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Thread ID: 139188	2015-03-24 17:45:00	My Dad	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1397216	2015-03-25 01:51:00	Doctors come in assorted shapes, sizes, competence, good, bad and ugly, the same as the rest of us. For sure. And the way I look at it, if your mechanic was crap you'd go elsewhere. Which is what I do with GPs....so many people don't. Or they assume what the GP has said/prescribed is good because "he/she's a doctor" and knows. Wrong sometimes. Hospital docs though, sometimes you can't, or by the time you've realised the stuff up it's too late, or you can't get them to listen. Best to avoid the places, totally understand my dad for having done that for so long. He got picked on for that, but I'm on his side. Hopefully he's a got a good doc in there....	pctek (84)
1397217	2015-03-25 03:48:00	As a counterbalance, in the nearly 40 years we have been here, we have had most excellent service from GPs, hospital doctors, surgeons and specialists, I can't think of anything untoward over all those years. Probably the case in most situations, but alas not always so. As we know they have luck to be able to bury their mistakes.	Cicero (40)
1397218	2015-03-25 08:09:00	I just fear the other side of the coin, a country that is litigous like the USA, where a doctor can pay $160,000+ just for his/her annual insurance. Ultimately, it is the consumers who have to pay that price. So... do we want to have doctors (like now) with a spread of competence / incompetence, where they let their insurance shield them from their shortfalls, and their patients pay for that insurance, or do we want a cheaper healthcare system where doctors with the same spread of competence / incompetence are shielded by ACC? Is it reasonable that someone with an adverse treatment outcome can get a $1M payout? Or should those people simply accept that nothing in life is guaranteed, and that the spectrum of humans is diverse and have unpredictable treatment outcomes. (aka sh!t happens, take your lumps). Working alongside health providers I get to see both sides.... the crazy fees and half million dollar incomes of some, the adverse effects, the great outcomes, the sad outcomes, the reasonable outcomes with an unreasonable patient response to the outcome (ie their attitude is the problem, not the treatment). Ultimately, we will all die. So ultimately sh!t happens to all of us, eventually, regardless of the levels of care or expertise we receive. For some perspective one just one tiny aspect of the issues health providers face, check out Chloramphenicol. It is a commonly used bacteriostatic. In my field it is used as an eyedrop. But it can kill. Aplastic anaemia can be triggered in a very, very few cases (for reasons unknown), and this can sap people of their energy (destroys their bone marrow) and kill them within a month. Yet this is a very widely used drug, expecially in the 3rd world. Very few people would ever draw a connection between an eyedrop given to a newborn and their early death. And in the 3rd world there's unlikely to be blood tests and autopsies to determine that this simple eyedrop has killed (again). It was just (assumed) to be a weak newborn who succumed to illness. Yet the drug is still used, ultimately because the benefits (to many) outweigh the lethal consequences (to a tiny minority). If we gave this drug to everyone in NZ, up to 20 people may die. The other 4 million would be fine. Now imagine every single choice in medicine is similar, with a gamble every time a treatment option is used. This may fix you, or may f### you. Doctors are essentially trained to take that gamble on your behalf. To weigh up the pros and cons. But the outcome is never, ever assured. Technology, and genetic profiling will do more, in time, to allow doctors to beter pick the treatments that are safer for each of us, but this tech will come at a cost. So... do you want to do a $400 genetic profiling, and wait 3 weeks for the results before you take this eyedrop for your sticky eye (or other treatment), or do you want to take the gamble and let the doctor prescribe? Or will you gamble on doing nothing at all? (which can be just as dangerous) I vote to keep NZ's health system much as it is currently. Doctors aren't gods. Life's a rollercoaster. Death wins in the end for all of us. Billionaires and paupers alike.	Paul.Cov (425)
1397219	2015-03-25 18:49:00	So . . . do we want to have doctors (like now) with a spread of competence / incompetence, where they let their insurance shield them from their shortfalls, and their patients pay for that insurance, or do we want a cheaper healthcare system where doctors with the same spread of competence / incompetence are shielded by ACC? Doctors are essentially trained to take that gamble on your behalf . Whereas in other countries they manage to have more of a happy medium . It's not either or . . . . Doctors do not take any gamble on your behalf . . . . they are not the ones taking the medication or having the treatment . That's a ridiculous statement . As an example years ago I went to doc with a sore ankle . Not much was discussed at the appointment, but when I got home he rang saying I needed to come back immediately as I had Lupus and I needed to start on these pills . Looked it up and the pills cause blindness and liver damage . Right . Lupus? From what? There's a bunch of other symptoms associated with that . . . . no tests were done, just me and a sore ankle . . . and he was all prepared to put me on that stuff? I did not go, and 27 years or so later I remain Lupus free .	pctek (84)
1397220	2015-03-25 19:47:00	Sorry to hear that, PCtek. As I think you know I know your dad well.	Greg (193)
1397221	2015-03-26 19:11:00	Apparently he's had bowel cancer for ages. It's spread to liver, lungs and bones. He has a pelvis and shoulder fracture - because of the cancer. They are getting some specialist to look at his shoulder today to see if they can stabilise it in some way - it's not fixable, but super painful with the slightest movement. Then arranging someone to see my mum about carers as the hospices have a long waiting list.	pctek (84)
1397222	2015-03-26 20:06:00	...For sure. And the way I look at it, if your mechanic was crap you'd go elsewhere. Which is what I do with GPs....so many people don't. Or they assume what the GP has said/prescribed is good because "he/she's a doctor" and knows. ...We sure can change GPs but with the present silly 'PHO' system, we have to pay much more to change doctors. To transfer your registration from one doctor to another takes 2~3 weeks at least; and during that period of time, we have to pay much more. PHO system is to give GPs the opportunity to make more money - only GPs benefit from that system not patients.	bk T (215)
1397223	2015-03-27 00:56:00	It's a worry when we know our family aren't receiving the appropriate care. It seems the older we get the less good care we receive in New Zealand.	bellbird (6169)
1397224	2015-03-29 21:04:00	I spoke with pctec's mum this morning. Seems that her dad has less than weeks to go, probably just days.	Greg (193)
1397225	2015-03-30 01:24:00	Yes. You wouldn't let an animal die like that. Hideous. Just as well it's going at the speed of light......nasty, nasty, nasty. I'm back down again this week, mainly to help mum sort finances, and stuff. he did it all, so a big wade through papers and stuff......	pctek (84)
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