Drs firing patients

[Anonymous]

All this talk about insurance co profits and I can assure you they are loosing money with me. I am on Medicare and they dumb the fees being charged down to next to nothing. My federal secondary picks up 100% of what Medicare rejects. Government pays most of secondary premiums and what I pay in premium is tax deductible (not for Medicare, only secondary). I have no deductible, can see any provider, medicare does not limit my care options and my drug plan is not under Medicare. I have significant medical needs.
I am very grateful for my coverage but can’t help but feel the system is broken. I also can’t imagine these benefits being an option in the future.
But, I don’t think the average person does the research to find what’s best for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doctors really only fire patients for what they believe is a liability to their malpractice insurance. But I could see how questions could be seen as threatening by some doctors.

This happened to me.

I developed a few diseases after taking a suggested prescription that carried a risk that the doctor failed to mention to me.

I didn’t sue them, but they assumed I would or my family would and they fired me. I assumed it had something to do with statute of limitations since that doctor had been sued before in a more obvious death case.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Covid has changed healthcare dramatically. Healthcare workers concerns are front and center and patient concerns are far down on the list. In the real world people work more than 40 hours a week, deal with unpleasant people and take their jobs seriously. If they don’t care about their career and, in most cases, exceed expectations they will be forced out and certainly not progress in their field. Healthcare workers hold your life in their hands and they know it and there’s a good chance they don’t care. Did you ever notice that when you have a problem (you’re in pain, a billing issue, you need to schedule an appointment, etc) you walk away knowing all their problems and don’t get resolution for what you came for (even though that’s what their job is).
When a savvy person is in need of medical care they learn early on that no one cares about them. If you’re smart you feed their egos and even bring treats if you’re in the system with a chronic illness.
And you pray, a lot, and hope you are not harmed physically or emotionally.

YES! I've learned more ingratiating behaviors (compliments, active listening as they trauma-dump, remembering their trauma-dump stories from visit to visit, bringing treats/sweets) dealing with whitecoats than I did in my abusive marriage. I divorced that guy; I can't divorce the entire US healthcare machine.

There is only one constant in your interactions.

Correct: that the US healthcare system sucks, and that some clinicians would rather blame their ill patients than look at their own involvement.

If it were just me, as you seem to be implying, there wouldn't be multiple threads on the subject. But go off.

There are millions of healthcare interactions a day. The numeric small minority that have decided the US healthcare system is a disaster making a few threads is statistically so far into the insignificant territory it’s like the head of a microscopic pin.

Right. There are millions of these interactions, and if every patient who asked a question or was reasonably trying to sort out a problem was "fired," there would be no system.

And yet some people experience nothing but obstruction and what they see as power-mad demigods providing healthcare, nothing but ogres as far as they can see -- and they keep experiencing this wherever they go, every clinic and every office.

One person can start six threads, or sixteen, or sixty. Or a group of a half-dozen people of the kind most likely to open a thread called "Drs firing patients" might be more likely to post in it and follow up with alacrity.

And then there are those millions of interactions that keep going on and on, and those people somehow, oddly, don't seem to have the same perspective. Quite inexplicable.

Keep showing up to these threads to dump on them/their authors. On a long enough timeline, you'll encounter the problems we're trying to discuss.

And no, I don't experience "nothing but obstruction" wherever I go. It just doesn't take many bad experiences to lose faith in a system that wasn't structurally sound to begin with. I had my last PCP for a decade and a half before they switched to a patient management program that made me an nameless file number and dehumanized my care for profit. It wasn't always this way, it is this way a lot more often now, and it's not likely to get any better because anytime someone says anything, they get denied and dismissed by both providers and some other patients who've yet to experience the same treatment and would rather victim blame than consider the possibility.

It'll happen to you someday, despite how you seem to see yourself as a perfect patient (which you shouldn't have to be to receive high-quality care when you're sick/struggling/suffering). Hopefully soon, because you're becoming somewhat insufferable arguing other people's reality just because you haven't had their experiences (yet). Maybe see a psydoc about that?

Do you really think physicians aren't patients? Don't have MS, or heart surgeries, or Crohn's disease? Don't have miscarriages, brain tumors, rare skin disorders? No wonder your rage blinds you.

It's a horrible, horrible system. You -- or another PP posting alongside you -- was disdainful that doctors weren't unionizing and fixing it, but didn't have the faintest clue that this is prohibited by law. You are so focused on blame that you can't see what the problem really is, but you sure do want to get those kicks in on people who are tryign to help you. And then it's their fault for even wincing.

