Survey: 17 percent know of an impaired, incompetent doctor at work
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comMany docs don't report on addicted colleagues
Seeded on Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:26 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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Leave a Comment:
So does this mean that people should start reporting workers addicted to coffee and nicotine? They are addictive drugs.
The article says the doctors are "impaired" by drugs. Generally caffeine and nicotine do not cause impairments.
This isn't surprising at all though. It's just another "Good 'ole Boys" club. Don't tell on me and I won't tell on you.
As a retired RN who has worked with impaired MDs, I'm appalled at the 15% who refuse to report their drunk/drug addicted collegues. I've seen MDs go into surgery drunk. It does no good for nurses to report them either, sindce the other Docs (and administrators) just think you are "tattling".
This is why they need malpractice insurance. They won't take actions to regulate themselves, so they all have to pay and the cost is pushed to the consumer. If they made consequences for non-reporting, it would clean up in a hurry.
This has always been a serious issue, it gets headlines occasionally.
JustAThought08...
Very good comment...worth reposting.
Truthfully, any physician or medical care giver who fails to report known physician incompetence/abuse is just as responsible for the harm to patients that results, as the problem doctor, him or herself. The retribution that nurses face in trying to report a doctor's problem or incompetence/patient harm is much worse...the physicians should "do no harm" by policing their own.
well, reggie, which would you rather have your doctor drink before your surgery? coffee or a cocktail? no brainer for the rest of us.
Did you mean, "Most all docs don't report their colleagues? In reality, this is no different from any profession ... Senators, Representatives, Lawyers, Teachers, Accountants, and even Preachers.
Depends on the surgery but: Caffeine or nicotine intoxication can actually impair decision making and cause fasciculations in the hands...I don't want a fellow surgeon operating on me with shaking hands.
Hetep and Respect riggie, are you in favor of your own death because someone failed to report a killer, who then killed you?
You think the Blue wall of silence is strong, the Docs make the killer cops look like Boy Scouts. Docs need to stand up get a pare, and report on the bad actors in their profession and not just the addicts. Killer MD's walk among them and they know who they are.
If a doc does a crime he/she should do time.
Dumbest analogy ever. FAIL.
Last week they were ragging on the nurses and now the docs! We are going to have a HUGE shortage of nurses and physicians with 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 60 each day in America.
We do the best we can. Enough to make me need a toke!!!! But I am retired so don't rag on me. Honestly it should be legal in all states....MMJ....the "WAR on Drugs" is not working America.
OPEN YOUR MINDS!
That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The fact that we are going to have a shortage of doctors and nurses doesn't mean that they should just take anyone. While there are many jobs out there that would not be affected by someone smoking a joint, the medical profession does not include any of those. It is an area where peoples lives are at stake and even if pot were legal, it would not be allowed in the medical profession because it clouds judgment and slows down reflexes. I truly do not care of people light up in their homes, but if my doctor is drinking on the job, then hell yeah I want the problem taken care of. Anyone who is using while working isn't a recreational user. That person has a problem and needs help. This article isn't ragging on doctors, it is to make them aware that there are paths they can take if they have a problem that won't cost them their livelihoods. Hopefully some of them will read it and ask for help before their addiction is the catalyst of someone else's death or lifetime disability. Wake up.
Maybe the patient population needs to wake up. Y'all have no clue what it takes to get where we are and how fast you're running it into the ground. 11 years minimum post high school education, over $100K in debt, giving up more than you can comprehend. I, like most of my colleagues, are fed up with the way this country is destroying medicine. It's not an art or science, it's a business run by business people. You do nothing but demand and complain. Lawyers breathing down are neck ready to pounce (oh but they care for the patients well-being). Insurance companies constantly refusing payment or authorization of procedures and YOU yell at ME when that happens, you don't yell at your insurance. Then threaten to sue ME. And when you look at your EOB from insurance, let me know when the "provider negotiated discount" comes up for negotiation, I haven't seen that in my 16 years. Also, come in with chest pains "just like when I had a heart attack" and I will do everything I can to save your life, then you call up and cuss my staff out when you get a bill for $20 for your co-pay, never mind that you will drop $75 for a carton of cigarettes on your way home from the fast food joints. Yes, I AM MAD and my colleagues are MAD and we have no way to improve medicine. I know I went into this to help people AND make a decent living. Now I can barely make a decent living and people constantly yell at ME as if it's my fault that medicine is in the toilet. And you think we aren't already almost a socialized medicine? Get real.
