Although the majority of doctors save lives, more now than ever make mistakes. The times have a lot to do with this. University's are no longer ruled or governed by those who want to graduate capable students as before, now it is more about politics and woke agendas. Also, doctors are overloaded with citizen patients and non-citizens with all types of problems like new illnesses, language barrios ,etc,etc,etc.
Interesting video @Mary Stetler . Of course, this guy is a lawyer, and probably no studies have been done on how many people lawyers kill every year by releasing criminals back into society after violent crimes, getting people they know are guilty off on technicalities, allowing corporations to continue to kill people with dangerous substances and drugs, etc. On the topic however, the constantly increasing demands on healthcare in the U.S. are certainly partly to blame for the problems. Family doctors, who were the darlings of 70s and 80s medicine have now been pushed to the side and replaces by mid-level people with a fraction of the training--PAs and NPs. PAs started during the Vietnam Era if I remember as extended training of military medics. They were supposed to work under a physician at all times. They now often staff primary care clinics, urgent care facilities, and other places for which they have insufficient training. The military background and experience have been discarded. Although it is very rare, I have known a PA with an Associates Degree who treated patients and prescribed drugs. NPs, although generally better than PAs, still have a fraction of the training of a doctor. NPs generally have more experience and background than PAs. All this has been made much worse by the dietary habits and laws in the U.S., and those infernal drug commercials constantly playing on TV which are sometimes unclear even what the advertised drugs are supposed to treat, often extremely rare conditions. The FDA, that sometimes actually regulated the safety of food and drugs in the pat, are now totally controlled and funded by the drug companies and big Agriculture so little to no regulating actually takes place. For-profit healthcare is also to blame. A once level one trauma center where I once worked was purchased in recent years by a for-profit company and is now teetering on the brink of collapse due to nonstop lawsuits because of malpractice. I did work for a non-profit late in my life, and I was astounded at the lack of continuing education that took place there. It was the only for-profit that I ever worked for, so I don't know if that is the standard for those places but I suspect it is, for this hospital was owned by a large nationwide consortium. They made a big effort to make the patients think they were getting good healthcare when, in fact, they really didn't care about the patients much as long as the money kept coming in. I suspect something similar has taken place at the Marshfield Clinic @Mary Stetler although I don't know that. I have always been against socialized medicine, but after working in the Alaska Native system under the Federal HHS, I became convinced it could be done well. I don't think all the Indian Health Service hospitals wok well, but the ones in Alaska certainly did when I worked there. The VA works okay too in some places but not in others. We were always kept up-to- date with education and equipment, and things worked efficiently around the clock when I worked for them. I cannot speak for things since I retired from there however. My final comment is that your health should be in your hands and you should decide what is done and what is not done to and for you. You should get as educated as you can be--which is much easier in the age of the Internet--and make decisions for yourself. Be prepared to ask questions of your provider but don't try to badger or intimidate them into doing something they don't recommend. Always try to get a second opinion on things you aren't sure about but don't doctor-shop until you find someone you agree with. My opinion....
I've been wrestling with this recently myself. I am on a "standard of care" followup visit schedule with MD Anderson. I see my oncologist twice a year and a mammogram once a year. If I have any issues (weird pain, etc.) I can schedule to see him as necessary. The visit not associated with the mammogram is more of an "interview", though he does check my scar it's more of a "how are you doing" type thing. I'm supposed to see him this month but I received a notice that he is unavailable and I will see an NP. So I cancelled the appointment. Honestly I don't see the point in driving into Houston, paying to park, wasting half a day to sit and discuss how I'm feeling. Believe me, if I have a concern I will be there ASAP. Yesterday I received a MyChart message from the NP, urging me to keep the appointment. Um... what? I don't need to be pressured into a damn doctor appointment. I just feel like most of this stuff is a money grab; just billing Medicare for unnecessary stuff. I don't plan to respond to that message; I have already explained why I won't be there. I also saw an optometrist this week who took those "inside the eyeball" pictures to see how the bleed in my eye is doing. Mind you, I was released by the Ophthalmologist who told me it would not be treatable and it is no concern unless it begins to affect my vision. (These can be caused by high BP which I have.) The optometrist wanted to schedule me for "followup every 6 months" to bill my health insurance (instead of vision insurance.) I allowed the appointment to be scheduled but I'm going to cancel it. I am TIRED OF GOING TO THE DOCTOR.
Man, the troubles keep on, don't they @Beth Gallagher . I certainly care about what happens to you. Bleed only in one eye, I hope. I have a "freckle" on my left retina that they have been monitoring for years, but it doesn't seem to be growing. For a while, they feared it was a melanoma in my eye, but I believe that has been ruled out and is now felt to be just an artifact. Could the bleed in your eye be due to a combination of the chemo and the high BP together?
