Doctors Lying For Profit?

1. 59

   airsoft gunposted 12 years ago

   Im curious, I think that some doctors will lie for profit. For example, you have an ear problem, you go to your ear doctor, he checks you out and says that you have something wrong with your ear and you need surgery, doctor does surgery.
   
   3 Weeks later Your ear hurts worse than it did before, doctor calls you back in, you need another operation.
   
   I mean, most people have health insurance, Doctors just bill your health insurance. A big majority of doctors own there own medical office.
   
   Do you think doctors lie for profit?
   
   What are your thoughts?

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   1. 71

      BlissfulWriterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Speaking generally and in most (99%) cases, I do not believe that doctors would lie.   Because that would be unethical.   And most people including doctors and lawyers as well as the poor and homeless people are ethical and moral people who would never do unethical things.
      
      Medicine is not an exact science.  Two different doctors can have two different interpretation and recommendations for a medical problem.  That does not mean that one is right or the other is wrong.  Because it is all just a judgement call.  But in both cases, both doctors are making a recommendation in good faith that he/she believes would be in your best interests.  They would make a recommendation that would help the patient rather than profit themselves.   They have taken an hippocratic oath to do no harm to others.
      
      You can get a second medical opinion from an second doctor to see what he/she has to say about the condition.  An ethical doctor should not be offended by this.
      
      This is just my humble opinion and my own interpretation.   I am not a doctor nor lawyer.

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   2. 0

      timmathisenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Every profession has its share of bad people, but I suspect that the percentage of unethical doctors is minutiae compared to other professions.  (Does anybody know where the percentage of revoked physician licenses can be found?)
      
      Although I'm not a doctor, my understanding is that doctors are having various tests done to rule out medical conditions. Of course there are times they're having a test done for liability purposes, but this probably says more about how society has evolved over the last 50 years.
      
      That said, you can refuse treatment at any time and get a second opinion. The second opinion may just save your life, especially if you're considering surgery.

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2. 57

   alvinalexposted 12 years ago

   Yes I agree with your thought "doctors lie for profit"  I think most of doctors lie for profit.

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3. 59

   airsoft gunposted 12 years ago

   Good points guys Thanks!

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4. 82

   phillippeengelposted 12 years ago

   That is very true.
   
   Doctors tend to defraud you under the premise that you need to be hospitalized or go for further treatments. Actually, your illness can be easily treated with the minimum costs and even in one single session, however, some of the doctors would only exacerbate the situation by injecting you with some arcane substances into your body or give you medicines which cannot do anything productive to help you recover. That way, doctors can bilk you into giving them money each visit.
   
   I don't trust doctors since I experienced this.

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5. 61

   Disturbiaposted 12 years ago

   Unfortunately, just as in any other profession, there are unscrupulous doctors.

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6. 79

   kirstenblogposted 12 years ago

   I haven't caught one yet but I have my dentist. Gave me a more expensive and less effective treatment (more likely to fall out, leave my teeth sensitive etc.). I live in the UK and should have been given the longer lasting cheep NHS treatment but when I went to pay the bill was for the private treatment (almost double the cost). NHS then told me they don't recommend the private treatment because its prone to falling out. Far as I can say my dentist committed fraud but it's not, legally speaking, he was legally not committing a crime. I don't trust him and haven't been back. I wouldn't trust a doctor or dentist any more then I would a banker or politician, these are careers you go into for the money most commonly. As for morality and integrity, better be careful if you got any, they punish it these days. You can loose a job for being honest or for not being greedy. I trust people only on an individual level and only because the level of trust I am giving is what they have shown to be able to handle.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm like you then Kirstenblog. I'm minus two front teeth now because an NHS dentist decided I need caps that have since fallen out.
      I never paid for the treatment, but the health board did.
      I think if dentists can do it, so can doctors..

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7. 67

   Michele Travisposted 12 years ago

   No!!!  A few weeks ago,  I was very sick.  I was told I in the ER I was starting to have kidney failure.  After seeing my doctor he gave me a lot of tests and found out it was only a stomach infection ( that had been going around a lot in schools, so I got it from my daughter ) and it went down to my kidneys.  It took a few weeks to get the results back. I was so depressed but then found out  my kidneys were ok. He put me on some very strong antibiotics and now I am ok.  Still since I take a lot of medication for seizures, he want's me to drink a lot of water. But, thank God he did the right thing.

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8. 82

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   I don't think it is as black and white as doctors giving a treatment they know is unecessary except in a very small number of cases (which when caught will lose them their licenses).  But profit does have an insidious effect on anyone. We tend to talk ourselves into justifying a course of action that benefits us.
   
   Most often doctors over-treat out of an abundance of caution and simple habit.  e.g. surgeon tend to try and solves things with surgery, GPs tend to try and solve things with drugs--

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9. 89

   Stacie Lposted 12 years ago

   Yes more tests and procedures are being ordered due to malpractice lawsuits.
   On the other hand I beleive it happens and have friends that work for doctors.
   They will go for the most expensive procedures if they can.I question every decision and medication so do your research and get second opinions.

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10. 77

    TahoeDocposted 12 years ago

    As a doctor, this makes me sad. I'm sorry so many of you believe we are lying scum. I wish I didn't work 70 hour weeks with sky-high stress only to treat people who think I give up time with my children only to defraud you. It makes it completely not worth it.