Completely agree. However it is also our duty to police the doctors who are incompetent from any aspect. The great voice of physicians, the AMA, only offers us reduced rates on rental cars.
The doctor shortage could be easily remedied by opening more schools. They keep the number of schools down to control the availability and hence demand for doctors. They could also increase the number of nurses by paying them more and demeaning them less in the medical hierarchy. A nurse who sees a doctor go drunk into surgery should be able to stop it.
Cajun Cannon, if you want the lawyers to back off, start policing your peers, if you are a doctor. When you let that many screw-ups on the field, everyone has to pay the price and it's called malpractice insurance.
And is there something about the career or the personal habits of many Americans that you were not aware of before you got into it? I think most people who go into medicine know how much it will cost (a lot), how long it will take (about 12 years), and how non-compliant patients can be (very).
Last, if you don't like how you are treated by insurance companies, why did you not support the hell out of health care reform? Medical associations play a key role in blocking or slowing down reform, but are the first to complain about health insurance industry reimbursement practices.
Life is hard for everyone. If you don't like what you are doing or feel it does not pay enough, admit you made a mistake and get another career. No one held a gun to your head to go into medical school, and no one is forcing you to stay on the job. In fact, with a crummy attitude like yours, you might be doing everyone a favor if you left.
CajunCannon--sounds like you are disgruntled with your job. Either learn to deal with it, or find something else to do. Many doctors are going to cash-only practices because of the insurance companies. Many of us get paid a lot less than you do and have the same stresses at work.
People continue to fall under the illusion that the medical field is a place to make tons of money. Sadly, it is all too wrong. Many forget the high cost of a medical school education (no matter how many schools are opened JustAThought08), paying for office/staff/overhead costs as well as the skyrocketing amount to pay for malpractice insurance which is NOT for covering boneheaded colleagues who are incompetent or under the influence, but to try to stave off the increasing "Get rich quick at someone else's expense" mentality Americans find themselves suffering from more and more. Americans falsely believe doctors to be infallible, almost omniscient people who are never allowed to make mistakes. Wish that were the case but it is not. We should not have to pay for every thing that does not go perfectly. Life is full of things that do not go according to plan and even "routine" procedures are still riddled with risk (especially when the patient does not heed our first points of advice to prevent complications).
Thank the lord you are retired! You're a fool.
Incompetent, or addicted, doctors obviously put their patients' lives in jeopardy. If other doctors are aware of this and do nothing, isn't that a direct violation of the intent of the Hippocratic oath they took? If that's the case, then the oath loses all credibility and isn't worth the paper it's written on!
I agree with this. I think the unwillingness to regulate themselves is how malpractice insurance got to be such a big deal.
chuckie cheese...Agree...good comment. I have a lot of respect for the Dr. A. Clark Gaither, quoted in this article. What a good, brave man for speaking up about this, and thanking those who forced him to get help.
I was sitting in the dining room of the country club having lunch and a doctor came in and took a table. First thing he did was order a martini. He had a bit of lunch while working on his second martini. I know him and we chatted a bit. He had started on his third martini when his pager went off. He called the hospital and when he hung up he said "well, she is dilated enough now so I've got to go deliver her baby". I said "you're kidding, right?" Nope......
That evening when my husband came home for the hospital where he was chief of staff, I told him what "blank" had done. I gave the little speech that a good therapist gives and it boiled down to "get him some help before he kills a patient".
My husband would not report him or talk to him. We divorced so I don't know how many more drunken lunches "blank" had but I imagine he hit it pretty much every day.
We went to ER one night because my ears were stopped up and I wanted them flushed out. The ER doc came walking in and we talked a bit and he left the room. I was up out of my chair telling my husband that the ER doc would NOT flush my ears out! The ex asked me what was going on and I told him that the doctor is high. He denied it but as someone says, they cover for one another. The ex flushed my ears out and we went home.
Next week he walks through the door and says "guess who went to rehab?"......the ER doctor and he was hooked on demerol.
Thank you for attempting to make a stand for both these doctors and for not putting yourself at risk-we need that sense of decency shared all over this country.
I have worked in the OR for 13 years as a surgical tech and could not agree more with this study. I have seen it proven over and over. It is as if once they take the oath, they are in some brotherhood together and cannot report each other. Sure there are a few exceptions but most just let others get away with, yep, murder...
