Thank You For Creating So Much Wealth For My Profession

Ever since I became a physician my goal was empowering patients with information and knowledge. This information and knowledge was supposed to equip them with better lifestyle choices to increase their chances for healthier outcomes in order to pursue abundant opportunities in life. How naive was I?

Whether we phrase it Good vs. Evil or Heaven vs. Hell, the United States provides an environment where people are “free” to take their valuable lives and destroy them slowly and painfully through deliberate destructive behaviors, or choose to accept reasonable restraint following a path toward achieving quality living (in a majority of cases.) With the number of cardiac cases, strokes, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, autoimmune diseases, etc… on the the rise, it is quite clear which path most individuals have chosen.

We overwhelmingly choose to point our fingers at the health care system and complain that “they” have let us down. Yet, we continue to substitute pharmaceutical regimens in place of essential lifestyle behaviors that often permit these chronic conditions to progressively worsen with time.

What you are about to read will be distasteful. It is intended to reveal YOUR lack of relevancy (in the eyes of the healthcare system.) Care plans are often based on (1) health insurance coverage and/or (2) personal liquid assets. These two components often determine the underlying VALUE of the patient in our healthcare system. Hopefully, this TRUTH “figuratively” slaps you in the face to awaken you to a REALITY that confronts a great majority of us.

WHY IS THIS OUR CURRENT REALITY?

Because information and knowledge have not provided enough incentive to empower you to awaken and change lifestyle behaviors that are currently designed to destroy individual lives.

So here’s the REALITY:

• We doctors get paid good money to help you succeed OR FAIL in treating your diseases. Our reimbursement is NOT based on RESULTS; it is based on time and treatments provided.

• We primarily get to choose our population of patients. In general, no money, no health insurance, no means to compensate for our services…. NO SERVICES PROVIDED.

• We pay “lip service” when we recommend lifestyle modifications because we know most of you won’t follow these essential requirements to help us help you. We simply get to “check the box” that says, “we made the appropriate recommendations.”

• Your choice to ignore these essential concepts generates more revenue in our pockets. Ignoring personal responsibility increases the need for additional office visits and products we sell you for PROFIT.

• What about decency and courtesy? Let’s see…if you’re late for your appointment, you’ll commonly need to reschedule…if we’re late for your appointment, we expect you to wait (and wait and wait) until we’re available to see you. We don’t mind over scheduling the number of patient visits in a given day; this helps us generate more income. How often do we show real concern about inconveniencing you and the clear devaluing of your time?

• Let’s look at the concept of RESPECT. If you don’t care enough about respecting yourself by accepting responsibility to comply with behaviors that support healthy living, why should we be held to higher standards? Our model is designed to provide adequate time to fulfill maximally billable services resulting in industry acceptable results. YOU are simply the body required to generate our revenue!

• Your lack of self caring increases the rate at which we can generate revenue. Healthy people do not require products or services as often as those with “findings” (ex, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, etc…) We profit more quickly when you choose to ignore your responsibility in the doctor/patient relationship.

• We (patient and doctor) mutually work together to AVOID restoring health to your body. You sabotage your own health while we provide “bandages” rather than discovering and treating the underlying CAUSES of disease in so many cases.

Although this list goes on, I believe I have provided enough outrage with these few bullet points to make the case my profession’s motives can be less altruistic than the population at large may like to believe!

SO WHY DO I WANT TO CREATE OUTRAGE?

Since information, knowledge, caring efforts, decency, ethics and morals and desire to help create patient self empowerment hasn’t helped overcome your lack of self consideration, I thought maybe anger and resentment might instigate new thinking on your behalf. I thought creating “brutal” honesty to current health care procedures and policies (which are clearly failing the masses without their recognition) and improved self awareness regarding how LARGE a role the consumer plays in their own demise, might just create enough impetus to incentivize attitudinal change required to alter the UNHEALTHY working relationships doctors and patients practice today.

In my opinion, my profession will only begin REALLY showing quality care and consideration for your well being, when you begin showing you VALUE your own lives; not simply through words but through ACTIONS! For now, I would like to thank you on behalf of all health care professionals for your willingness to disregard your own health to the point of sacrificing it in favor of supporting our financial/material WANTS. 

 

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

It’s up to YOU (to a large degree and in most cases) to decide the quality of life you want and the quality of care you receive from your physicians. Personally, I’d rather witness patients enjoying healthier well balanced lives. Understand, however, if you continue choosing self abusive behaviors:

we’ll continue to be paid regardless!

Tags: accountability, alternatives, attitude, disease, doctor, health, health care, lifestyle, quality of life, responsibility