Living with MCL

Just don’t go to the doctor!

Here are just a couple of examples why you might think twice before seeking care.

From bmj.com

Healthcare group agrees $500m settlement for unnecessary surgery

The second largest health provider in the United States, Tenet Healthcare, has agreed to pay nearly $500m (£270m; 390m) to settle claims that doctors did unnecessary surgery at the Redding Hospital, in Redding, California.

The hospital was raided by 40 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2002 after it received reports that doctors were performing numerous unnecessary cardiac operations

How about this one from CBS News

Because The Doctor Isn’t Always Right

It was a nagging cough that first sent Chuck Pandrea’s wife Janet to her family doctor in Florida. She was then referred [to] a specialist.

“He confirmed that she had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the very early stages. And the sooner we could start treatment, the better it would be,” he says of the doctor.

“I went with her every time to, to the treatments. And she’d be sitting in that chair just religiously thinking it’s going to make her feel better, make her better. And it didn’t happen again,” Pandrea says.

Less than three months later, Janet Pandrea was dead…..

Devastated, Chuck requested an autopsy, The Early Show’s Dr. Emily Senay reports.

“He told me that she didn’t have cancer and never did,” …More

Ok, I’m sure you’ve got the point now, but here’s one more. From the Arizona Daily Star.

Cancer-free: the appalling, shocking news

After living in the shadow of fatal cancer for years, most people would erupt with joy to find they never had the disease at all.

Not so for Janice Lomen. ….

“I just did not know what to do, what to think,” Lomen said of the moment she learned she did not have multiple myeloma, a rare, incurable cancer of the bone marrow ….

Not only did she not have the cancer, but the chemotherapy treatment she had received left her at risk of another disease: leukemia.…More

Of course these incidences are not the norm, nor are they typical of the types of unnecessary tests, procedures or treatments that are performed by doctors, but neither are they uncommon.

As long as the government continues to reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, as long as insurance companies are permitted to squeeze doctors into providing care for less and less money, and as long as hospitals are required to provide free care to the uninsured, expect to see more of the same.

Like health insurance companies, health care providers are businesses too, and under those circumstances, the only way health care providers can make ends meet, is to insure they see more and more sick patients and treat them, whether they really need it or not. And short of the health insurers providing second opinions out of their own pockets, who is there to dispute an incorrect diagnosis or an inappropriate treatment.

Now I’m not saying that every doctor will act this way. In fact I would give most doctors the benefit of the doubt, that they would not act in such a manner. But neither am I naive enough to think that there aren’t any doctors who would.

All I am really trying to say here is, don’t put your full faith and trust in your doctor. Not only might your doctor be unscrupulous, but doctors are human, and subject to making errors.

Always seek a second opinion before beginning any treatment, ask questions, review all your tests, research the internet, ask the advice of someone you trust implicitly and make damn sure you agree with the diagnosis and treatment plan, and know all the potential risks.

I did, and that was when I actually believed the US did have the best health care in the world!

I know it’s been almost a week since my last post, but I’ve been playing lots of golf, riding my bike and of course watching the Tour d’France, so there just hasn’t been a lot of time. Plus, as many of you who have your own blogs are no doubt aware of, it’s tough maintaining the motivation to keep a blog going. Even for those who make a living blogging, it’s tough, but when you have a real life, a committment to maintaining a blog, can get in the way of things.

Anywaze, after my last post, some of you might think the Tour isn’t worth watching. Well, I am still disappointed that Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were kicked out of the race, but the race does seem to be shaping up into becoming an exciting tour. The sprint finishes have been truly breath taking, as they usually are, with Robbie McEwen (Australia) currently in the Green Jersey (the sprint points leader), and Tom Boonen (Belgium) in the Yellow Jersey (the race leader).

But that will all change tomorrow, that is the race leader will change. Tomorrow’s stage is a 52km (31 mile) individual time trial, and anyone who has designs of winning the tour is going to have to give it everything they have to try and win it, while remembering there are still 13 stages and another 2300+ km to go to finish.

The first week was all about the sprinters, but the second week is all about who can really win it. With the time trial tomorrow, followed by several stages in the Pyrenees, and then the Alpes, the second week will definitely seperate the wannabees from the real contenders.

So if you haven’t been watching it, don’t worry. While you have missed some good stages and some great sprint finishes, the real racing starts tomorrow, and the Yellow Jersey is still up for grabs with no less than 6 riders (2 Americans) having a real shot at winning the Yellow Jersey.

You can watch it live on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN – channel 608 for Direct TV subscribers) starting at 8:30 AM EDST, and repeated throughout the day. But if you don’t have Direct TV, or your cable provider doesn’t give you OLN, you can still stay abreast of the action via the official Tour d’France website, and the OLN website.

Just when I was expecting one of the best tours in the last 7 years, what happens? The two favorites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, along with Francisco Mancebo, Joseba Beloki and Oscar Sevilla, a veritable who’s who in the cycling world, have been suspended from their respective teams for suspicions of blood doping.

It’s so hard to watch the tour now. Sure, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and a number of other top riders, who have a chance of winning, are still in the race, but when the ranks are thinned of the top two contenders, it is sure to taint any victory.

All the cyclists suspended claimed their innocence (would you have expected anything else), but what is surprising is this was not a decision made by Tour officials, the International Cycling Union (UCI) or the Amateur Sports Association (ASO), but was a decision by all the participating teams as required by a

code of ethics that was signed by all teams on January 1, 2005 which stated that no team would allow a rider to compete while under investigation in any doping affair.

I don’t know whether the individuals singled out are quilty or not, but to take such drastic action indicates there is strong evidence to suggest they are guilty. Still I don’t like the decision. I wish there could have been a better way.

Blood doping is extremely hard to detect, and if that many individuals and teams were involved, then it is likely that the problem is more wide spread then what is indicated here. Some teams may just be better at hiding it then others, especially those based thousands of miles away.