PKNSC...As a Registered Nurse...and a patient, I completely agree. Those in the medical field have the ability to pick and choose the doctors that will treat themselves and their family members/loved ones. If they thought about "what if that was me, or my loved one unknowingly going for treatment from that doctor" maybe they would find the conscience and ethics to report...but at this time, the "cover up and silence" mentality that does and has prevailed in the physician community is sadly, alive and strong.
Truthfully, any physician or medical care giver who fails to report known physician incompetence/abuse is just as responsible for the harm to patients that results, as the problem doctor, him or herself. The retribution that nurses face in trying to report a doctor's problem or incompetence/patient harm is much worse...the physicians should "do no harm" by policing their own.
reggie7777
So does this mean that people should start reporting workers addicted to coffee and nicotine? They are addictive drugs
reggie7777
WOW, the first post and the dumbest thing that could be written. YOU cannot drive a truck or flip a hamburger without taking random drug testing BUT you can operate on someone without having to be tested.
Do you have anyone that you love and would want to protect sick or in the hospital? IF so then you SHOULD want the doctors to be clean of drugs know the doctors are NOT half asleep. Think of someone you love being in pain but the nurse says they have had all they can get for X amount of time then find out that the nurse only gave them half their pain meds and kept the rest for their fix. This happens more times than you can imagine.
Doctors, nurses and anyone that works in health care should be tested for drugs on a regular bases and NOT by the hospital they work in. IF you take the time to do the research you will see just how bad this problem really is.
Five years ago one of our surgeons was a drunk and a drug addict and instead of blowing the whistle, we enabled her (covered for her, gave her IV fluids when she was hungover, etc). I regret not helping her as it could have prevented her suicide attempt. It's horrible, but it's very common
dont forget run a country, hold a public position, or live off the government
john-1113980
I should have know that Politics would come into this one way or the other but that is SOOOO off target here. NO one in Congress, the Senate or the White House is going to take care of me or do surgery. WE could stand as one on subjects like this but not unless we stay on target.
Next someone will be saying that only the Rep or the Dem doctors care, grow UP!!!!!!
Doctor's in America are in special club similar to the US Senate. The law is written for the little people and certainly does not apply to them.
I think you meant to write "small-minded people" instead of "little people" because only a small- minded person would make such a ridiculous statement.
No, he meant little people, as in Leona Helmsley's, "Taxes are for the little people."
I have been a physician for 20 years in a large group. When I recently found drug paraphenelia in our office, I did report it. There has also been alcohol left there. Since I reported it I have been the target of legal threats by our group president and had to get an attorney. The hospital did not handle it; the group didn't handle it, now I feel my job is in jeopardy.
You did the right thing and good for you! I hope you keep your job!
Emma--we need people like you with integrity in the profession. Keep up the good work and, if worse comes to worse, with this doctor shortage, you should be able to find another place to work that has sober doctors. Best of luck to you.
That sucks. I am really sorry that is happening. But I thank you...and wish I could do something to support you.
i support you and my congessional rep. will hear about this. with out getting into it this explains a lot. i suggest all of you likewise put some pressure on lawmakers at all levels. something might stick.
I'm sorry, Emma.
Emma...
I am so sorry this is happening to you for following your conscience and doing the right thing. I hope you will find another group to work with who will appreciate and share your integrity. Just know that a clear conscience in doing what is right and loyal to the patients you serve is much more important than any job position...and although you do not deserve to be the target of legal threats for your loyalty to patients, you are so much better off than those who would cover up and/or stay silent as patients are put in danger by another who is betraying the trust of those he/she has promised to protect and serve. Good for you...a whole lot of innocent, vulnerable patients and other medical care givers thank and respect those like you.
You absolutely did the right thing, and it's a darned shame you are being penalizes/ostracized for it. Any doctor that tucks his/her head in the sand when peers are practicing medicine while incapacitated are just as guilty as those incapacitated doctors. If harm comes to patients as a result of drug or alcohol use, ALL of the doctors who knew about that abuse should be ashamed of themselves (they should be charged with a crime, but you have to prove they knew....).
as a retired chemical dependency counselor, i treated ALL kinds of people, including those who held public offices, medically treated human beings and protected us "little" people from being harmed. ALL drugs (yes, folks alcohol is a drug) are mood altering, ALL drugs can cause someone (either the person using the chemical or the people dealing with the person using the chemical) to be hurt. it is my personal and PROFESSIONAL opinion that random drug testing and breathalyzer tests should be had for all. yes, doctors and nurses are under stress but they also have easier time getting ahold of the chemicals that would allow them to "relax". what is needed is an overhaul of the educational and employment system that allows burnout.
