Observations from being “the family.”

It’s been a trying week for our family. You learn things when your people need healthcare. It’s an entirely different perspective. I am doctor; I’ve been a patient, but this was the first time being “the family.” Without going into details, (see her guest post), my wife Staci came to need the best that American healthcare has to offer. Let’s say it was a non-preference-sensitive decision to proceed with a major surgery. As I write this, things are stable and well here at home. Here are some observations of the experience: People in the business of delivering healthcare are good people. Early on in the course, before it was known we were doctors, people treated us with compassion and kindness. Simply put, our caregivers delivered care. After it was known we were doctors, the experience changed—that may not be right, but it is fact. Although there was a true need for surgery, the surgical approach was preference sensitive. In this case, there were multiple surgeons available, including the doctor on call, a specialist in group A, and a specialist in group B. These were not insignificant choices because the three surgeons approached the fix in three different ways. This is tricky; how one chooses in these situations highlights one of medicine’s great challenges: picking the best doctor for you. Dr. Kevin Pho recently wrote about the thorny topic of rating doctors in the USA Today. Here I am an experienced doctor who has worked in the same medical community for 18...
Source: Dr John M - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: blogs