug. This patient had not read the insert, and needed to be hospitalized due to the effects from this prescription.

It is equally important to be aware that changes in daily routine, working schedules, diet and even relocation to another place may impact on the medication we may need. A friend, following a heart attack had relocated from cooler climes to a region of warmer climate. Still on the same medication as in the hometown he began having severe complications and increasingly felt seriously ill. It turned out that the medication for his heart was inadequate for the warmer climate. His hometown GP had not been aware of this, a local cardiologist changed the medication and stressed that a few weeks later, still on that same medication, the patient would  have been at risk of suffering another heart attack or a stroke. The medication had not been working properly and had in the different temperature, a critical ancillary effect to the intended one.

Get a second opinion and always take someone along!

A second opinion frequently opens doors to other treatment options and offers one more environment to ask questions and receive information on our condition and possible treatments.

Four ears hear more than two and, four eyes see more than two! As a vulnerable patient, being anxious, feeling unwell, we may overhear, forget to mention or ask something. Therefore, taking someone with us may be helpful in getting the best out of a consultation.

It is crucial to always be aware and critical when handling our own healthcare! We wish to get the best possible treatment and there is a lot we can do to assure that we indeed get it! Therefore it is very important to be an informed patient!