I can think of nothing more cruel than to keep 90 years olds alive whose bodies want to die. I lost my Dad when he was a very young man. I remember having hysterics in the hospital over it. a very gentle Doctor sat me down and explained to me what needed to be said. Dying is part of living and we all have to go there at some point. Did I want my dad to experience the kind of pain he would be forced to live with if he lived? Did I want him to never be able to get out of bed again? Did I want him to not ever be able to taste food or to enjoy life at any level? The answer to all of these questions were, NO I did not want that and most important neither would he!

What the hell is wrong with people who want to put their loved ones through such horrible things?

This is not an exhibit of love, but more an extreme in being self important, and refusing to accept reality.

That money is put to much better use on preventative medicine for those who could benefit greatly from it.

You can call me every name you can think of, or think of me as cold and uncaring, but the truth is…I still think it more cruel to not help those who can benefit most from our help, while at the same time keeping some of these people alive just to appease self centered family members.

Jesus, when I get so sick and old that I might begin to outlive my own children, someone please put me out of my misery and let me die.

But it’s been more than once that I’ve read on doctor blogs about a procedure that I’d never heard of – the wallet biopsy. Apperently it’s only performed on a person of limited means, without an insurance card. Unfortunately, if the wallet is not fat enough, it appears that decisions are made as to the worth of that person receiving medical care from certain health care providers, be they hospitals, testing labs, radiology labs, rehab facilities, and some doctors (specialists? surgeons?).

Is there a procedure code for ‘wallet biopsy’? It seems to be a rather common practice, from the tone of some doctor blogs.

re: “there must be about a hundred of them on this blog alone, where you talk about it and admit to it in every detail imaginable”

Do you know the difference between someone’s opinion and real peer-reviewed evidence? Try reviewing the threads. There is a lot of opinions but not evidence. Opinions are like as#$%oles. Everybody has one.

Anon 06:29:

re: “yes and all these years later we still have one the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Why is that?

I think in the last 50 years life expectancy has increased about 5-7 years”

One of the most ignorant statements around. You do have the internet you can actually look this up on your own. But since you are unable to I will fill in the blanks.

1: No we don’t have one of the highest mortality rates in the world. That would be African countries other third world countries. Yes we are lower than many other developed countries in Western Europe but to a certain extent those numbers are cooked. Why? because we count live-births differently than Europe. Lives births that we count (and die) are not even counted as live births in Europe.

2: This is the life expectancy increase (and it is more than 5 years). It took 30 seconds of research.

1930 men 58.1, woman 61.6
1940 men 60.6,woman 65.2
1950 men 65.6, woman 71.1
2004 men 75.2, woman 80.4

3: Why do we intubate 90 year old. Why do we keep people in vegetative states alive (if you call them alive?) for decades. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE PATIENT’S AND FAMILIES WANT THAT IS WHY. tALK TO ANY DOC/RN. They will give you many, many examples of futile care, not because we agree with it because per pt/family wishes. That is the way it works in this country.By the way it doesn’t necessarily works that way in Europe. There is more of an emphasis on prevanative care in Europe (which I agree with of course). However, the pay off is just because you want your loved one kept alive, doesn’t mean the doc/gov’t is goingto do it., and you won’t have anybody to sue after the fact. Please. please if you really want to debate a subject don’t sound like such a ignorant fool. You are just another uneducated american joke.

There remains no consistent and reliable detemination of infant mortality from one country to another, because of differening definitions and outright lies. Bad example.

I think in the last 50 years life expectancy has increased about 5-7 years. Men still die younger than women, people still die everyday from cancer. And as for our elderly population, I think we are extremely cruel in the things we put them through, in the name of medicine. All for a few extra months or maybe a year or two. is it worth it?

Im not saying there hasn’t been alot of improvement in healthcare over the years, but maybe technology is moving to fast in that direction. Why are you intubating and doing CPR on someone who is 92 years old? Let them rest for Christ sake. I hope I have made it plain that this better not be done to me.