Focus on the system. I *guarantee* I've spent more time than you as a critically ill and chronic care patient. This system SUCKS. Stop kicking people and vote to fix it. Turn that spotlight on the place it belongs, and actually do something.

Please see a psychological professional about your projection issues. Damn.

[Anonymous]

I read recently the AMA is finally coming around in favor of a public option, with certain conditions. About time!

[Anonymous]

I bet a lot of people on this thread are the ones that leave negative reviews.....be advised that youre the 1% of people that have a problem with almost anything. look inward and understand people in healthcare have dedicated so much to help and obviously make money doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet a lot of people on this thread are the ones that leave negative reviews.....be advised that youre the 1% of people that have a problem with almost anything. look inward and understand people in healthcare have dedicated so much to help and obviously make money doing it.

I have never once left a negative review for a whitecoat, even the one I sued (and yes, I won)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet a lot of people on this thread are the ones that leave negative reviews.....be advised that youre the 1% of people that have a problem with almost anything. look inward and understand people in healthcare have dedicated so much to help and obviously make money doing it.

"look inward and understand people in healthcare" are still people. Some of them are great, most of them are meh, some of them suck as people, regardless of occupation. An MD isn't a sainthood or knighthood. There are crappy doctors just like any other industry, though they may be less likely to know/learn that about themselves because of the privilege our culture grants them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid has changed healthcare dramatically. Healthcare workers concerns are front and center and patient concerns are far down on the list. In the real world people work more than 40 hours a week, deal with unpleasant people and take their jobs seriously. If they don’t care about their career and, in most cases, exceed expectations they will be forced out and certainly not progress in their field. Healthcare workers hold your life in their hands and they know it and there’s a good chance they don’t care. Did you ever notice that when you have a problem (you’re in pain, a billing issue, you need to schedule an appointment, etc) you walk away knowing all their problems and don’t get resolution for what you came for (even though that’s what their job is).
When a savvy person is in need of medical care they learn early on that no one cares about them. If you’re smart you feed their egos and even bring treats if you’re in the system with a chronic illness.
And you pray, a lot, and hope you are not harmed physically or emotionally.

YES! I've learned more ingratiating behaviors (compliments, active listening as they trauma-dump, remembering their trauma-dump stories from visit to visit, bringing treats/sweets) dealing with whitecoats than I did in my abusive marriage. I divorced that guy; I can't divorce the entire US healthcare machine.

There is only one constant in your interactions.

Correct: that the US healthcare system sucks, and that some clinicians would rather blame their ill patients than look at their own involvement.

If it were just me, as you seem to be implying, there wouldn't be multiple threads on the subject. But go off.

There are millions of healthcare interactions a day. The numeric small minority that have decided the US healthcare system is a disaster making a few threads is statistically so far into the insignificant territory it’s like the head of a microscopic pin.

Right. There are millions of these interactions, and if every patient who asked a question or was reasonably trying to sort out a problem was "fired," there would be no system.

And yet some people experience nothing but obstruction and what they see as power-mad demigods providing healthcare, nothing but ogres as far as they can see -- and they keep experiencing this wherever they go, every clinic and every office.

One person can start six threads, or sixteen, or sixty. Or a group of a half-dozen people of the kind most likely to open a thread called "Drs firing patients" might be more likely to post in it and follow up with alacrity.

And then there are those millions of interactions that keep going on and on, and those people somehow, oddly, don't seem to have the same perspective. Quite inexplicable.

Keep showing up to these threads to dump on them/their authors. On a long enough timeline, you'll encounter the problems we're trying to discuss.

And no, I don't experience "nothing but obstruction" wherever I go. It just doesn't take many bad experiences to lose faith in a system that wasn't structurally sound to begin with. I had my last PCP for a decade and a half before they switched to a patient management program that made me an nameless file number and dehumanized my care for profit. It wasn't always this way, it is this way a lot more often now, and it's not likely to get any better because anytime someone says anything, they get denied and dismissed by both providers and some other patients who've yet to experience the same treatment and would rather victim blame than consider the possibility.

It'll happen to you someday, despite how you seem to see yourself as a perfect patient (which you shouldn't have to be to receive high-quality care when you're sick/struggling/suffering). Hopefully soon, because you're becoming somewhat insufferable arguing other people's reality just because you haven't had their experiences (yet). Maybe see a psydoc about that?

Do you really think physicians aren't patients? Don't have MS, or heart surgeries, or Crohn's disease? Don't have miscarriages, brain tumors, rare skin disorders? No wonder your rage blinds you.

