As I’ve set back and listened to the debate raging in out nation’s Capitol, I find myself at a loss for the words to describe the lunacy that ensues daily in Washington. While “healthcare reform” is the term du jour, no one really seems to be addressing one of the core issues within the current healthcare structure; malpractice fraud and the overwhelming cost of needless litigation. When a patient sues a physician, it causes the doctor to practice more defensively; hence the term “defensive medicine”.
Case in point; my ex-wife, in all her wisdom, decided that my eldest daughter needed to go to the emergency room (see: expensive healthcare) for a superficial injury she received while playing in a soccer match over the weekend. She was kicked with the soccer ball, at close range, which struck her on the inside of her left thigh. It left a rather ugly indentation that is a perfect replica of the laces on a soccer ball. Now, while I marveled at my daughter’s soccer prowess, and bullet-proof defensive skills, I did not, at any time, deem her injury worthy of a trip to the E.R. That’s because it’s a superficial wound! There’s nothing to be done for it save ice and Ibuprofen, which I had been administering all weekend.
Now anyone that has been paying a modicum of attention to the healthcare debate in Washington would know that one of the reasons, as previously stated, that health insurance premiums continue to rise is because more and more healthcare professionals are being forced to practice defensive medicine so they don’t get sued. So there are a battery of tests run for the smallest injury or wound; and, that’s right, you guessed it, my daughter was the unknowing victim of defensive medicine. They actually X-rayed her leg! Now listen…..you do not have to have the letters, “M.D.” after your name to know that the chances of a rubber ball filled with air breaking the strongest bone in the body, the femur, are slim and none!
So why the X-ray? It’s expected by the patients today. We have been trained that that is the process we are to go through in order to receive a correct diagnosis. Lord forbid that the good doctor misdiagnose a superficial skin wound! What should have happened in this particular case is that the triage nurse, upon checking in my daughter, and thereby discovering the cause of her injury, should have given her 4 Ibuprofen, a Zip-lock bag full of ice, and a bill for $5 and laughed her mother out of the E.R.
Sadly, this did not happen, but the mere thought of it does make me warm inside. Now I realize that I’m a bit biased when it comes to the ex, but I think you get my drift here. It’s unnecessary and unwarranted E.R. visits just like this one that are driving our healthcare costs through the roof. But the physician’s hands are literally tied. If he were to diagnose such an injury without running the patient through some $3 million machine, there would undoubtedly be hell to pay. So the ex spent roughly $300 and my daughter left in EXACTLY the same condition in which she showed up. Does anyone think this is an issue, or is it just me?
Is the healthcare system out of whack? Yes.
Is my ex-wife an idiot? Yes.
We can’t fix “stupid”, but there’s still hope for the American healthcare system. We just need someone with the stones to step up to the plate and tell people, “No”.
(More on “No” later)
