are physicians really altruistic?

[Anonymous]

The doctor hating on here is so ridiculous. No one is forcing you to see a doctor or have a doctor. When you have an emergency then just treat yourself since they all suck so much. Again just like any profession most people do the work because they like helping people but they also want to be paid fairly for the training they had to endure and to pay off their +200000 loans and to also support their families. Surgeons spend 7+ years in residency crafting their art. At the end of the day, who cares if they are doing it for altruistic reasons? If they can do the surgery you need then that’s all that matters. I don’t see people asking for plumbers to have altruistic reasons to unclog toilets.

Basically, if you don’t like doctors then don’t see them. No one is forcing you.

[Anonymous]

I worked in a hospital for 7 years and never saw anything like this.

[Anonymous]

This is really just so sad….

These Doctors Admit They Don’t Want Patients With Disabilities
“When granted anonymity in focus groups, physicians let their guards down and shared opinions consistent with experiences of many people with disabilities.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/health/doctors-patients-disabilities.html

[Anonymous]

I'm an Internist and practice only at a homeless shelter. My full-time job is purely administrative and related directly to medicine. I think am altruistic and I try hard to bring altruism into everything I do in my very bureaucratic-heavy workplace where the bottom line is always top of mind. The struggle to be altruistic when you are seen as nothing but a revenue-generating cog is very difficult and for doctors we feel it in practice and in administration. Our society does not value what many doctors are able to do and comprehend. The training is very difficult and not for the faint of heart. We are critical thinkers with the ability to slice through the noise to find the root of a problem, but we are not treated that way by society, one another, or our employers. Many doctors are simply employees these days and we are our own worst enemies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hold doctors on such high pedestals in this country. My best friend is chief surgeon, and the stories he tells about his docs are truly shocking. He says it is extremely common to have to reprimand his docs who try to get info on their patients' insurance first to see if they'll get a good payment from them. If they have something crappy like medicaid or some other terrible insurance, my friend says docs will initially diagnose a patient with something else that is very closely related to what they know the person has. That way they can avoid having to do surgery on the patient and pass the buck to someone else later who'll get stuck with the patient with crappy insurance. My friend has to routinely make sure that when he is on duty that his docs treat everyone who comes in like they have the same exact insurance so these shenanigans don't go on, but the point here is that how often do things like this go on elsewhere where they don't have chiefs who do ethical jobs who look the other way. How many scummy docs are out there looking to soak as much money as they can out of the system and refuse their services for someone who needs it if they know that the patient's insurance will pay lower rates.

They are a mix, some go for altruistic reasons, some for self interest and others try to balance both. I think compensation should be decent to attract and retain smart minds but not as much as it is in some specialities like orthopedics and plastics etc because it attracts and cultivates greediness.

[Anonymous]

No, most doctors barely do anything anymore.

And, one did something horrific and against ethics I know. It was reported and she was allowed to get away with it.

There are some good ones but they are few and far between or hard to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hold doctors on such high pedestals in this country. My best friend is chief surgeon, and the stories he tells about his docs are truly shocking. He says it is extremely common to have to reprimand his docs who try to get info on their patients' insurance first to see if they'll get a good payment from them. If they have something crappy like medicaid or some other terrible insurance, my friend says docs will initially diagnose a patient with something else that is very closely related to what they know the person has. That way they can avoid having to do surgery on the patient and pass the buck to someone else later who'll get stuck with the patient with crappy insurance. My friend has to routinely make sure that when he is on duty that his docs treat everyone who comes in like they have the same exact insurance so these shenanigans don't go on, but the point here is that how often do things like this go on elsewhere where they don't have chiefs who do ethical jobs who look the other way. How many scummy docs are out there looking to soak as much money as they can out of the system and refuse their services for someone who needs it if they know that the patient's insurance will pay lower rates.

They are a mix, some go for altruistic reasons, some for self interest and others try to balance both. I think compensation should be decent to attract and retain smart minds but not as much as it is in some specialities like orthopedics and plastics etc because it attracts and cultivates greediness.

Not much different than economics or law. Different folks have different reasons for going in every field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The doctor hating on here is so ridiculous. No one is forcing you to see a doctor or have a doctor. When you have an emergency then just treat yourself since they all suck so much. Again just like any profession most people do the work because they like helping people but they also want to be paid fairly for the training they had to endure and to pay off their +200000 loans and to also support their families. Surgeons spend 7+ years in residency crafting their art. At the end of the day, who cares if they are doing it for altruistic reasons? If they can do the surgery you need then that’s all that matters. I don’t see people asking for plumbers to have altruistic reasons to unclog toilets.

Basically, if you don’t like doctors then don’t see them. No one is forcing you.

Sometimes you have no choice. I've have an hmo style insurance and the doctors suck. My primary care keeps sending me to different specialists as the blow off who blow me off. In over a year, I haven't been able to get something as simple as help with asthma with all kinds of excuses and multiple appointments and many more canceled by them. They finally referred me out and the nurse practitioner helped same day with everything they said they could not do without testing they kept giving me the run around with.

[Anonymous]

A lot more is automated now, with tests, labs, imaging, robotics, etc and lot of information is digital and looked up, not understood and memorized. Its much easier to do this work than it used to be. Insurance and administration makes it more about cost, documentation, coding and liability than focusing on a person and his health.

