(OT) Doctors Who Rip You Off

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm soooo tired of doctors who rip people off.

How do doctors get away with stuff like this? Something similiar
happened with the gastric surgeon who treated me when I was hospitalized
for diverticulitis in 2008. In my outpatient follow-up visits he kept
pushing and pushing for me to have surgery to remove half of my colon.
Oh, his predictions were dire! "If you don't have this surgery you'll be
wearing a colostomy bag within 3 years." It's funny how quickly he
changed his tune when I said, "You DO realize I don't have insurance,
right?" Oh!
(snipped self)

So, next week I'll have new glasses, only because I bent the frames all
to hell. And I don't have cataracts. And, five years later, I'm not
walking around with a colostomy bag. I'm doing just fine, thank you
very much.


You've had a really bad experience. If my optometrist had not seen
something bad in a routine examination and referred me to the hospital I
would have lost my central vision. I had many operations, groundbreaking
ones, and after 5 years I could see. It took that long for my eyes to
settle down, although the downside is that I cannot see in the dark.
I don't know whether the difference in your USA health system makes a
difference. Or whether the surgeon can make more money from you because
of that.
(snip)

The USA doesn't *have* a healthcare system. That's the problem. It's a
paradox inside of a conundrum. I own a house, therefore I don't qualify
for Medicaid. I'm too young for Medicare and I'm not disabled so I don't
qualify for Social Security Disability. I have no health coverage. I
have to pay for this stuff. General medical checkups, eye care, dental,
surgery. All out of my own pocket. This is why I resent being ripped off
by doctors who probably have yachts or 6-seater sailboats moored not far
from here. That doctor had to know I didn't need new lenses, yet he
charged me for them anyway. And he was trying to talk me into a premature
and unecessary surgery. That makes me angry.

Jill

I agree with you about the lenses. He probably sold you expensive frames,
too. However, saying you'd need surgery in five years is not trying to talk
you into anything.

Joy

On 2012-02-24, jmcquown wrote:

I'm wondering if I should file complaints about these two with the AMA.

Forget the AMA. Complain to the State Board of Medical Examiners.
You're in South Carolina, right? The URL is: http://www.llr.state.sc.us/pol/medical/index.asp?file=complaint.htm. Other states have similar complaint
procedures. If it was a Tennessee doc the other time, you do the complaining
to the Tennessee Board. Unless the complaint is timely, I would hold my peace.

Cataracts can smolder along for years before you have to do anything. I've
had one in my right eye practically forever. Lately it's dropped my visual
acuity from 20/20 to 20/25 with glasses in my right eye. My left eye is 20/20
with glasses.

Bud

On 2012-02-24, jmcquown wrote:

"Joy" wrote in message
...
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Joy wrote:


Incidentally, I've found that I have much better luck with glasses from
an optometrist than from an ophthalmologist.

Joy
That was always my experience, too. You may require an ophthalmologist
to treat physical eye problems, but they are not nearly so experienced at
fitting glasses! (However, optometrists CAN spot potential problems like
cataracts, and send you to an ophthalmologist when indicated.)

Yes, my optometrist did exactly that.

Joy


Even though I've lived here for five years, I'm still not really familiar
with the area. All I did was look up "eye doctors" when I realized driving
here with Persia I could barely read the signs on the Interstate. That's
how I found the first place.

The second place, the one I think ripped me off, was one I'd found a card
for among my mother's things. I do know the difference between an
optometrist and an opthalmologist but sometimes they do both. The
opthalmogist who charged me for the unnecessary new prescription had a
selection of frames, an optician who fits glasses, the whole nine yards.

Where I live there's not a lot of choice. I surely do miss being able to
run to 'Eyes for You' back in Memphis, where I could get the exam and 2 pair
of glasses (or a pair of glasses and contacts) for $99. From the ads I see
on TV, Sears does that, but there isn't a Sears within 70 miles of here.
I'm in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, I needed new frames since I bent the
hell out of the old ones when I fell and the lenses got scratched. I picked
the cheapest frames I could find. It was still an expensive visit.

Jill


Is there a Wal Mart near?

Bud

On 24/02/2012 3:54 PM, Joy wrote:


Incidentally, I've found that I have much better luck with glasses from an
optometrist than from an ophthalmologist.


