Lately there's been much talk in Congress about legislating a "PATIENT'S BILL OF RIGHTS." My patients have never needed a law from Washington to guarantee them superior health care because MY patients have always enjoyed their own Bill of Rights:
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My patients have the RIGHT to expect that I will provide to them the very best health care I know how. My patients have the RIGHT to feel confident that their doctor insists on being actively and proactively involved in maintaining their good health (instead of doing only the bare minimum until a wheel falls off). My patients have the RIGHT to feel confident that I will remain actively involved in every aspect of their health care, facilitating, coordinating, tracking, and documenting in one place all the care they may need to receive from various medical specialists. My patients have the RIGHT to know that they can count on me to be their enthusiastic advocate and guide through the increasingly complex and confusing maze that high tech medicine has become. My patients have the RIGHT to schedule an appointment in my office the same day if they are ill. My patients have the RIGHT to expect to be seen promptly at their scheduled appointment time. My patients have the RIGHT to expect that my staff will always attend to their requests and concerns promptly and cheerfully. My patients have the RIGHT always to be seen by their real doctor, not a Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner. My patients have the RIGHT to feel confident that I will personally review the results of any lab test we do, and that I will telephone them right away if there is any significant abnormality. My patients have the RIGHT to know they can always speak directly to a real doctor any time (24-7) should they become ill. My patients have the RIGHT to know that any medical decisions I make on their behalf will never be influenced by restraints, restrictions, or incentives from a profit-motivated managed care corporation. My patients have the RIGHT to know that we still do things RIGHT in this medical office, and we don't ever cut any corners that might compromise your care. |
I was just thinking how discouraging it is (after devoting the last 30 years to medicine) that I now feel the need to reassure people that there's at least one place where they still have full "Rights" as patients.
Until managed health care came along and downgraded everything, patients always just took it for granted that their doctor was their Number One Healthcare Advocate; and they had every reason to assume that they could always depend on their doctor to do things right. It is sad to realize that these days, with doctors becoming ever more overworked, hassled, frazzled, and burned out by managed care, patients can no longer simply assume that their best interests are the number one priority.