COMMENTARY
Still a noble profession BY ANAND MEHENDALE, MD I’m a practicing neurologist in a
small town in Texas. Recently, my daughter was accepted to a medical school in Texas. As a proud father, I mentioned my daughter’s achievement to one of my colleagues. He looked at me with sad eyes and said, “My condolences. Haven’t you been able to talk her out of it?” I was shocked by what he said, but I thought it was an aberration. Convinced that their answers would be different, I proceeded to give this news to a num- ber of other physicians. To my shock and dismay, nine out of 10 physicians had nearly identical responses. Inci- dentally, almost all my patients con- gratulated me about my daughter’s chosen career.
If medicine is such a noble
I began to ponder why my col- leagues had such negative reactions. I know that most physicians are good physicians, and a sacred relationship between patients and doctors has existed for millennia. This does not mean that all doctors are good. As with any field, we do have some bad apples. Some physicians are greedy; others practice defensive medicine out of fear of litigation. Physicians, though, for the most part are altru- istic. William Osler, widely regarded as the father of modern medicine, said it beauti- fully, “Medicine arose out of the primal sympathy of man with man; out of the desire to help those in sorrow, need, and sickness.” This rela- tionship arises out of the pain and suffer- ing of one person and an offer of hope by another.
Anand Mehendale, MD
sion, why is there such discontent in the health care industry? It’s ironic that we have begun calling the medical profession
the “health care industry.” It somehow cheapens what we do when we take care of our patients. Industry is when we order a computer from an e-retailer. Industry is Henry Ford’s assembly line. Somehow, the moniker “industry” doesn’t fit with what we do in medicine. Society in general and patients in particular may also play a part in this discontent. Physicians are constantly faced with life-and-death decisions, and we have begun to respond in high-tech ways. Some patients feel that if a physician does not order a fancy new test, he or she is not at the cutting edge of medicine. The fact is that tests are often ancillary and not a panacea. To make matters worse, attacks
profession, why is there such discontent in the health care industry?
from the insurance industry and from lawyers have created an unwieldy bureaucracy in which it is very dif- ficult for physicians or nurses to spend a good deal of time with their patients and provide quality care. As a result, we treat charts, papers, and test results. I know many nurses who spend a significant amount of their time writing notes and filling out paperwork, all in an effort to pro- tect themselves from frivolous legal claims. Overburdened by paperwork, these nurses have very little time to spend with the actual patient. What is sacrificed, unfortunately, is any dis-
If medicine is such a noble profes-
cussion about a patient’s physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Faceless bureaucrats and malignant trial lawyers have perverted our profession, and a hyper-partisan Congress has held elderly patients and physicians hostage. Politicians are gambling the health of our senior citizens for their self-serving agendas. Recently, in the intensive care unit, I saw two patients wheeled in. Both were critically ill and required significant medical attention. As I walked away, I realized that one of them had health insurance; the other did not. While these
February 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 61
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68