Having just gone through a fairly significant procedure (double knee replacements), I can tell you that my experience was exceedingly good, in contrast to what those poor Swedes suffered.
However, it must be remembered that in no way do a few discrete examples tell anywhere near the whole story. Bad medicine occurs here, too, every day. And it doesn't matter if you are a Medicaid patient or have a top of the line private health insurance policy.
Plus, the examples did not involve elective procedures but emergencies. I studied my elective procedure minutely, researched the facility, physician, even the physical therapists, etc., in excruciating detail. I knew the brand of implant, details of the procedures, anasthesia, and had a debate with MD about which procedure was best (there were a couple of choices, I wanted to make sure I got the best). The choice was difficult, but resolved when the question I asked him was this: "if I were your mother, which one would you do?" In short, there was a lot of control over what happened, which does not usually happen in an emergency.
Have gotten terrific therapy, both as inpatient and at home. Home PT is ( ironically) upset with me because I am way ahead of goals and he saw a double TKR as generating nice fees. He doesn't think he'll be working as much on me as he does on other double TKRs.
Couldn't be more pleased with result so far.
I don't think I could have gotten better treatment anywhere on the planet.
This of course has to be paid for. This is the first time I've used the medical system in a major way in my life. My health premiums throughout my life probably have a net present value of $300k - been paying in for 40 or so years without major claims. I suspect the total tab will be 200k or so.
Quite pleased with our system. That it has problems is obvious, but my experience couldn't have been better. |