Burnout does not cause addiction. Drugs and alcohol cause addiction. Many people become exhausted and "burned out" in their jobs, but turning to drugs and alcohol to manage it is a personal choice, one that many doctors make. The profession needs to police itself, and it does not. It has been a critical issue for decades.
The hospital that I worked in got new "med dispensers" for want of a better word. It is totally controlled by a computer and the nurse or doctor who opens it up is identified by a hand print. The computer records which med, how much ,name of person obtaining med and who the med is for. It is really cool!
My sister was married to an alcoholic doctor. It was disgusting to see how his colleagues and entire department covered it up. Finally his dept. tried treating him as an "outpatinet." Duh. Didn't work. No family involved either, even though it is a family disease with enabling, etc. My sister vowed to leave him after their 2 kids graduated from high school. She did, after 20 years of marriage. Despite finally having an inpatient stay and staying sober a few months, he returned to active drinking, still practices medicine and his illness is still covered up by colleagues. Dispicable.
Let's not forget that state medical boards are not as stringent as they should be. I know a doctor who is an alcoholic (has at least 1 DUI), does cocaine and adderal (she is not ADHD), and yet, when she went to the state medical board after her last DUI, she was not stripped of her medical license. I personally wouldn't let her touch me with any sort of medical instrument, but she still has her medical license.
The medical profession is a total good ol' boys club. Doctors and ministers are the only ones who get their mail addressed to "Dr. Jones" or "Rev. Smith." Yes, when I delivered mail, even their junk mail had the Dr. and the Rev. on it.
Maybe the time has come when patients, in addition to reminding doctors to wash their hands, should ask their doctors if they would submit to a drug test.
Maybe the patient population needs to wake up. Y'all have no clue what it takes to get where we are and how fast you're running it into the ground. 11 years minimum post high school education, over $100K in debt, giving up more than you can comprehend. I, like most of my colleagues, are fed up with the way this country is destroying medicine. It's not an art or science, it's a business run by business people. You do nothing but demand and complain. Lawyers breathing down are neck ready to pounce (oh but they care for the patients well-being). Insurance companies constantly refusing payment or authorization of procedures and YOU yell at ME when that happens, you don't yell at your insurance. Then threaten to sue ME. And when you look at your EOB from insurance, let me know when the "provider negotiated discount" comes up for negotiation, I haven't seen that in my 16 years. Also, come in with chest pains "just like when I had a heart attack" and I will do everything I can to save your life, then you call up and cuss my staff out when you get a bill for $20 for your co-pay, never mind that you will drop $75 for a carton of cigarettes on your way home from the fast food joints. Yes, I AM MAD and my colleagues are MAD and we have no way to improve medicine. I know I went into this to help people AND make a decent living. Now I can barely make a decent living and people constantly yell at ME as if it's my fault that medicine is in the toilet. And you think we aren't already almost a socialized medicine? Get real.
Cajun Cannon, you posted twice so I will respond twice.
if you want the lawyers to back off, start policing your peers, if you are a doctor. When you let that many screw-ups on the field, everyone has to pay the price and it's called malpractice insurance.
And is there something about the career or the personal habits of many Americans that you were not aware of before you got into it? I think most people who go into medicine know how much it will cost (a lot), how long it will take (about 12 years), and how non-compliant patients can be (very).
Last, if you don't like how you are treated by insurance companies, why did you not support the hell out of health care reform? Medical associations play a key role in blocking or slowing down reform, but are the first to complain about health insurance industry reimbursement practices.
Life is hard for everyone. If you don't like what you are doing or feel it does not pay enough, admit you made a mistake and get another career. No one held a gun to your head to go into medical school, and no one is forcing you to stay on the job. In fact, with a crummy attitude like yours, you might be doing everyone a favor if you left.
you're right, I'm sorry, I quit.
I wish I could quit but I have to pay off $250,000 in student loans. I can't!
Don't listen to them! they know not what they speak :)
Cajun, Don't be too apologetic. It's easy to be critical from a distance, but you're in the trenches. It isn't easy for doctors anymore, and sometimes you need to get mad about it.
I know where you are coming from, and you make a lot of sense in your post.
