The corporatization of health care has changed the practice of medicine, causing many physicians to feel alienated from their work.
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Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were struggling. Some complained that they didn’t have enough time to talk to their patients because they were too busy filling out electronic medical records. Others bemoaned having to fight with insurers about whether a person with a serious illness would be preapproved for medication. The doctors Dean surveyed were deeply committed to the medical profession. But many of them were frustrated and unhappy, she sensed, not because they were burned out from working too hard but because the health care system made it so difficult to care for their patients.
The gist of this article is foreign to those of us who live in countries with universal health care. We sometimes get haughty about that when reading about the US health care industry, but it...
The gist of this article is foreign to those of us who live in countries with universal health care. We sometimes get haughty about that when reading about the US health care industry, but it truly doesnt make sense that a country as wealthy as the US doesnt have it.
My father in law was a diabetic whose condition worsened considerably toward the end. He had multiple stays in the hospital sometimes staying for weeks and having life saving operations (an amputation for one). The total bill to my already stressed mother in law was $0. I cant imagine her being saddled with thousands in bills after all they had endured.
As to the initial few paragraphs, I was shocked to hear about the suicide rate from my own adult children, two of whom are doctors.
There are a lot of stressors in the system but just from observation, I have to think that one of the big ones is physical exhaustion. Its normal to work a 12 hr shift, and sometimes, if things go sideways, that can turn into 15 hrs or more. To me, that seems insane.
This is a profession that is about HEALTH and treating people to live better lives, and it runs it's employees into the ground, especially if they are interns or residents. It's one thing to make decisions at a regular 9-5 work place and feel tired at the end of the day, but sometimes they are on their feet for a very long shift and then making decisions that can be life changing for their patients while bone tired and trying to stay awake on coffee. That just doesn't make sense.
I wasn't surprised to hear the phrase "private equity" show up in this article. The corporation I work for was purchased by a private equity firm about five or six years ago, and not too long...
I wasn't surprised to hear the phrase "private equity" show up in this article. The corporation I work for was purchased by a private equity firm about five or six years ago, and not too long thereafter, that firm was bought by a larger one.
Ever since, it's been one profit-pinching decision after another, with very little regard for the long-term health of the business. When I imagine that happening to healthcare—literally playing with people's lives—it's quite sad. But that's exactly what this article is describing. I don't know if there's a way out of it; it just seems like a consequence of predatory capitalism.
While I’ve heard of nurses’ unions, doctors’ unions are a new one. I much prefer “direct health care” to “concierge practice” which is the term I’ve heard used when healthcare professionals decide...
While I’ve heard of nurses’ unions, doctors’ unions are a new one.
I much prefer “direct health care” to “concierge practice” which is the term I’ve heard used when healthcare professionals decide not to allow insurers to dictate how they can care for their patients.
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The gist of this article is foreign to those of us who live in countries with universal health care. We sometimes get haughty about that when reading about the US health care industry, but it truly doesnt make sense that a country as wealthy as the US doesnt have it.
My father in law was a diabetic whose condition worsened considerably toward the end. He had multiple stays in the hospital sometimes staying for weeks and having life saving operations (an amputation for one). The total bill to my already stressed mother in law was $0. I cant imagine her being saddled with thousands in bills after all they had endured.
As to the initial few paragraphs, I was shocked to hear about the suicide rate from my own adult children, two of whom are doctors.
There are a lot of stressors in the system but just from observation, I have to think that one of the big ones is physical exhaustion. Its normal to work a 12 hr shift, and sometimes, if things go sideways, that can turn into 15 hrs or more. To me, that seems insane.
This is a profession that is about HEALTH and treating people to live better lives, and it runs it's employees into the ground, especially if they are interns or residents. It's one thing to make decisions at a regular 9-5 work place and feel tired at the end of the day, but sometimes they are on their feet for a very long shift and then making decisions that can be life changing for their patients while bone tired and trying to stay awake on coffee. That just doesn't make sense.
I wasn't surprised to hear the phrase "private equity" show up in this article. The corporation I work for was purchased by a private equity firm about five or six years ago, and not too long thereafter, that firm was bought by a larger one.
Ever since, it's been one profit-pinching decision after another, with very little regard for the long-term health of the business. When I imagine that happening to healthcare—literally playing with people's lives—it's quite sad. But that's exactly what this article is describing. I don't know if there's a way out of it; it just seems like a consequence of predatory capitalism.
While I’ve heard of nurses’ unions, doctors’ unions are a new one.
I much prefer “direct health care” to “concierge practice” which is the term I’ve heard used when healthcare professionals decide not to allow insurers to dictate how they can care for their patients.