Most of the local ophthalmologists don't want to bother with routine eye
exams. Even the one my mother went to for her cataract surgery -
recommended for people with more complicated than typical eye problems -
sent her to an optometrist for an eye exam and new prescription. We
chose one of those in a group including two ophthalmologists (neither of
which she saw) 2-3 optometrists and an optician (with 4 or 5, at a
guess, workers). The one who did her surgery didn't do any of those things.

Glasses aren't cheap - there was a national news article recently by
investigative journalists - claiming that they're over-priced, and some
optometrists don't give you your inter-pupil measurement (not sure of
the term) that you need to order them online. But I find the people I go
to very up-front about the prices of the various frames, types of lenses
and lens coatings that they offer.

Our health care covers only eye illnesses - so my mother's surgery was
covered (but if she wanted the lenses recommended by the surgeon she had
to pay since health care only covered the cheaper ones) but her and my
regular exams and glasses aren't, well, they would be if we were on
social assistance. I have insurance through work that covers one routine
exam every two years, but I like having my eyes checked annually, since
I'm getting older and my grandmother had glaucoma. I pay for the extra
exam myself.


--
Cheryl

On Feb 24, 1:39*pm, Bastette wrote:

The NHS doesn't include vision care?? How about dentists?

It includes vision if you have to see an opthalmologist and dental if
you get referred to a dental hospital otherwise you pay unless you
have health insurance but the basic stuff is not masively expensive
(and if you meet certain conditions such as being on benefits then
it's free for example if you are 40 or older and have a close relative
with glaucoma then eye tests are free regardless of income) I got my
last eye test free from a high street optician who were giving them
away (to lure customers in- they may have been slightly disappointed
that I don't need a new prescription so they couldn't sell me anything
and they had to give me the prescription so I could if needed take it
somewhere else). If you're working you also pay something towards a
prescription £7.65 per item regardless of what the drugs would
actually cost

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Lesley wrote:

It includes vision if you have to see an opthalmologist and dental if
you get referred to a dental hospital otherwise you pay unless you
have health insurance but the basic stuff is not masively expensive
(and if you meet certain conditions such as being on benefits then
it's free for example if you are 40 or older and have a close relative
with glaucoma then eye tests are free regardless of income) I got my
last eye test free from a high street optician who were giving them
away (to lure customers in- they may have been slightly disappointed
that I don't need a new prescription so they couldn't sell me anything
and they had to give me the prescription so I could if needed take it
somewhere else). If you're working you also pay something towards a
prescription £7.65 per item regardless of what the drugs would
actually cost

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

if you need a lot of prescriptions on a regular basis, the a prepayment
prescription can save you a lot of money. You pay a fixed amount for either
three months or a year, then however many prescriptions you need in that
period are included in the cost.
--
Adrian

On 2012-02-25, Cheryl wrote:

Most of the local ophthalmologists don't want to bother with routine eye
exams. Even the one my mother went to for her cataract surgery -
recommended for people with more complicated than typical eye problems -
sent her to an optometrist for an eye exam and new prescription. We
chose one of those in a group including two ophthalmologists (neither of
which she saw) 2-3 optometrists and an optician (with 4 or 5, at a
guess, workers). The one who did her surgery didn't do any of those things.

If you want any procedure done, go to a provider who does a lot of them.
There is a reason for specialization. I go to an OD for glasses. Go to
an MD if you need more than a refraction.

Pick a vet who sees lots of cats.

Bud

"Judith Latham" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
wrote:

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm soooo tired of doctors who rip people off.

I had an appointment yesterday with an opthalmologist. When I first
moved here in 2008 I went to this practice to get new glasses. That
was almost 5 years ago. That doctor sold his practice and moved
away. For whatever reason, about 1.5 years ago I went a different
practice. This guy sold me new glasses and told me I'd need cataract
surgery within 5 years. Really? No one ever mentioned that before.

[Snip]


So, next week I'll have new glasses, only because I bent the frames
all to hell. And I don't have cataracts. And, five years later, I'm
not walking around with a colostomy bag. I'm doing just fine, thank
you very much.

I'm wondering if I should file complaints about these two with the AMA.