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    1. 89

       Stacie Lposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Just now I received another statement from my insurance company informing me that a doctor i saw over a year ago is submitting more bills!..and he was paid! ARG!!!!!

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11. 82

    psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

    I think you need to understand that people often jump to negative conclusions because of the small number of highly publicized infractions and the strong pressures we know are out there in any profession.
    
    Rather than jumping to 'poor me, you are all mean' you could gently correct the perception with data, experience and insight.  That would be far more convincing than jumping on a pile of timber and lighting a match.

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    1. 77

       TahoeDocposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Been there done that, no one is ever 'convinced' and many people 'get off' telling a doctor off online for some reason. I've learned that the hard way. I'm not interested, but thanks for the advice and the assumption that I was saying "poor me, you are all mean". I'm actually just sad, just like I said. And instead of "jumping on a pile of timber and lighting a match", I was presenting the other point of view. Some of us are just people who work hard and want to help people, try to do a good job in a system that works against us too... and sometimes have our feelings hurt by those who assume otherwise. I would just ask you all to consider that maybe that could be true some of the time, that's all.

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12. 78

    brimancandyposted 12 years ago

    The sad thing about health care is that you will most likely not get good healthcare unless you have great insurance, or can pay for it out of your own pocket. It also baffles me why with all this great technology that can't find a cure for any diseases, yet in the early years doctors were finding cures for illnesses with little technology at all. Yet they don't have a problem finding you a very expensive treatment for what is ailing you.
    
    And, it seems the companies that sell drugs are getting doctors to convince people that they have all these new ailments, and try to convince you to take drugs that have all kinds of horrible side effects, that you need to take more drugs to curb those effects. Doctors have even been punished by the fed for over perscribing medicine to people that don't really need it, and there are also complaints about the over-use of antibiotics.
    
    Yet, you will find that when you can no longer afford to pay for treatment, you receive no more doctors appointments, no more phone calls to see how you are doing, almost as if you have fallen off the face of the earth, and they could care less, but start sending those checks, and they want to see you every 2 weeks to check on your "Condition" which relates to how much income they have not totally drained from your wallet.
    
    I suffered from tendonitis and lower back pain while I was working. I was taking several meds, and going to physical therapy. But, as soon as I could no longer write the checks, and my insurance was dropped. I received no more medication, and have not been to a doctor since.
    
    Personally, I would like to trust them. But, I don't. Not one bit.

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13. 69

    rLcasaLmeposted 12 years ago

    In my experience, if you have good health insurance, the doctor will max out the use of it to really know what's wrong with you. Whether he's lying or not, I wouldn't know and I wouldn't mind.
    
    I will have a problem though if the doctor would do all those unnecessary experiments if I didn't have any health insurance.
    
    I, by the way, have experienced that if you don't have insurance, the doctor will really be concerned about your money. He will ask you first if you want to proceed. You can choose not to and just go home.

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14. 82

    psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

    Most of us work for a living.  So by the reasoning above all of us are morally bankrupt, will happily kill our customers for a dime, and should actually work for free.
    
    Those living in their parents' basement and not having to pay our own bill aside.

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15. 60

    clarecoeposted 12 years ago

    If you asked me 5 years ago I would have argued that most doctors are ethical, caring professionals. Now that I live in a poor-ish section of Vermont, I feel threatened by every doctor I go to. I have been referred for tests after choking on a vitamin; had to see a specialist because I had a plugged ear after recovering from a sinus infection, was given $350 in lab testing after a bad reaction to a mushroom, the list goes on.
    
    Somebody had to finish last in their class in medical school, and I think they all ended up here.

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    1. 79

       kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       For depression resulting from a childhood full of abuse and abandonment I was given pill after pill and almost all of them were in toxic amounts. Each month or so the blood test came back saying that I was basically being overdosed and it was time to try a new one. I have had doctors fall asleep on me during sessions and while the things I could say they did was fun, the erosion of trust has lasted.

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16. 77

    TahoeDocposted 12 years ago

    Interesting.

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17. 60

    amilypittposted 12 years ago

    In most cases it seems that doctors didn't lie. But as we read and watch a lot of scams related to doctors in newspapers and news channels, the faith towards doctors is broken. Yes its true that not all doctors do that but some will do it.

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18. 77

    TahoeDocposted 12 years ago

    http://www.epmonthly.com/columns/in-my- … ous-wimps/

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    1. 0

       timmathisenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       @TahoeDoc: Thanks for posting that link.
       
       The article provides a great perspective about how doctors end up pandering to the consumer -- err, patient -- for non-serious issues.
       
       Perhaps the problem exists with the over-marketing of drugs to alleviate non-threatening issues.
       
       We see commercials for this and that type of medication, think it could solve our problem, and are told "ask your doctor if XXX is right for you."
       
       So we go to the doctor, who sees a mundane problem that requires a little time to heal. But we've been indoctrinated with marketing from drug companies and think there's a magic pill.
       
       This means the doctor runs tests, probably writes a script. You feel you've been ripped off when the medication doesn't work and think the doctor is lying for profit.
       
       Perhaps the real issue is drug companies' marketing to the public, convincing them to "ask their doctor" about minor issues.

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