Cajun-
Regardless of how difficult the medical profession is, it's no excuse for doctors and other health professionals to be using drugs. As the medical profession is already difficult enough, people who need to use drugs to cope shouldn't be in it.
I have worked in the medical community for 16 yrs as a medical practice administrator. Unfortunately, I have witnessed first hand, impaired physicians in practice and the surrounding medical community that enabled them. They turn a blind eye to addiction, from the partners in the practice to the hospitals where they work, to fellow physicians and nurses that they socialize and work with. Sweep it under the rug and keep your mouth shut. is the motto. I lost my job after insisting that the partners have an intervention and send one dr to rehab.. .....the doc went to a high class spa instead claiming it was "rehab" within a week of returning to work, the doc was using again.
To regain priviledges at the hospital another doc lied and vouched for the doc and back to work the doc went. After 10+ years practicing medicine in this state, the doc fled just ahead of our state's medical licensing board inquiries in to the doc's addictions. The doc still is practicing medicine. I have no clue as to whether addiction is still part of this doctor's life.
In the last practice the doc was faced with jail or early retirement after 20 plus yrs of practice. I was told by staff that over half his year's in practice that he was addicted. After 2 forced and failed stints in rehab ("I'm not addicted, I'm doing this because I was told I had too"). He was offered prosecution by the State or early retirement and loss of license. WOW.........big deal.............a slap on the wrist. He took early retirement still refusing to acknowledge there was an addiction problem.
I have had the priviledge and honor of working for many wonderful dedicated physicians. My intent is not to trash ALL physicians.......my point is this......our medicaly system is broken when it comes to reporting impaired physicians......if you know you have an impaired physician REPORT THEM.........IMMEDIATELY! Stop sweeping it under the rug! Stop turning a blind eye to this.........STOP enabling them!! Help them by getting them in to treatment and on to recovery!
You could save the doc's life and help to save the next innocent patient they perform surgery on while they are under the influence!
This lack of reporting should come as no surprise to any physician. As a physician who has had to deal with peer review of other doctors, including drug or alcohol impaired physicians, you have to think carefully about getting involved in this. The impaired doctor's career is at stake when these accusations are made and he or she will sue you about your allegations or actions. I have only been sued once so far.
The Poliner v. Texas Health System case in 1997 is an chilling example of the consequences of taking peer review actions. The jury awarded $366 million dollars to the doctor from the hospital and doctors who took action against him in a peer review case. Federal law is supposed to protect both from these suits but as you can tell it doesn't always work.
If you want the peer review system to work and for doctors to report impaired or incompetent physicians, then pay us more so we can pay the occasional $366 million dollar judgement against us.
"The impaired doctor's career is at stake when these accusations are made and he or she will sue you about your allegations or actions. I have only been sued once so far."
A very accurate statement, dear doctor, but I would like to ask you what risk the patient is taking by going to a doctor who uses? Life? And bless you, you've only been sued once because you didn't turn in as many doctors as you should have?
At least your priorities for your safety/lawsuits/mad partners are in place.
Doctor's will rarely find against other doctors. Even the state medical boards will rarely find against doctors since it is also made up of... you guessed it; doctors. They pretty much have to screw up pretty bad for that to happen.
Years ago I was living in Michigan and had a slip and fall at work, twisting my ankle in the process. I figured a sprained ankle was no big deal, had plenty of them in the past. This time however I started getting severe random stabbing pains in my hip. I couldn't get comfortable standing, sitting or even laying down. So the next day I went to an urgent care center in Canton, MI. My ankle was x-rayed and the guy who saw me wrote a perscription for an anti-inflammatory and a pain reliever. By this time I was almost crawling due to the electric shock-like pains I was feeling.
The AI made me vomit and the pain relievers did nothing at all so I called the urgent care center again the next day. To my surprise the doctor answered the phone. When I explained what had happened with the meds he told me that he was not actually the physician but an assistant and he could do nothing else for me without the doctor being involved. Imagine how I felt finding out that the guy I thought was a doctor was not. At this point I went to a different urgent care center (how could I trust the first one) and when I showed the meds and explained my situation to the doctor there he refused to even examine me and basically made a comment indicating he thought I was an addict looking for a "script".
So off I went to the original clinic to see the "real" doctor. (no toher choice at this point) He too refused to examine me, refused to look at the x-rays and told me to get physical therapy. I threw the meds into his wastebasket and stood up to leave. At that point he started yelling at me for refusing treatment! I was not about to accept treatment from someone who would not even do a proper exam.
