Doctors are like mechanics.

Doctors are like mechanics.

They did not design the things they try to fix but have a general idea of how it works. They can charge you an arm and a leg for their work. The bad ones will try to sell you more services by saying that more is broken than what actually is the case. If able and in doubt, get a second opinion elsewhere. You may find that after the work has been done, coincidentally other things start breaking down. Just like a mechanic, its hard to find an honest doctor and when you find one stay with them.

That is a very good insight. One of my teachers shared a similar insight at school when she told us that she wasn't going to be at school for the last two class periods. I don't remember the exact quote, so I'm paraphrasing:

Medical services are one of the few institutions that can hold people hostage and make them wait an inordinate amount of time to get stuff done because there just aren't enough of them. Most people would not put up with waiting five days to a week to just place an order at a restaurant, but you have if you want that doctor's appointment.

Likewise, as you noted, mechanics can hold people hostage by their funky time schedules, too.

I'm not sure if this is related, and it would probably be better discussed in the Politics or Ethics subforums, but I think there might be a correlation between the way American healthcare is handled and doctors trying to "oversell" services.

Dave Burton wrote:I'm not sure if this is related, and it would probably be better discussed in the Politics or Ethics subforums, but I think there might be a correlation between the way American healthcare is handled and doctors trying to "oversell" services.

That is how "for profit" healthcare works! I broke my collarbone a few months ago (thread here) and had a casual conversation with a doctor on my treatment options. He was telling me that he advised against surgery but we were talking and he said in his previous practice (currently a VA orthopedic which is nonprofit) they would pressure him to recommend more expensive and often unnecessary procedures. In a situation like mine, he said it was often the case that doctors from "for profit" hospitals would push for surgery.

Well, my VA hospital bill was little over 30 bucks. All I needed was some cheap X-rays and a review but in a regular hospital I would have paid thousands of dollars. Sure the VA is federal but I certainly did appreciate the transparency and would trust them over pill and service factories any day! Besides, I had a great recovery.

Now y'all are just asking for it.

Are you trying to get healthcare repealed or something?



'Cause people should be healthy and help each other towards those ends. But yeah. Big pharma and the medical industry....

Dave Burton wrote:Medical services are one of the few institutions that can hold people hostage and make them wait an inordinate amount of time to get stuff done because there just aren't enough of them. Most people would not put up with waiting five days to a week to just place an order at a restaurant, but you have if you want that doctor's appointment.

Interestingly, I've heard the AMA described as one of the most successful unions out there. They have done a great job creating scarcity to keep wages high. From 1980 to 2010, the number of new doctors per year was relatively stagnant while the US population increased by about 40%.

Medical School Graduates:


US Population

Landon Sunrich wrote:
Are you trying to get healthcare repealed or something?

No, I would just prefer universal healthcare and a more efficient healthcare system- something like say what Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Ireland, or Denmark have. Or something better than what they all have... maybe something that starts with preventive medicine...

I don't really 'do' the whole I'm sick and I'm going to the doc thing, and haven't since I was going to my pediatrician as a kid. Recently my wife had a baby so I was in a medical hospital for maybe the longest period in my life. A couple of things that were kind of noticeable, a lot of organization goes into what's clean, what's for whom etc. and mistakes were made, and the doctors and nurses do not always communicate with each other or with patients.
after the birth, the nurse brought in a narcotic pain killer and was literally about to wire it up in the IV without asking, if my wife was less aware they would have given it to her. They also wrote a prescription for the same narcotic pain killer for her use, which she did not need or use. Maybe some women think they need this to relieve pain, and they have a right to purchase those drugs, but the nurses were assuming we would want them, like we were kids needing some candy. But how many people have problems with addiction to these narcotics? More than ever, and it is no surprise considering they are handed out like candy and they are hard drugs that cause withdrawl symptoms.

Here is something I have realized from knowing a doctor personally and having seen other docs in action: a lot of the things they do are to avoid a malpractice suit. Unfortunately, if there ever were good doctors they would at some point be subjected to bad patients and they would take precautions against it.
They have gone to school for roughly 7+ years to become a doc and they do not want to lose that.

I find it revealing that we say doctors "practice medicine"

I would prefer to "practice health"

I agree Matu. There are Functional Medicine doctors and videos about most health questions like nutrition, preventative medicine, and cancer, for example. Use the term "functional medicine."
John S
PDX OR