From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Dr. Elaina George – https://www.americaoutloud.com/getting-back-to-the-oath-of-hippocrates-is-the-way-forward/
Written in about 400 B.C., the Oath of Hippocrates embodies the guiding ethical principles of the practice of medicine. The Oath focuses on individual physicians treating their individual patients. All of our actions must be for the benefit of the patient; we must keep all of their information—“holy secrets” as the Oath states—confidential. Our duties attach whether the patients were “free or slaves.” If we actually paid attention to these principles, we would not need Big Brother’s rules.
The bloated bureaucracy is only getting worse with electronic records, prior authorizations before treatments, and various other payment barriers. There are now 10 administrators to each physician. Physicians and patients alike feel like they are helpless pawns on the corporate chessboard. Perhaps the Affordable Care Act meant well, but in my view, it was another tool to impose more government controls on us. The overall costs are higher and patients find themselves with less choice of physicians.
Is more technology the answer? An unbelievable, but—thanks to cell phone video—verifiably true news report detailed how a robot rolled into a patient’s Intensive Care Unit cubicle and a physician’s talking head appeared on the robot’s “face” and told the patient the sad news that he had a terminal illness. While remote medicine is reasonable in rural areas where access to medical care is limited, telling a patient he is going to die from a TV screen is a crime against all medical ethical principles.
Telemedicine certainly has its place but not only does it decrease the patient-physician face to face contact, but according to a study of 76 million claims, it might not even save money. To be fair, telemedicine is convenient and improve accessibility. However, the convenience could lead to overuse of services.
Is single payer health care the panacea that its proponents claim? According to Sky News, under the National Health Service, there are 7.2 million British citizens awaiting medical care, or almost 11% of the entire British population. It’s estimated that between 300 and 500 people are dying each week because of delays and related problems in the delivery of emergency medical care. More bureaucracy causes delays in care.
So many of us are burned out on politics at this point. We witness so much corruption and two-tiered justice for the “chosen ones”. Nonetheless, we have to work together to change things.
My guest and I will discuss all things medical care and what we can do to improve costs sand access to care while maintaining the principles of good medicine.
To find an independent physician go to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons website, https://aapsonline.org/direct-payment-cash-friendly-practices/.
