Althouse: "If you're not a doctor, step away!" "We're all doctors!"

January 25, 2010

"If you're not a doctor, step away!" "We're all doctors!"

In Haiti, too many doctors! (The quotes above occurred as 12 individuals crowded around a tiny baby.)

13 comments:

KCFleming said...: One of my doctor colleagues went, with 3 nurses. They have already sent back pictures of the shell of a room they were using for triage.

I doubt anyone is standing around not helping. We should be proud of the volunteers from the US, and all the money and supplies being sent. Bless them all.; 1/25/10, 7:57 AM
Kirby Olson said...: They should have called for more Francophone lawyers to update their legal system. Around every document, they need teams and teams of lawyers.

And health insurance agents.; 1/25/10, 8:16 AM
Andrew said...: I can only picture what must go on when a vehicle breaks down over there.

Doctor Jim:"Whats wrong?"
Doctor B: "Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor not a mechanic."; 1/25/10, 8:40 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: It's only because we all become tired of being Keynesians.; 1/25/10, 9:46 AM
jeff said...: What's wrong with all those Drs? Can't they step aside and let a Scientolgist help that baby?; 1/25/10, 11:02 AM
Cedarford said...: Pogo - "I doubt anyone is standing around not helping. We should be proud of the volunteers from the US, and all the money and supplies being sent. Bless them all."

Pogo, you have medical people that wouldn't dream of picking up medicare patients - but will magically find a way to find money to jet off to some foreign country and service hundreds of non-Americans if they think it makes them look like a hero and it is for a media-worthy disaster.

Example - the hero doctors would not dream of hovering around a 4th World preemie baby unless it was in an earthquake.

Example - The Philippines may need some doctors urgently for a cholera outbreak...but none will come...Then the Manyan Volcano erupts and a 100 Lear jets come winging in to serve the noble victims, including the ones with cholera.

Moral of story -
If you are American and find that doctors treat you like lepers because you have medicare, or are just barred by lack of insurance.....pray for a big disaster and mass deaths and the doctors will come and treat for free! (and pass it along to other citizens eventually to pay for the "loss of productive billable hours".; 1/25/10, 11:19 AM
KCFleming said...: Cedarford,

That's a self-serving read of their motivation.

What someone will do in an emergency is far different from what they demand in a career.

And you have this thing about people being "heroes" that is unfortunate. I cannot disabuse you of it and won't try.

But it's pretty simple. People like to help others in dire straits because (1) it helps that person and (2) it makes you feel good. Getting warm fuzzies about helping out isn't a bug, it's a feature.; 1/25/10, 11:39 AM
KCFleming said...: "If you are American and find that doctors treat you like lepers because you have medicare, or are just barred by lack of insurance..."

No one can have a business that operates at a loss for very long.

No one can donate their services forever unless they are independently wealthy.

I apologize that I need to pay bills, past and current, Cedarford. Clearly, you are a better man than I.; 1/25/10, 11:41 AM
KCFleming said...: "Example - the hero doctors would not dream of hovering around a 4th World preemie baby unless it was in an earthquake."

Yeah, natural disasters seem to have that effect, don't they.
Wild!; 1/25/10, 11:45 AM
The Drill SGT said...: They need fewer doctors and more nurses. Sounds like the lectures I give my wife about how army doctors aren't really officers and army nurses are. Remember MASH. Only two officers in that whole Oufit.

Colonel Potter and Major Holihan.

The point is that a Nurse Captain knows how to run a ward, how to organize the unorganized and how to get 20 low skilled staff functioning to nurse.

Beyond the clear need for some ortho guys to do amputations, most of what needs to be done is nursing.

A good nurse knows what she knows and knows when she doesnt know it and then gets a doctor. She then gets one of the guys standing they drinking coffee to make a decision and write a scrip.; 1/25/10, 12:11 PM
Phil 314 said...: This is another example of a larger, only partially reported problem: coordination. that seemed to be a core issue with the airport and getting supplies in.

As honorable as it is to just "get on a plane and help out" without coordination, that's a lot of volunteer time and effort wasted.

There appears to have been no system of care in Haiti (not surprising) so they'll need to create that along with getting wounds treated etc.; 1/25/10, 1:33 PM
Alex said...: Moral of story -
If you are American and find that doctors treat you like lepers because you have medicare, or are just barred by lack of insurance.....pray for a big disaster and mass deaths and the doctors will come and treat for free! (and pass it along to other citizens eventually to pay for the "loss of productive billable hours".

This is why we need single-payer. It's unconscionable to turn away a single patient!; 1/25/10, 3:14 PM
holdfast said...: Drill - It's a good point. Being an officer should mean more than having just one highly-specialized skill. As we learned from Maj. Hasan, Dr/Ossifers don't even know how to complete a personnel evaluation properly.

Would you suggest that Drs. be made Warrant Officers? The problem is getting them enough pay. Oh, and also the god complex.

A good friend of mine from my sapper days went back to school and is now a nurse. I believe he is the only nurse on the ward who bought a specialized tactical holster for their 9mm.; 1/25/10, 6:08 PM