Why are we keeping brain dead people alive on vents for years on end. Do we think they are going to recover and be normal? Or is this some doc’s sick view of progress in American healthcare?

How much money do we spend on useless procedures or trying to keep someone alive who would be better off dead, compared to those we refuse to help because they don’t have ins.? Just how moralistic is all this? You call codes on people 90 years old and go the whole gamut keeping them breathing, (usually with a vent) and at the same time we refuse to buy some 40 or 50 year olds blood pressure medicine? Do you not see things wrong with this picture?

That is a hilarious statement to make on this blog. Which post is it that you would like the link to? There must be about a hundred of them on this blog alone, where you talk about it and admit to it in every detail imaginable.

Nevermind that you don’t produce one iota of evidence that supports your argument for all of the those unecessary tests.

Nevermind that you are free to refuse any or all of those expensive “unecessary” tests/drugs ordered by your doctors.

Nevermind that your chronic diseases are “well controlled” thanks to those “expensive” drugs ordered by your doctors

Nevermind that most doctors right- off tens of thousands of dollars (or more) to patients who cannot or will not pay their bills.

Nevermind that I probably do more “charity” work in one year than you have done your whole life.

Nevermind that I can’t increase my payments on medicare/medicaid pt’s inspite of ever increasing costs of running a business.

Nevermind that every city/town I have ever worked in has clinics that offer a sliding scale payment system based on the ability to pay.

Nevrmind that everyone looks to NHS as the pancea when the dirty secret is their WILL BE RATIONING. If you over 65 No dialysis….No CABG…..No transplants. The doctors will make these decisions without your input. You will not be able to sue. You will go off to hospice and die. Something Micheal Moore ignored in his quasi-fictional movie.

You are right about one thing. The whining of the ill-informed is getting tiresome.

PS: For all of Mikey Moore’s whining about the US system. When he went to a fat farm where did he go? Canada? Cuba? No he went to Florida. What a hypocrite.

I consider myself fortunate; I live in New Jersey, where the insurers cannot turn anyone away because of age or pre-existing conditions. In the three years that I have been in a Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO, my monthly premiums have gone from $380 to $425 to $480 to $570 a month. It’s now a tidy $6840 a year, and that’s before I ever set foot in a doctor’s office. Last year, I spent $9200 on health care, for premiums, drug copays, office visits and tests. And I’m in decent health, with only two well-controlled chronic conditions.

In other states, I would be considered either a poor risk, or uninsurable. I would easily have monthly premiums of $1000, and $5000 dedectibles. That’s if I could find an insurer who would be willing to offer me a policy.

I firmly believe that before someone spouts off the ‘Why don’t people buy insurance?’ line, they should look carefully into the insurance situation in their own state, and only then express their opinion. I gather, from reading doctor blogs, that doctors somehow think that health insurance costs around $100-200 a month for an individual, and that if only people gave up their cable tv and cell phones, they could easily afford insurance.

The next time you look at a patient and wonder why they don’t have insurance, ask yourself “Does this person look like they have an extra $10,000-$20,000 per year to go out and get insurance? Would this person be considered a good or poor risk, from an insurer’s point-of-view? Does this person have pre-existing conditions? Is this person over 40?”

On a related matter – recall how much my premiums have gone up over the last 4 years. What is driving this? I firmly believe that defensive medicine is playing a major role in this. All the extra tests, extra imaging studies, extra follow-up visits, prescribing expensive drugs, etc. The money has to come from somewhere, and it’s coming out of the wallets of patients and/or their employers.

Doctors complain that patients seem to think that health care is free. Frankly, I believe that it is the other way around – doctors think health care is free, and that it does not matter one bit how many tests, drugs, office visits, etc that they order, because someone else is going to pay for it, that someone being the insurer. Yes, some patients can’t pay, or need reduced fees. But you all know damn well that the majority of your patients have insurance of one kind or another, and that this is what pays for your incomes, and allows you to order one thing after another.

The ill-informed whining gets tiresome.