(01-31-2020, 12:10 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote:

(01-31-2020, 09:51 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: I read a bio on Michael Crichton who in his younger days trained to become a doctor before abandoning the effort. It mentioned that he was rebuked by the hospital where he was in residence because of his willingness to tell many patients that their health problems were caused mainly by personal choices and not to expect doctors to be miracle workers to undo the damage they had created. 

Give me meds, not the truth.

My wife is a nurse. Come evaluation time, the doctors are graded on customer satisfaction. The doctors that call out patients and don’t needlessly prescribe pain meds always do worse. So most of them know the patients don’t need the treatment they’re getting but they won’t say anything because they don’t want the end-of-year bonus going away.

I had a chance to speak to a 50 year old man who had been a doctor in the VA for 20 years.
He said that he loved working in the government hospital because he could just give the patient what he thought was right and not worry about patient satisfaction. Said a lot of his coworkers felt the same way, because usually what the patient's asking for, is not what they need.
Unfortunately this was before the VA waiting time scandal broke. But I think that's a separate issue, the VA has long waiting times because they do not have enough doctors and enough beds, and because of inefficiency in other areas.

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