You've had a really bad experience. If my optometrist had not seen
something bad in a routine examination and referred me to the hospital I
would have lost my central vision. I had many operations,
groundbreaking ones, and after 5 years I could see. It took that long
for my eyes to settle down, although the downside is that I cannot see
in the dark. I don't know whether the difference in your USA health
system makes a difference. Or whether the surgeon can make more money
from you because of that. I am happy that by paying per month through my
salary for many years that I am well cared for by our National Health
system. Yes, we do have to wait if our health condition is non-urgent or
not life threatening. But I was rushed into hospital within an hour
when my Gp suspected a tumour in 2005 (good diagnosis, that doc) and an
ambulance came within minutes when I broke and dislocated my ankle last
October. You can lose your foot through lack of blood flow to the ankle
and the ambulance came with blue lights flashing, which I was amazed
about. I'd phoned June to get her to take me to the hospital. She said
"are you mad? I'll get you an ambulance." which was lucky as they gave
me morphine which I very very much needed with my foot hanging off.


I agree about the NHS. I think it's really a good system and that they
look after you well with check ups for many things, although at the time
you think what a pain, you know it good sense.

When I was in severe abdominal pain a couple of years ago the out of hours
doctors really impressed me. It was 10.30pm one Sunday evening and I was
rolling in pain. Dh rang the out of hours people and I had a doctor here
in about 20 minutes(The journey from the centre takes that long) he
diagnosed IBS, gave me a prescription and an injection. It eased some for
about an hour and I was back in trouble. 2am DH rang again. (He was
panicking as I don't make a fuss about such things (stupidly so sometimes)
so if I was asking for the doctor again, I was in real trouble.) Another
Doctor came out within 20 minutes and gave me some different tablets to
relax my whole body. (I liked those.) Monday I rang my normal Doctor and
got in to see her that afternoon to get another check over and a referral
to the local hospital to have a camera put into my stomach (can't think of
the name) to check there wasn't anything causing the problem. I got that
appointment come through in about four weeks. They found nothing bad. I
call that good service. I've tried the system now, it worked, I don't want
to try it again.

The NHS has it's faults as any system has, but I like it.

Judith

--
Judith Latham
Stourbridge, West Midlands. UK.

One of the things that has impressed me in hearing about the NHS is that
doctors still make house calls. They used to do that here, but few, if any,
of them do it now, unless the patient is wealthy and/or famous.

I remember when my mother and I visited England about 25 years ago, we
visited a couple in their 80s. They said that their doctor visited them
once a month to check on their health.

Joy

"William Hamblen" wrote in message
m...
On 2012-02-25, Cheryl wrote:

Most of the local ophthalmologists don't want to bother with routine eye
exams. Even the one my mother went to for her cataract surgery -
recommended for people with more complicated than typical eye problems -
sent her to an optometrist for an eye exam and new prescription. We
chose one of those in a group including two ophthalmologists (neither of
which she saw) 2-3 optometrists and an optician (with 4 or 5, at a
guess, workers). The one who did her surgery didn't do any of those
things.

If you want any procedure done, go to a provider who does a lot of them.
There is a reason for specialization. I go to an OD for glasses. Go to
an MD if you need more than a refraction.

Pick a vet who sees lots of cats.

Bud

I agree with you, especially about your last sentence. I recently took
Waffles to a new vet to get his annual shots, because I had been told he
makes house calls, and I didn't want to subject poor, claustrophobic Pickles
to the terror of being put into a carrier. For a number of reasons, I was
there for about an hour and a half. During that time, I saw lots of dogs,
but no other cats. There were also a number of animal portraits on the
walls. One was a cat, and the others were all dogs. That's one of the
reasons I decided not to go back there, and to stop getting shots for my
cats.

Joy

The NHS has its faults as any system has, but I like it.

My girlfriend just had an interesting experience. She had to go to
Germany for a few days, but got an infected burn just before she
left (the burn was tiny, she's susceptible to this). And it hadn't
responded to the first antibiotic they tried. So should she cancel
the trip? She phoned the NHS-24 helpline and they said it should be
okay, just keep it elevated and cool on the flight and check with a
doctor on arrival if necessary.

So, she went to a medical practice in Munich - and during the
consultation she could see they were accessing her medical records
from the UK. She got a different antibiotic prescribed and the
wound dressed (fancy silver-impregnated gauze), went back to the
surgery for two repeat visits before she flew back. It's healing
well now.

This was covered by the European reciprocal health care scheme.
Total cost: 5 euros, for the second week's course of antibiotics.

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