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Thursday, Jan 8, 2009
Stupid Patient of the Year
BY J.B. ORENSTEIN, M.D.
(03/03/00)
I read Dr. J.B. Orenstein's article in Friday's Salon, and I'm still laughing. I, too, am a pediatrician in an emergency department and I see all manner of abuses of the system. Just today, a woman came in from her pediatrician's office. She didn't feel like staying in the waiting room until her child's scheduled appointment, so she decided to be seen in emergency ... for a cold of four days' duration. And that's a very mild example.
The United States desperately needs a national health system, so that children's medical care is properly funded, coupled with oversight to strongly discourage parents from abusing the system with 3 a.m. ambulance rides for week-old earaches. More carrot and more stick.
-- Michael Treece, M.D.
I, too, work in an emergency department and would like to see an award given to all the people who tell us they have a family doctor, but have come to the emergency room because they need to have whatever benign procedure done (like their blood pressure checked or a sliver removed) and their doctor is "too busy." These same people then rant and rave that they must wait, possibly hours, to be seen. No matter how we explain that the sickest people get seen first, these people do not comprehend that they do not need to be in the emergency department and are wasting health care time and dollars. The man who came in recently to have a plantar wart removed gets an honorable mention.
-- Name withheld at writer's request
I've been an emergency room nurse for 15 years and I must confess that there is nothing my co-workers and I like more than a good story. However, the tone of this article was full of anger and disdain for all the "stupid" patients that come in with "stupid" complaints. Is this guy really a doctor? I sure wouldn't want him cutting on me.
-- David Sexton, R.N.
San Francisco General Hospital
The only thing stupid about these patients is they let this doctor examine them. He should find a new line of work or find some compassion in his heart for his patients.
-- Dee Cocos
The tyranny of "Abercrappie"
BY DAMIEN CAVE
(03/03/00)
Good lord! Is Abercrombie & Fitch marketing to teens?! With all those bare chests and butts, I thought their whole campaign was targeting the lucrative gay guy market. Come to think of it, you could probably discourage kids from wanting the overpriced clothes by telling them that, since homophobia is still a stronger motivating force than fashion.
Therese Littleton
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