Finally, as a last resort, I went to the emergency room at the UofM (good hospital, I just hate ER's) and within a few minutes they had determined that my bursa sack on the hip bone was ruptured allowing raw muscle to rub on the bone. They gave me an anti-inflammatory and a double perscription for Vicadin. I took and finished the AI and only used two tablets of the Vicadin. Never did get the refill or even finish the pain meds.
I put together a formal complaint against both urgent care clinics and filed it with the State of Michigan Medical Board. There findings? The first two doctors were in the right to handle me the way they did. Even the Board made it sound like all I wanted was drugs!
So am I surprised by this article? Not in the least; in fact I could have told you that. Same applies for attorneys.
Rick...Thank you for your comment. Those who have experienced this type of medical abuse appreciate knowing they are not alone. It seems the "discredit the patient" in any and every dishonest way available when a medical mistake has taken place is the common M.O. in the medical community. Try getting injured AT a medical facility AS an employee there, and being taken to THEIR Emergency Room. You might as well have a sign on your forehead alerting other medical professionals not to touch you, and you should probably sign the papers to check yourself into a mental institution right then and there...as they will try to discredit you as a fake, adicted, mentally ill, or worse...and by the time they are done with you, you will have some serious traumatic stress and trust issues compounding the physical problems that never get diagnosed or treated. Since worker's fall under Worker's Comp. system, and worker's comp. attorneys rely on physicians and medical care facilities and their medical testing to win their cases...their is no honest legal help for such a victim, either.
I think there should be a support group for the victims of medical abuse, as most people buy into the "doctor's are the good guys and would never purposely deceive and refuse to treat" illusion, and thus these victims usually feel very vulnerable, powerless and alone.
I worked as a patient advocate in ER for a long time.
Every patient needs an advocate to go with them to the hospital. I saved two lives in ER by knowing that the med dose for one wasn't right and I saw slight swelling in a man's abdomen that had not been there when I first saw him. Both mistakes were easy to overlook especially as busy as we were those two nights. The men would have died had the physicians had not intervened immediately.
You must always try to have someone with you. Even if you have an "advocate" that will make medical personnel more alert.
I don't care what you went through to get where you are now, you should NOT be working while impaired in the medical field what so ever. It doesn't matter how stressful it is, doing drugs or drinking is not the correct way to solve it. So don't tell the "patient population needs to wake up". Do you not understand why a patient wouldnt want an impaired person working on or with them? Have some common sense here. I work in the medical field also, so I know how stressful it can get, but you are here to help the people, not endanger them. I think its right to inform them or someone else of this, and you shouldn't have to be afraid to do it.
I understand that doctors must go through a residency which often
involves working 72 hour shifts. Can this even be done sober?
Doctors, like athletes, push themselves beyond what the human body
or mind is supposed to be able to do and it is not suprising drugs don't
come into play from time to time.
JEM-1989317
That is why we need more medical schools. NO one should work those kind of hours and hope to do a good job. Sacristy and the high cost are artificially created. More schools mean more doctors and nurses and a lower cost. WE would never let other professions get away with this, we would put them in jail but we are being asked for TOTE reform, yet another way to give them the go ahead to be addicts.
As a recovering health care professional for many years, I would like to add my views on this subject, If someone smells alcohol on a physician's breath, a colleague can pull them aside and quietly let them know they smell alcohol. TRUST ME on this - the doc already knows he has been drinking - he just got caught by someone.
Give them a choice - tell them they can let someone else operate on the patient or do the procedure or whatever the case may be, and they go home and think about getting into treatment, OR if they insist they have not been drinking and get belligerent, you will call the hospital administrator right then and there. No drama involved - just quietly state the choice as you see it. Maybe 8 out of 10 times I will bet that the doc will vote to go home and allow someone else to do the surgery or whatever the procedure is.
You would be amazed at how many people would be relieved to get caught. I hear it in the "rooms" all the time. Most health care professionals are so ashamed because they are supposed to be the "well" ones helping sick people, not someone who has a problem. We are the problem solvers. Some people really want help, they just don't know how to ask. When i worked in an inner city er one night, we had a pilot from a well known airline come in three sheets to the wind. He was "found down". Anyway he insisted on leaving becuase he had a plane to fly. Then in very slurred speech he said "I have flown this way thousands of times"! Yikes! We promptly called the hospital lawyer and kept him there, not wanting to be charged with false imprisionment. The attending physician gave this pilot a choice - either sign yourself into rehab tonght or I will call your boss. That guy thought this over for 2 hours then finally agreed to sign himself into rehab. I have no idea where that gentleman is today but I pray he is sober and happy. I DO know that people on that plane that night arrived at their destination safely thanks to that ER attending physician.
