"who instead decides what we need and on what basis if not our doctors and us?"
Your doctor (and 2nd opinion) tells you what you need, and why. That's why s/he went to medical school, instead of learning his/her business from TV advertisements and the net. Hard to see or hear the side effects in the ads, where "death might result" goes by too fast to register.
However, you decide what you get. Doc might say, "You need surgery etc for this cancer". You might decide "give me just the etc.". You might decide, "Just make me comfortable when the time comes". OTH, doc might say, "I think surgery etc. gives you a 10% chance of living more than 6 months, but the treatment is gonna be miserable", and you say, "Let's go for it."
Another example; doc says, "Your CO2 has gone from 40 to 35 to 45. You need ventilatory support for a while, or else you're gonna poop out and die". You get to decide whether or not to do it.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't learn as much as you can, get a second opinion, and ask a lot of questions. It means people need to forget about, "I want what they take."
"storm the buffet."
Medicare offers supplemental outside coverage for buffet-stormers. |