The ophthalmologist thought it was caused by vitreous detachment. He said that can sometimes tear a small capillary inside the eye. The bleed area is smaller but still there, the only thing I notice is floaters. And yes, it's only in one eye.
The way that I research is to read books from several points of view, and see what the doctors or nutritionists have to say about a particular food or a disease, and how they think it is best to treat it. I also look up information about any medications that the doctor wants to prescribe for me, and refuse any that i do not think that I need after reading about it. One of the things that really helps me with health research reading is my Kindle Unlimited membership. Many of the books that would cost too much for me to purchase them come along with the KU membership, and then I also follow authors that I like and am interested in, so I check to see if they have any books on sale. Sometimes, you can get a $20 book for $2-3 instead, but only for a few days when they are on sale. If I have read them on the KU program, then I already know if I want them when they come on sale. The next thing I do, is test out some of what I read , if it sounds good to me, and see if it helps. If I can see a difference, then I try and add it to my routine (which I am not very good at following, but I try). Sometimes, I find things on Amazon that look like they might help, so I buy some and try it. I am really happy with the Kidney Restore, which I have been using for around 6 months or more, and my kidney failure is getting better. The tests i had yesterday showed my kidney function at 57, which is almost up to normal function, which is 60+. It was all the way down in the 30’s several years ago, but with diet changes, it has been getting better, just like the heart failure has. My doctors told me before that neither the heart failure or the kidney failure would improve, and that they would continue to get worse; so I am pleased that my reading and experimenting has been helping me to be healthier.
Mary: Unclear here, what you want to do. There is so much info everywhere on taking care of one's health. Do you want to get rid of standard pharma Drugs? Do you want to learn about Alternative medicine and protocols?
Here is a government website that is pretty interesting. It shows how much money a doctor is getting from the big pharma companies each year, and which companies they are getting the most money from. You just put in the doctor name and city, and it will bring them up. Click on the name and the next page shows the money they have received , going back to about 2017. This is definitely worth knowing when you are trying to decide why a doctor is giving you a prescription for medication, and if it is because of kickbacks, or because you need that medicine. I was researching the Entresto that my doctor put me on about a year ago. I have not noticed it helping me, and the side effects for it are the exact same side effects I have with the CHF, shortness of breath, fatigue, leg/feet swelling, etc. So, I am going to have a talk with the doctor about stopping this when i see him later this month. It does not look like he is getting much of a kickback, however, this is one of those newer and expensive medications, so I am still wondering about that part. https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/search Another one , called Dollars for Docs, which was open until 2019 has older info. https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/ This is about when the doctors I checked stopped taking the kickbacks, when the government started checking with their website, so I am thinking that might have had something to do with the big drop in kickbacks from pharma.
I cut my Entresto down to one tab a day, and take that at night, so it only works while I am sleeping, and I am already feeling a lot more energy, and my legs and feet are not swelling as much, so I am going to cut it even more this time when i refill my weekly pill box and take it 4 days a week , once at night and see how that goes. So far, I feel much better without it, and no bad effects of any kind. Since the GMC was not running, I cancelled my cardiologist annual checkup, and will reschedule for later. It took 4-5 months for this appointment, so I think the next one might be in spring, which gives me plenty pf time to get clear off this drug and show him that I am doing better without it.
Beth, Jake gets floaters quite often, 10 years ago eye doc said long as they go away within 30 minutes no worry. Its been 10 years since Jake was told this though.
I have vision problem, when I read after a couple minutes things start blurring and coming together, stroke affected my vision. But somewhere I saw you mention 'Restore, where do you get it.
All I know although they save many lives and help many, but dentist and doctors can be very very dangerous to your health at times too I say stay involved with your care and always question advice. Big pharma is another one to watch out for.
Kidneys are important for heart and also blood pressure regulation, and if you have a kidney function problem, that can cause high blood pressure, but it also happens from when you have heart problems. In my case, it was the a-fib and heart failure that caused my kidney failure. My heart was down to 23%ef, supposed to be over 50% to be out of heart failure, and my kidneys were down to GFR in the med 30’s, and supposed to be over 60 GFR to be out of kidney failure. By having a careful diet and supplements, both my heart and kidney failure are almost normal now. The Kidney Resotre is acacia powder, and it helps the gut function, as well as kidneys to work better. I get it from amazon, and add some to coffee or tea or put it in the Ninja Creami ice cream. You can add it to almost anything you drink, I think. https://www.amazon.com/Kidney-Restore-Acacia-Fiber/