Okay, so President Obama, Sgt Crowley, and Professor Gates, have had their beer summit, and made-nice over the recent controversy sparked by the President’s premature defense of his friend, Professor Gates, during his press conference on July 22. I hope it’s over; though I’m sure it will never go-away.
In the same news conference, the President slammed another group of individuals, and it has gone unnoticed because of the racial overtones of the Crowley-Gates-Obama controversy.
In his press conference on Wednesday, July 22, President Obama made a statement that obviously belies his low opinion of doctors.
He insulted every doctor in America by saying that doctors make decisions about how to treat a given patient based upon how much profit they can make for a given treatment, rather than what is best for the patient.
To paraphrase his comment, he used the example of a person, a child, with a sore throat, and said: “The doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, ‘You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid’s tonsils out,’”
As with most generalized beliefs, this is a silly statement that cannot be true, on it’s surface, because, if it were true, most of the kids and adults in this country would not have their tonsils, and we would all be missing various body parts. (I guess I’m lucky that my doctor didn’t amputate my arm when all I needed was a simple, relatively inexpensive, repair of my thumb.)
And my doctor must have forgone a huge pay-day when he prescribed medication for high cholesterol, rather than wait until I experienced an expensive heart attack, or, bypass surgery, etc. There are any number of more expensive treatments that may have been required if he were less concerned about my well-being.
I guess my doctor didn’t attend the course on how to Maximize Profits, and Kill Patients.
So, what the President said was silly… but, okay, we all do that once in awhile, and most of us feel a little humbled when we are called on it.
I would hope that the President would be one person who would be more careful, especially when he is on national television, and in front of the world, but, he is still human. He had a bad day; in one news conference, he insulted a police officer and his department, and said they were stupid, sparked a racial controversy, and, separately, insulted American doctors, in general.
I winced when I heard his statement, because I know there are people who really believe that doctors are evil people who prey on the sick and infirm to enrich themselves. When I hear this sort of diatribe, I seldom hear any equivocation; these people really believe they are being taken advantage of each time that they go to the doctor, and that doctors are more likely to harm them, than cure them. To them, there just are not any good doctors.
I know that there is no sense in arguing with that mentality. Maybe these people have had bad experiences, and their beliefs are justified; I don’t know. I will say that I know intelligent people with this attitude who lives were saved by doctors, who will still denigrate those self-same doctors.
It makes no sense, to me.
I assume, that they still visit the doctor when they feel they need to, but I don’t understand why, since their experience will ultimately be fodder for future complaints. I don’t see any of them carving their chest open to replace their heart valve, or refusing treatment to relieve their back pain.
For me, this generalized negative attitude towards doctors is strange; it is kind of a curiosity. I’ve never had a bad experience with a doctor; I don’t believe I’ve been mistreated, or ill-treated, or been given tests that were not necessary. The only complaint I might have when it comes to health care, would be with a health insurance company; not with a doctor.
It is no secret that sometimes a doctor will make a mistake, and sometimes that can do great harm to a patient, or cause the patients death. We’ve all heard the horror stories. When a doctor screws-up, it hits close to home, so I can understand the visceral reaction.
I just don’t understand why a relatively few number of bad doctors are the justification for believing that all doctors are bad. There are lots of things I don’t understand about human nature, and I’ll never figure it out.
What bothers me, is that our President, by his comments about doctors, has identified himself as being of that belief that doctors fit the mold of evil doers intent on enriching themselves on the backs of the sick.
He believes that doctors are jerks.
Maybe he has had a bad experience with a doctor, or witnessed some bad treatment, first hand, or maybe he is just the type who is eager to complain, and pick-up on the cynicism of others. Maybe he see’s it as an opportunity to please like-minded people.
I don’t know. Being an attorney, he must have some inkling of what it is like to be unfairly demonized; to unjustly be the butt of lawyer jokes, and the object of ridicule. Shouldn’t he be able to see the parallel between his comments about doctors, and the abuse that attorneys also receive ?
Anyway, what he said, was just a cheap shot, and it should be below Presidential dignity. I’ve seen nine Presidents serve their terms, and I can’t think of one who ever made such a generally nasty remark about a professional group of people. It practically makes me sick to see how low a President can sink.
The doctors I know have worked long, and hard, to learn their profession, and have made huge sacrifices in their lives to attain their success, and they still work long hours, and long days. They’ve sacrificed at least twelve years of their life to become good doctors, and help their patients as much as possible, and our President acts like they are just some sort of low life beings that prey on the fears of their patients.
Instead of berating doctors, the President should be thankful that they chose to go to medical school, so there will be someone there to treat him when necessary.
I don’t know the President’s motives; maybe it is just politics, and he needs to please his base. That’s too bad, if so, because that does not make it any less onerous, or wrong; his remarks only serve to pander to that part of our citizenry who are jealous of success, and seek only to denigrate those who are more successful than themselves. Hard work, and success, for many people in our society, are anathema.
Any health care plan that treats doctors as if they are mere components of the system will only succeed in driving doctors out of the health care system, and discouraging young people from becoming doctors. He needs to remember that doctor participation in any health care plan is voluntary.
If I were a young person trying to decide on a profession, I would certainly choose law, over medicine. The rewards are comparable, it takes less time and sacrifice, there is certainly less responsibility, and with 44 million new patients added to the health care system, the malpractice-sky is the limit. Chalk one up for the personal injury lawyers.
I think the President needs to reform his attitudes about doctors, and stop treating them like second-class citizens that are motivated more by profit, than by the best interest of the patient. Thanks to him, the whole world now thinks our doctors are jerks, and are just another class of capitalistic robber-baron types who take advantage of their patients.
And that is just my opinion.
Spencer Holly
www.angrycalifornian.com
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OTHER RESOURCES
President Obama’s comment at the press conference:
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Another quote about doctors:
Watch this video; according to President Obama, a surgeon will receive from $ 30,000, to $ 50,000 dollars for the amputation of a foot.
According to the AMA, Medicare pays a surgeon, on average, from $541.72 to $708.71, on average, for one of two procedures involving a foot amputation
Click here to read article at HotAir.com
It is scary because he really believed what he was saying…
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An article and video from mofopolitics.com
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