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Archive for the Healthcare Decisions category
An article in my local newspaper makes me wake up and take notice of a real problem for women who, after breast cancer surgeries, wish to have their breast(s) reconstructed.
Mind you — we aren’t talking about breast enhancement surgery. No discussion of “boob jobs” here.
The US Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) provides a website called Hospital Compare that allows potential patients to size up a hospital before they are admitted. Need to know how many heart surgeries are successful at your local hospital? Need to know its mortality rate? The information can be found at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.
And now, a new addition to the website will make this website even more valuable to those of us who do our due diligence. I love this!
Among the general population, between 10 and 15% of us are addicted to drugs or alcohol. That means that if you think of eight or ten of your friends — chances are good that one of them is a substance addict.
It should come as no surprise, then, that in a group of eight or ten doctors, there will also be an addict. The number may even be higher because they have easier access to addictive drugs than a pedestrian would.
A Canadian study recently released, and reported in the New York Times, gives us one more reason to ask our doctors questions, and to insist on second opinions.
Two people, one woman, one man, both 67 years old, and with equally ugly osteoarthritis were sent to 67 doctors. Among them were 29 orthopedic doctors and 38 family physicians. The patients were coached on how to present their symptoms so each doctor visit would be consistent. After examination, each patient asked the doctors whether they would need a knee replacement.
We used to see the ads on TV. Your cholesterol goes out of whack because of two things: cholesterol from the food you eat, and genetic cholesterol problems. So, being the good and wise patient you were, you discussed the subject with your doctor and he or she suggested Vytorin. Why? Because it was said to battle both types of cholesterol. And that can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Turns out that those clever marketers at both Shering Plough and Merck — the manufacturers of the components of Vytorin — had us all fooled. Billions of dollars later (yes — I mean billions!) they announced that — oops! Vytorin not only doesn’t work to reduce cholesterol and protect us from heart attacks and strokes, but it might even cause us additional cholesterol problems, worse than we had before we took the drug!
Most of us approach healthcare as if we were victims of getting sick, and as if it’s somebody else’s (usually the doctor’s) responsibility to fix us.
Think about it this way: My car has about 75,000 miles on it. Yes, once in awhile I get the oil changed. I even put new tires on it two years ago because the others were beginning to go bald. When the kid next door ran into it with his bike, I touched up the scratch marks to improve its appearance and to keep it from rusting. The air filter needed changing once, and I’ve replaced the brake pads twice. But now it’s making these really funny coughing noises when I turn on the ignition.
Getting the attention one needs and the healthcare one deserves should be universal. Let me help you help yourself by making the Healthcare System work for you ... More ..
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