But can that be a good thing?
More patients have higher deductible health insurances, making them question the costs of emergency room tests and treatments. The fear of sticker shock is causing some to leave the hospital against medical advice.
In fact, discharges against a doctor’s advice jumped by almost 50 percent over the last decade.
Such cases can range from patients not willing to stay overnight to exclude a heart attack, to leaving before appropriate x-rays and scans can be performed.
In most cases, those who leave often come back in worse shape, forcing doctors to treat a more severe condition.
But, some view this trend as having positive implications. Jeffrey Sankoff, an emergency physician in Denver, sees the explicit discussion of the pros and cons of refusing medical care as a positive.
“Testing is out of control ,” he says. “I think it’s good we’re having those conversations about risks and benefits.”
Perhaps the man has a point.
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{ 3 comments }
This is free market healthcare. You can’t trust the salesperson, oops, I mean doctor, to recommend only appropriate treatment when they have a financial incentive. I refused diagnostic tests for a DVT because they were expensive and the probability was low for the DVT. Isn’t that what those free market supporters want so we can lower health care costs, that we don’t do a bunch of frivilous tests. And I, as a consumer, is charged with making those decisions-not the doctor.
You have be healthy enough to move to go AMA. Most people who go AMA didn’t belong in the hospital in the first place, lied about their symptoms for secondary gain, or both.
In a real emergency no one worries about the cost.
I think Anon 6:04 has a good point!
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