HealthTalx Forum Forum Index » Organization of Healthcare Discussions » My journey through the system

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jpd1975 Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Location: nj Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:14 am	Post subject: My journey through the system A little more than a year ago I started having abdominal pain - it was also manifesting itself in other areas of my body - but I won't go into those details. I went to my doctor, then a urologist, then a GI doctor, and eventually they noticed my pancreas was flared up. I went to the ER and they did some tests and found that my levels were high but not super high - so they released me. A couple weeks passed and I could not sleep - I ended up throwing up all night long and my wife rushed me to the ER... I spent 7 days in, many tests... I had pancreatitis and they thought that the cause was my gall bladder - They did many tests on me to figure out if they were right - it never did end up being conclusive... I was released for Thanksgiving day but ended up back in that night... 3 days later I had my gall bladder removed. Finally my doctors listened to our requests and tested me for porphyria (a genetic disorder that my father has.) The first and second tests came back positive. After my gall bladder was removed, I spent another 3 months in the hospital because my pancreas still was flared up. I ended up almost dying on March 5th because I caught pneumonia and aspirated some vomit - So needless to say - we've paid through the nose for co-pays, prescriptions, hospital bills, etc. and I have "good" insurance. The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is.


iRuleThisForum Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:44 am	Post subject: Re: My journey through the system jpd1975 wrote: The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is. Can you elaborate on this? Why do you think that the tort reform would lead to improve the system dramatically?

jpd1975 Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Location: nj Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:15 pm	Post subject: Re: My journey through the system iRuleThisForum wrote: jpd1975 wrote: The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is. Can you elaborate on this? Why do you think that the tort reform would lead to improve the system dramatically? Sorry it was very late - and actually staying up late triggered an attack I think, so forgive me if I am not as eloquent as I may normally be. One of the major reasons that health care in this country is in such a bad state is "Excessive cost." It costs for patients to receive care, it costs for hospitals to hire nurses, doctors, and other staff. And the killer on top of all of these costs is Insurance. Hospitals and Doctors must carry "malpractice insurance." Due to the litigious nature of our culture (Just watch TV during the day and you'll see a slew of attorneys that are all after a person who feels that they have been wronged by a doctor or hospital, mistreated in some way or otherwise due for some recompense for their problems.) The premiums for malpractice insurance are skyrocketing due to more and more lawsuits (frivolous or not) which is the major driving force behind the increase in insurance costs which in turn drives up the cost from everything from bedpans to pillows, and on and on... its an out of control spiral. By deriving some band aid solution (i.e. expanding medicare/medicaid) you are only masking the problem. Sure, more people may get insurance but at what cost. Yes, there need to be improvements in the system because the issues we face ARE systemic, however, the key is to put vast reforms in place as to the lawsuits that can be filed for medical cases, i.e. medical tort reform. What will this do? Well, for one, it will relieve the court system, which is currently overburdened with civil cases, many of them involving patients suing doctors. Secondly, less lawsuits will eventually drive down the cost of malpractice insurance for hospitals and private practices. Once this relief begins to trickle down through the system doctors will be able to charge less (the increases in costs throughout the system are directly proportional to the cost of insurance.) When costs decrease, availability for care will begin to expand. Sorry if that's a rambling response but I'll boil it down to this... lawsuits = greater malpractice insurance = greater health care costs after reform less lawsuits = reduction in insurance premiums = lower health care costs and greater availability. please feel free to push back on me if I am not making my point clearly.

TVDinner Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:36 am	Post subject: are you sure that there would be less lawsuits?

jpd1975 Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Location: nj Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:49 am	Post subject: There would be less lawsuits because there would be more stringent standards for who could so and for what, and caps on what they could be awarded. As it stands if theres no out of court settlement and a jury rules in the favor of the plaintiff, there's a good chance they'll get a blank check in recompense for the damage done... that needs to be regulated more effectively. 1. stronger laws for who can sue and for what reasons 2. limits on court awards 3. limits on how long after an injury occurs as to when a person can sue and yes... there would be less lawsuits.

TVDinner Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:53 pm	Post subject: Anyone can sue anyone they want to. the problem is that it is many times almost impossible to collect.

jpd1975 Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Location: nj Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:08 pm	Post subject: TVDinner wrote: Anyone can sue anyone they want to. the problem is that it is many times almost impossible to collect. Agreed, anyone can sue anytime they want to but whether the court sees merit in the case to take it on or whether there is legislation giving the court guidelines on what can be taken and what is frivolous as well as caps on rewards I think we'd be headed in the direction of cutting overall costs on the healthcare end.

