Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Secret_Agent_Man who wrote (32933)	4/11/2008 3:28:27 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 217917

The underlying problem is numbers, cash flow and consequences. Say somebody visits a doctor because they have the sniffles and are feeling poorly. The doctors says, in 1 minute after a cursory examination, "It's a virus, there's a lot of it going around. Tuck yourself up in bed for a couple of days and come back if you aren't coming right. That'll be $50 please." It fascinates me how they can see that it's a virus going around and not something that will kill the person or bacteria or maim them [lung scarring] without even using a microscope or some chemical test. Of course they can't. It's the fashionably popular "reassurance". We had a doctor write "reassured the patient" on her records when we had an infant with bad diarrhoea. That was decades ago after we had seen a LOT of baby poo over the years [that was our 4th baby]. At the time, I was not reassured. I thought the doctor had simply palmed us off as "excessively worried parents" which we weren't. In fact, now I realize the baby should have had treatment. But I was younger then and more pliant and had a LOT on my plate [new high stress job, 4 children, house fixing]. So the patient goes away with their sniffles, feeling rotten. Goes to bed. Dies from sars, H5N1,pneumonia, meningitis etc. After a few days, the doctor, using their follow up and quality control procedures [giggle - yeah right] checks on the patient and finds they have died. "Dang!" they say. "Now I'll have to get another patient but it's not a biggie - only $20 a month on average because they were pretty healthy and didn't come in much". They might even wonder just what the illness was, "Hmmm, must have had some underlying weakness or it progressed to something else. Whatever". Calls to receptionist, "Next patient." Mrs Smith goes in, "Hello Mrs Smith, how are you doing today?" The patient is dead. Big cost to them. The doctor loses $20 a month, easily replaced. The medical guild and laws protect the doctor because "diagnosis is difficult". There's no harm to a major brand to worry about. There's no news in the newspaper. Reputations aren't affected. Life goes on, but not for the person with the sniffles. Given the consequences of mistakes, it would be worth ensuring that the person doesn't have something worse than the superficial appearance. In the USA, I expect doctors are more particular because they can be sued. In NZ, there's no consequence to the cartel members unless they are super grossly negligent or actively criminal. In which case they get some minor censure. They don't join their patient! If it was a big brand like Shell killing off their patients through failing to diagnose problems correctly, word would soon be on the street and people would flock to a firm with quality control and patients who stay alive and thrive. One dead patient could cost the brand 100 times what the patient is worth. At present, one dead patient costs the medical cartel nothing. Mqurice