For the past 15 years I've had to see an endocrinologist every three months, and twice-annual retina exams. For the past 5 I've had to see a GP twice yearly for hypertension. Since the stroke, a neurologist twice a year. My wife recently needed the services of a spinal surgeon and a gastroenterologist. We both needed dental exams. Then corona hit.

Suddenly, we're "high risk" old bastards with cooties. All appointments are cancelled.

The surgeon finally agreed to see my wife, with a mask. At six feet distance. After she used hand sanitizer.

I can schedule my endocrinologist next week. God knows how they intend to draw blood.

No word on the neurologist or GP. The gastroenterologist simply closed his offices until June 1 (maybe.)

Where are all these medical heroes I keep hearing about? Don't doctors treat sick people?

For all these years, were the specialists just scamming my medical insurance?

These people disgust me.

Oh yeah, my wife dislocated a finger and damaged some soft tissue. The ER morons took an xray and tried to reposition it. They failed. They scheduled her an orthopedic appointment in a week.

The swelling continued to an alarming degree and the discoloration was ugly. I've treated similar injuries before while deployed, so my wife asked me to try.

Two shots of bourbon and a couple of hard pulls, and the finger was nearly the way it should be. Swelling went down in very short order. We "buddy taped" it to a splint, which helped even more. She'll go to the doctor on Friday, but good Lord, I'm just an old prison guard. What the hell am I paying these people for?

Oh, I'm in a rural county. Zero corona deaths in the county. Less than 200 cases total.

Fortunately, we do not have that problem here. The Dental Board shut down all dental practices, except for emergencies, but that has now ended. All local neurologists have been practicing full time AND doing procedures (Botox) etc. The GI specialists went to telehealth until last week when elective procedures were allowed. Same with the surgeons. I might find some new physicians if the situation does not improve quickly. Orthopedic surgeons are up and running. When you were a kid the ER treated fractures, these days most get referred to an orthopedist. Good luck

I really think all these follow up visits can be less frequent or even as needed. But they represent residual income streams for the doctor.

My wife had several surgeries over the years. Each time, her primary care physician would stick his head in the room to say hello. We thought that was nice of him. Until we learned each visit was recorded and billed to the insurance.

I’m sure every PCP does that and if you have several patients in, it’s an easy way to pick up extra money.

Yes. I am struggling to understand why medical professionals took the oath if they are too afraid to see patients. It doesn’t make sense- not the way I was raised, anyway.

There may be a number of questions about doctors’ reluctance to operate as they have in the past but the most puzzling is that they, of all people, should understand how little there is to fear from COVID-19. I mean, they’re supposed to know about diseases and stuff and should be the first to recognize how meaningless and unnecessary all these quarantine and related measures are. Heck, I imagine that some of them are even still wearing surgical masks in the risible belief that they have some value in preventing infections during surgery or keeping them from being exposed to other people’s germs.

Perhaps if they were directed to this forum where they could learn the truth from our many authorities on the subject they would stop being so irrational.

Keep in mind that, thanks to the insurance companies, many doctors today are no longer their own bosses. These policies of which you complain, were dictated by the hospital chains, who own them, not the doctors themselves.

I had a dental appointment on Monday, and a follow-up orthopedic appointment the next day. The dentist, dental hygienist, and the orthopedic doc all agreed with me that the “masks-on in public” was just for show, but if they didn’t have them on, their licenses would be suspended.

Thanks to all the TV Doctor shows over the years, that’s what the public has come to expect to see in the medical community, perceived precautions.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Suddenly, we're "high risk" old bastards with cooties. All appointments are cancelled.

The surgeon finally agreed to see my wife, with a mask. At six feet distance. After she used hand sanitizer.

The mask is there to protect you, as is the hand sanitizer.

As a frontline physician who has been dealing with patients that have this illness on a daily basis - you people don't know what you are talking about. I am terrified every time I have to intubate one of these patients and don my PPE - I could end up with it or bring it home to my family. There is a refrigerator truck outside full of bodies to prove its lethality.
Call me a coward - but you all are being spared the sight of body bags, the body count, and the horror these patients endure.

Dental and GI procedures are among the most risky for spread of this virus. You are a fool to get elective procedures done at this point in time until testing is commonplace.

If it is so harmless, please come and volunteer at the hospital. Stop spouting on something that you know nothing about and are only watching on your own echo chamber. Don't listen to a dentist or an orthopod who hasn't stepped foot in an ICU in years.

Also, please send your extra hoarded N95 masks to me if you will not wear them or think they are useless. I will put them to good use and distribute them to my colleagues on the front line.

Thank you, mb466, for your insights.

I was going to ask that guy who is warning us that it’s so dangerous for healthy people to wear masks just how physicians and other health care providers have managed to avoid keeling over for the past 120 years since they became commonplace.