TVDinner Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:22 pm	Post subject: to much at stake now. insurance companies are in business because of this. stopping the current suing culture would actually make a lot of people lose their jobs. a catch 22

Author

Message

jpd1975

Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Location: nj

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:14 am

Post subject: My journey through the system

A little more than a year ago I started having abdominal pain - it was also manifesting itself in other areas of my body - but I won't go into those details. I went to my doctor, then a urologist, then a GI doctor, and eventually they noticed my pancreas was flared up. I went to the ER and they did some tests and found that my levels were high but not super high - so they released me. A couple weeks passed and I could not sleep - I ended up throwing up all night long and my wife rushed me to the ER...

I spent 7 days in, many tests... I had pancreatitis and they thought that the cause was my gall bladder -
They did many tests on me to figure out if they were right - it never did end up being conclusive...

I was released for Thanksgiving day but ended up back in that night... 3 days later I had my gall bladder removed.

Finally my doctors listened to our requests and tested me for porphyria (a genetic disorder that my father has.) The first and second tests came back positive.

After my gall bladder was removed, I spent another 3 months in the hospital because my pancreas still was flared up. I ended up almost dying on March 5th because I caught pneumonia and aspirated some vomit -

So needless to say - we've paid through the nose for co-pays, prescriptions, hospital bills, etc. and I have "good" insurance.

The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is.

iRuleThisForum

Joined: 23 Jul 2004

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:44 am

Post subject: Re: My journey through the system

jpd1975 wrote:

The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is.

Can you elaborate on this? Why do you think that the tort reform would lead to improve the system dramatically?

jpd1975

Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Location: nj

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:15 pm

Post subject: Re: My journey through the system

iRuleThisForum wrote:

jpd1975 wrote:

The system is a mess... they treat patients horribly in most hospitals. Socialized medicine is not the right path though... tort reform is.

Can you elaborate on this? Why do you think that the tort reform would lead to improve the system dramatically?

Sorry it was very late - and actually staying up late triggered an attack I think, so forgive me if I am not as eloquent as I may normally be.
One of the major reasons that health care in this country is in such a bad state is "Excessive cost." It costs for patients to receive care, it costs for hospitals to hire nurses, doctors, and other staff. And the killer on top of all of these costs is Insurance. Hospitals and Doctors must carry "malpractice insurance."

Due to the litigious nature of our culture (Just watch TV during the day and you'll see a slew of attorneys that are all after a person who feels that they have been wronged by a doctor or hospital, mistreated in some way or otherwise due for some recompense for their problems.) The premiums for malpractice insurance are skyrocketing due to more and more lawsuits (frivolous or not) which is the major driving force behind the increase in insurance costs which in turn drives up the cost from everything from bedpans to pillows, and on and on... its an out of control spiral.

By deriving some band aid solution (i.e. expanding medicare/medicaid) you are only masking the problem. Sure, more people may get insurance but at what cost.

Yes, there need to be improvements in the system because the issues we face ARE systemic, however, the key is to put vast reforms in place as to the lawsuits that can be filed for medical cases, i.e. medical tort reform. What will this do? Well, for one, it will relieve the court system, which is currently overburdened with civil cases, many of them involving patients suing doctors. Secondly, less lawsuits will eventually drive down the cost of malpractice insurance for hospitals and private practices.

Once this relief begins to trickle down through the system doctors will be able to charge less (the increases in costs throughout the system are directly proportional to the cost of insurance.) When costs decrease, availability for care will begin to expand.

Sorry if that's a rambling response but I'll boil it down to this...

lawsuits = greater malpractice insurance = greater health care costs

after reform

less lawsuits = reduction in insurance premiums = lower health care costs and greater availability.

please feel free to push back on me if I am not making my point clearly.

TVDinner

Joined: 21 Jun 2007

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:36 am

Post subject:

are you sure that there would be less lawsuits?

jpd1975

Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Location: nj

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:49 am

Post subject:

There would be less lawsuits because there would be more stringent standards for who could so and for what, and caps on what they could be awarded. As it stands if theres no out of court settlement and a jury rules in the favor of the plaintiff, there's a good chance they'll get a blank check in recompense for the damage done... that needs to be regulated more effectively.
1. stronger laws for who can sue and for what reasons
2. limits on court awards
3. limits on how long after an injury occurs as to when a person can sue
and yes... there would be less lawsuits.

TVDinner

Joined: 21 Jun 2007

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:53 pm

Post subject:

Anyone can sue anyone they want to.
the problem is that it is many times almost impossible to collect.

jpd1975

Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Location: nj

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:08 pm

Post subject:

TVDinner wrote:

Anyone can sue anyone they want to.
the problem is that it is many times almost impossible to collect.

Agreed, anyone can sue anytime they want to but whether the court sees merit in the case to take it on or whether there is legislation giving the court guidelines on what can be taken and what is frivolous as well as caps on rewards I think we'd be headed in the direction of cutting overall costs on the healthcare end.

TVDinner

Joined: 21 Jun 2007

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:22 pm

Post subject:

to much at stake now. insurance companies are in business because of this. stopping the current suing culture would actually make a lot of people lose their jobs. a catch 22

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