[Anonymous]

It seems eventually cost would drive every health decision and mid levels like nurses, physician/medical assistants etc would be playing doctor without similar training or education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The doctor hating on here is so ridiculous. No one is forcing you to see a doctor or have a doctor. When you have an emergency then just treat yourself since they all suck so much. Again just like any profession most people do the work because they like helping people but they also want to be paid fairly for the training they had to endure and to pay off their +200000 loans and to also support their families. Surgeons spend 7+ years in residency crafting their art. At the end of the day, who cares if they are doing it for altruistic reasons? If they can do the surgery you need then that’s all that matters. I don’t see people asking for plumbers to have altruistic reasons to unclog toilets.

Basically, if you don’t like doctors then don’t see them. No one is forcing you.

But the plumber doesn't demand that society place them on a high pedestal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The doctor hating on here is so ridiculous. No one is forcing you to see a doctor or have a doctor. When you have an emergency then just treat yourself since they all suck so much. Again just like any profession most people do the work because they like helping people but they also want to be paid fairly for the training they had to endure and to pay off their +200000 loans and to also support their families. Surgeons spend 7+ years in residency crafting their art. At the end of the day, who cares if they are doing it for altruistic reasons? If they can do the surgery you need then that’s all that matters. I don’t see people asking for plumbers to have altruistic reasons to unclog toilets.

Basically, if you don’t like doctors then don’t see them. No one is forcing you.

But the plumber doesn't demand that society place them on a high pedestal.

What does society demand that the doctor do, above and beyond any other 9 to 5 job?

[Anonymous]

My Dad's a pediatrician. Due to a state budget dispute he wasn't paid for his Medicaid patients for a year. My Dad didn't stop seeing Medicaid patients. He'll also spend a ton of unpaid time coordinating and getting referrals for his patients.

One time my Dad and a colleague were flagged in a traffic jam by the police to help a motorcycle accident victim (the ambulance was having trouble getting there, the police went around asking for doctors). My Dad and his colleague did everything they could (the guy had already lost too much blood) despite not having any equipment.

We found out he'd helped a woman having a cardiac episode on a plane when the airline sent him a bunch of free flights. He hadn't even mentioned it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hold doctors on such high pedestals in this country. My best friend is chief surgeon, and the stories he tells about his docs are truly shocking. He says it is extremely common to have to reprimand his docs who try to get info on their patients' insurance first to see if they'll get a good payment from them. If they have something crappy like medicaid or some other terrible insurance, my friend says docs will initially diagnose a patient with something else that is very closely related to what they know the person has. That way they can avoid having to do surgery on the patient and pass the buck to someone else later who'll get stuck with the patient with crappy insurance. My friend has to routinely make sure that when he is on duty that his docs treat everyone who comes in like they have the same exact insurance so these shenanigans don't go on, but the point here is that how often do things like this go on elsewhere where they don't have chiefs who do ethical jobs who look the other way. How many scummy docs are out there looking to soak as much money as they can out of the system and refuse their services for someone who needs it if they know that the patient's insurance will pay lower rates.

Doctors are scummy especially when it comes to money. I had a family member dying of pancreatic cancer and had been signed into hospice. She had been in the hospital for 3 weeks at this point. Once you’re signed into hospice the hospital medical treatment stops and you are just made comfortable until you die. She had great insurance and her bill was already topping 250k so everything was on the insurance company at this point. I watched a cavalcade of various doctors come in and start doing exams while she was waiting to be transported to the hospice facility. You better believe they billed for these services even though she had been placed under hospice care at that point and they had no right or reason to examine her. It was like they knew it would be guaranteed money. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hold doctors on such high pedestals in this country. My best friend is chief surgeon, and the stories he tells about his docs are truly shocking. He says it is extremely common to have to reprimand his docs who try to get info on their patients' insurance first to see if they'll get a good payment from them. If they have something crappy like medicaid or some other terrible insurance, my friend says docs will initially diagnose a patient with something else that is very closely related to what they know the person has. That way they can avoid having to do surgery on the patient and pass the buck to someone else later who'll get stuck with the patient with crappy insurance. My friend has to routinely make sure that when he is on duty that his docs treat everyone who comes in like they have the same exact insurance so these shenanigans don't go on, but the point here is that how often do things like this go on elsewhere where they don't have chiefs who do ethical jobs who look the other way. How many scummy docs are out there looking to soak as much money as they can out of the system and refuse their services for someone who needs it if they know that the patient's insurance will pay lower rates.

Doctors are scummy especially when it comes to money. I had a family member dying of pancreatic cancer and had been signed into hospice. She had been in the hospital for 3 weeks at this point. Once you’re signed into hospice the hospital medical treatment stops and you are just made comfortable until you die. She had great insurance and her bill was already topping 250k so everything was on the insurance company at this point. I watched a cavalcade of various doctors come in and start doing exams while she was waiting to be transported to the hospice facility. You better believe they billed for these services even though she had been placed under hospice care at that point and they had no right or reason to examine her. It was like they knew it would be guaranteed money. Disgusting.

Yikes
I know one old lady who was given 5 operations during the last week of her life. She was really old
Her family estate had to pay the remainder of what was not covered, it came to a lot