A real puzzler, it is.

Other docs do whatever they do, but, when I'm on duty, sick patients are welcome to be seen. I don't turn away anyone. If patients need higher level of care, they will be referred to appropriate facilities.

quote:

Originally posted by mb466:
As a frontline physician who has been dealing with patients that have this illness on a daily basis - you people don't know what you are talking about. I am terrified every time I have to

Wait a minute here. 122 posts since 2008..

A 500+ Coronavirus thread that you’ve posted in precisely zero times, yet you come to this post to threaten and lecture us “from the front lines”

Sorry but I call BS on you. BULLSHIT.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Other docs do whatever they do, but, when I'm on duty, sick patients are welcome to be seen. I don't turn away anyone. If patients need higher level of care, they will be referred to appropriate facilities.

Thank you. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to, but it’s nice to know there are doctors and medical professionals still willing to see sick people!

To the 122 post count guy: clearly not too afraid to see your patients if you’re on the frontlines doing the work. Kudos to you and all you do to help your patients.

I believe the OP was talking about fixing his wife’s finger, and he didn’t mention a thing about her having COVID. An otherwise healthy individual with an obviously painful injury should be able to have it seen and cared for (at least pain management) with the proper PPE by the doc, especially in a place where there is a notably low incidence of COVID (per the poster).

We aren’t on the frontlines being in the Midwest, but our staff do see patients every day in small exam rooms with the proper screening and PPE. How many patients fib, take meds to pass the screening, or are simply asymptomatic? Who knows? We do our job because we’ve weighed the risks for our area, and find them to be tolerable. We know people need care, and many don’t even know what’s wrong til they’ve been seen. We schedule carefully, and schedule high risk patients at specific times to limit possible exposure.
If there were a higher rate of deaths, we would take that into consideration, but 2, maybe 3%? We aren’t going to not see patients with that low a risk. Yes, we are concerned, and we are watching carefully, but we signed up to care for people. We are here to help, and we if can continue to do that, we will. Again, I don’t think the OP, or I, for that matter, was talking about frontline NYC level disaster, we are talking about small town doctor care in a low risk environment.

Point taken as far as the comment regarding docs not necessarily having a say in seeing their patients if it’s run by a hospital or administrative org. Some folks’ hands are truly tied.

How is anyone a hero for doing the job they signed up for? Soldiers don't get to resign once the bullets start flying. Surgeons operate in the face of infectious disease every day.

In many cases, the physicians and dentists have no choice. State Boards have shut things done.

I predict we will find this whole fiasco to have been orchestrated to a large degree.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by mb466:
I think the thing that frustrates many in the healthcare field is the amount of willful denial that is going on with this epidemic from many in the public. The numbers may not be as catastrophic as originally forecast, but the potential to get there is real.

Please suit up with me and follow me in to intubate the next patient. This is from a couple days ago.
<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/oo282/"> Copy[/IMG]

Can you make this clickable? Never mind - it hyperlinked when I quoted it, but it appears to be just an image, not a vid.

quote:

There is a refrigerator truck outside full of bodies to prove its lethality.

What does the number of posts someone has have to do with the value of his/her comments? If I have 10K posts consisting of, “Include me in the karma,” does that make what I say more valid and useful than if I only post when I think I have something useful to contribute?

It is obvious that many people here believe that COVID-19 is nothing to be concerned about (at least not for them) and will therefore disagree with anyone who is, but the validity of those concerns has nothing to do with how often someone expresses his opinion about the disease.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:

quote:

Originally posted by mb466:
I think the thing that frustrates many in the healthcare field is the amount of willful denial that is going on with this epidemic from many in the public. The numbers may not be as catastrophic as originally forecast, but the potential to get there is real.

Please suit up with me and follow me in to intubate the next patient. This is from a couple days ago.
<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/oo282/"> Copy[/IMG]

Can you make this clickable? Never mind - it hyperlinked when I quoted it, but it appears to be just an image, not a vid.

Hold on. Now the image itself is gone altogether? And the post I quoted? Was this due to patient confidentiality?

I understand your frustration Fredward. My mother’s best friends son is dealing with some sort of gastrointestinal issue and had his colonoscopy canceled. He wound up in the ER twice so far in excruciating pain and probably won’t get to see a specialist until June! It’s absolute bullshit what is happening to people who ACTUALLY DO need medical attention.

Sorry Irreverent, I just decided that it was better not to have my picture floating around putting on my PAPR PPE. No issues of privacy, just me in pic. Never know when you can get retaliated against...
This is obviously a hot button topic that many of us feel passionately about. It doesn't help that there is a ton of conflicting information out there and the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I would like to thank all people out there helping in all aspects of the pandemic. I personally cannot wait to get this over with and resume our normal lives.