It's a horrible, horrible system. You -- or another PP posting alongside you -- was disdainful that doctors weren't unionizing and fixing it, but didn't have the faintest clue that this is prohibited by law. You are so focused on blame that you can't see what the problem really is, but you sure do want to get those kicks in on people who are tryign to help you. And then it's their fault for even wincing.

Focus on the system. I *guarantee* I've spent more time than you as a critically ill and chronic care patient. This system SUCKS. Stop kicking people and vote to fix it. Turn that spotlight on the place it belongs, and actually do something.

Please see a psychological professional about your projection issues. Damn.

I am not the poster you quoted, but your classic DCUM shtick of "seek mental assistance" is dumb. I would suggest you seek mental assistance, but then we would be inflicting another lunatic onto yet another health professional. And, this thread has demonstrated there is already an overabundance of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hearing this is becoming an issue. It seems a Dr can refuse to see a patient if the patient is deemed annoying (by asking questions) or for no reason at all.
Until recently I have never heard of this and I have heard this multiple times. In some cases the patient is on Medicare. How can this be suddenly happening?
Is it legal and what is the driving force?

My father’s primary care doctor fired him but honestly, it was probably deserved. He can be difficult to deal with. It was unfortunate because my father really liked his doctor.

[Anonymous]

My PCP went concierge and fired most of his patients by going from over 2000 to 600.

[Anonymous]

Many do not take Medicare patients. Even when there’s a secondary insurance.

The only case I’ve know personally is a doctor finally telling a patient to leave bc they were insistent that the doctor sign on to a spurious lawsuit against a retail establishment. Wanted doctor’s corroboration of injury. The doctor refused.

The a$$hole doctors are a plague. There are some who just won’t answer questions. Some bc they’re arrogant blocks of concrete and some bc they mistake a patient trying to understand for a challenge.

Others are worked thin, with minimum numbers of Patients to see everyday. They hate the dehumanization of the relationship and the pressure to churn through and meet quotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many do not take Medicare patients. Even when there’s a secondary insurance.

The only case I’ve know personally is a doctor finally telling a patient to leave bc they were insistent that the doctor sign on to a spurious lawsuit against a retail establishment. Wanted doctor’s corroboration of injury. The doctor refused.

The a$$hole doctors are a plague. There are some who just won’t answer questions. Some bc they’re arrogant blocks of concrete and some bc they mistake a patient trying to understand for a challenge.

Others are worked thin, with minimum numbers of Patients to see everyday. They hate the dehumanization of the relationship and the pressure to churn through and meet quotas.

Do you all mean Medicaid? I’m a doctor and I have not heard of people not wanting Medicare. I’ve only heard of people not taking Medicaid so I’m confused by these comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, did a fired patient actually tell you this? Did you ask why?

Yes. They don’t know why. It felt personal but could it be staffing?

“Felt personal”?

Doctors are not firing people for asking valid questions. They are firing people who think they got the equivalent of a medical degree solely by reading biased information on the Google and some specific forums, and are thus non compliant with the standard course of exploration and treatment. They are firing the drug seekers and complex diagnosis seekers (.despite not looking at more basic and treatable conditions).

Yes, there are rare cases outside this, but no doctor is giving up income if they can help it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doctors really only fire patients for what they believe is a liability to their malpractice insurance. But I could see how questions could be seen as threatening by some doctors.

This happened to me.

I developed a few diseases after taking a suggested prescription that carried a risk that the doctor failed to mention to me.

I didn’t sue them, but they assumed I would or my family would and they fired me. I assumed it had something to do with statute of limitations since that doctor had been sued before in a more obvious death case.

Your pharmacist, who is actually the person who understands pharmacology, also didn’t mention it? How strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet a lot of people on this thread are the ones that leave negative reviews.....be advised that youre the 1% of people that have a problem with almost anything. look inward and understand people in healthcare have dedicated so much to help and obviously make money doing it.

I never leave reviews but I, and pretty much everyone I know, have had unpleasant and frustrating experiences with healthcare at times. Other times it's fine.

But the overall healthcare system is complicated, expensive and staffed by people who don't care about you. Why would they? You're just an insurance number. The doctors are busily indifferent, half the time they don't even look at you, the nurses and assistants are blase and often juvenile, billing is hostile. You're forgotten the moment you leave the room. Next patient, please. Oh, and that's $400 for a seven minute chat with no real outcome. And we'll send you these weird claims forms that make no sense and sign all our letters with names like Betty S. or Jamika K. because we don't trust you with our last names. And make you spend a collective 12 hours on the phone when you call around to try to find out something, passing you from one number to another.