So docs, do the right thing, if not for the impaired physician then for the patient. No matter what happens everything will work out for the best. That is a promise.
We need to take doctors off of the pedestal we've placed them on. Their greed is as much to blame for the health care crisis as anything else. The fact they protect their own is not surprising.
sounds like you want to maker it harder on doctors and good-- right.............WRONG.........you want your doctors happy; well fed and PHATT with money so when they see you they will do the right thing for you....take the best care of you possible and keep the cost as low as possibly for you. If idiots keep screwing with doctors i think your gonna get a just revenge when you really need one --------you will not be happy with what you find.......because all the good doctors will be retired or pissed off about how pathetic the system they are stuck in sucks.
You are the one who is wrong. Doctors should be paid well, but they should not expect extreme wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. Doctors should be in the business of healing. If they are blessed with the talent and brains to cure and treat people, that is the reason to enter into the medical field. It is our own fault that their education costs so much money and that they are in debt for so long. If we valued and sponsored education the way we value and sponsor celebrity, we would all be better off - we would have physicians that cared about their patients and would not be preoccupied with paying off their medical school loans.
I wish people would stop ragging on doctors....I had a plumber out to my house last month and he charges MORE than I do as a physician AND he gets paid what he bills for without question, justification, complaint, or waiting. Give me a break....Doctors are greedy? Please, every doctor I know works for FREE all the time and by all the time, I mean holidays, nights, after a long shift, sick, and tired. Doctors aren't paid enough, quite frankly AND they get paid LESS every year while their education and overhead go up and up!
Loripuff--I understand that you are frustrated by your lack of pay. My husband is in the military; he works nights, weekends, holidays, sick, tired, etc. He gets shot at, too. His pay last year was 40k. As any policeman, Coast Guard rescuer, etc., how much they get paid. I bet it isn't as much as you do.
The plumber, in order to get a license, has at least 12 years of apprenticeship under his belt. As the other doctor says, if you want to do surgery on yourself, do it. In this case, if you want to fix your own plumbing, feel free.
Doctors and lawyers look down on other professions that have just as many years of learning and study. In your case, how much salary would you have to earn to justify your time? 300k, 500k 600k? The addicted doctor I know makes 350k a year. She spends it all because she needs 20k a month, minimum, to support her lifestyle. Couldn't do without the 750k condo, beach property, boat, private schools for the kids, 3 expensive cars, and the routine purchase of a 3k handbag.
The days of doctors making 1 million a year are over. The medical field is not for those who say that they want to do good for humanity while thinking that they are going to get rich. It used to be that way, but not anymore. If you look in the Hippocratic oath, it says nothing about getting paid well, or even getting paid at all. It is about the obligations of the doctors towards their patients.
If you think that you can make more money elsewhere, go do it. If not, suck it up and keep paying those student loans until something better comes along. It's what the rest of us do.
Just a word here: We don't want pilots flying impaired or truck drivers driving under the influence. Why would we want to ignore the surgeon who throws back a couple before surgery? If you are under the knife, believe me you won't want to cut the doc slack!
Reminds me of the alcoholic that played Marcus Welby M.D. I think expecting miracles from a program ripe with profit mongering Insurance companies and understaffing in the clinics and hospitials puts even the best doctors on edge and I cant blame them for wanting a break, even if it crosses some boundaries. Maybe we can look at this as a cry for help and get the damn insurance companies to comply with our demands and not the other way around.
I worked on a grant at UCLA that was giving services to prenatal patients who happened to be addicts. A third year resident in the OB-GYN Clinic would "wigg out" any time our clients were delivering. I later found out that she was tested and found positive for cocaine. She went to rehab for MDs specifically for the addicted MD. Ultimately, she lost her license for a positive test for heroine. What a loss to both her family, the community, and the medical field.
I would agree with your post, except for the loss to the medical field. She was stopped before she killed someone, which is as it should be.
The medical profession has never made any real attempt to police its membership. There is doccumented case after case where physicians on drugs, with mental problems, incompetence, etc. have been allowed to practice after repeated infractions. This report presents no new information.