"Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis"..

acoustic guy

A young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. His short two-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis"..

It's worth a quick read:


Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.


While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture" a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD

OutOfBreath

Should policy be based on anecdotes, or facts and statistics?

Peace
Dan

gimmesometruth27

OutOfBreath wrote:

Should policy be based on anecdotes, or facts and statistics?

Peace
Dan

obviouslty anecdotes!!!













j/k

fife

after reading this letter i realized that in fact there is a educational crisis. how did this person become a doctor.

basically he is saying that 1 women = everyone who really can't afford insurance

Drowned Out

I stayed calm thru most of that article...but her phone was equipped with a popular R&B ringtone???? The fucking NERVE! :roll:

gimmesometruth27

i just showed that letter to the two doctors i work with. one said "you are a physician and you will be reimbursed...shut the fuck up and treat the patient..." and the other said "yeah you make enough money to worry about that..."

_

fife wrote:

after reading this letter i realized that in fact there is a educational crisis. how did this person become a doctor.

basically he is saying that 1 women = everyone who really can't afford insurance

This is why the medical school where I work is now requiring all our med students to get a certificate in public health.

Here's the Snopes article, by the way: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp

It includes the real letter and a response entitled "Health Care Reform Is Not Us vs. Them".

the wolf

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i just showed that letter to the two doctors i work with. one said "you are a physician and you will be reimbursed...shut the fuck up and treat the patient..." and the other said "yeah you make enough money to worry about that..."

:clap:

cincybearcat

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i just showed that letter to the two doctors i work with. one said "you are a physician and you will be reimbursed...shut the fuck up and treat the patient..." and the other said "yeah you make enough money to worry about that..."

Well that first doctor is an idiot then because who is paying him when he is "reimbursed"?

Obviously it's just 1 example. But the reality is, this is part of the problem. I have no idea how big a part and I doubt it is even on the radar screen compared to the other issues though.

TriumphantAngel

Obama didn't create Medicaid. Medicaid's been around since 1965.

if Roger has a problem with tax money paying for other people's healthcare, he shouldn't have gone into a profession that collects that money. if he doesn't like being in the medical field because he doesn't like what people eat or how they look and what they wear etc, then maybe he should reassess some of the life choices he's made. OR perhaps he could just concentrate on doing his job. his job is to provide medical care, not pass judgments on his patients.

just a thought of course.

haffajappa

Dear Mr. President,

Today I saw an aunt who worked hard at a dead end job in a stamp factory, trying to raise her 3 kids on her own because their dead-beat father would rather give his money to a pub than to his own children. That dead end job happened to be at a rubber stamp factory. She only came to know of the hazards of her job when the owner's wife died of a severe respiratory disease caused by the chemicals in the product.

Now she has a severe respiratory problem, is hooked up to an oxygen tank and awaits an operation. This woman can barely make rent and car insurance, and is unable to work because of her condition. Her sons hope for the best as everyday its harder and harder for her to breathe. She can barely afford rent each month, or, heaven forbid, imagine if she had to pay some corporation for health insurance.

Thankfully, she is a Canadian.
So, Mr. President, once your citizens can fix this "culture crisis", where tax dollars going to your fellow countrymen is considered more of some sort of evil socialist scheme, maybe fewer people will have to worry about the cost of care - regardless of how they came to need it.

Respectfully,
SOMEONE WHO WOULD GLADLY HAVE HER TAX DOLLARS GO TO HEALTHCARE.

gimmesometruth27

cincybearcat wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i just showed that letter to the two doctors i work with. one said "you are a physician and you will be reimbursed...shut the fuck up and treat the patient..." and the other said "yeah you make enough money to worry about that..."

Well that first doctor is an idiot then because who is paying him when he is "reimbursed"?

Obviously it's just 1 example. But the reality is, this is part of the problem. I have no idea how big a part and I doubt it is even on the radar screen compared to the other issues though.

who are you to pass judgement on the doctors i work with? they are much more compassionate and a hell of a lot less judgemental than the person who may or may not have been a doctor that wrote this letter. doctors are professional people and they do their job without passing judgement. and if they do pass judgement it is in a joking manner and privately and they would never pretend to publicly claim that one "culture" it superior to another. yes we have seen medicaid patients that have gold teeth and iphones and many of them are on social security due to unseen issues like depression, bipolar disorder, neurological disorders that keep them from working full time. ever think that gold tooth and tattoos came before being on medicaid? we are the only orthopedic specialist within 40 miles to take medicaid. we don't have to, but the doctors i work with feel it is their duty to see everyone, even people that can't pay the full price because it is the right thing to do. we make less money from them, but they get the same care as someone who has super duper gold standard insurance or those that pay in full in cash at the time of service. it is called being a professional.

people forget that medicare and medicaid are for more than the elderly and poor, it also takes care of the disabled and unable to work. and the people in those situations are no less deserving of basic human dignity and great medical treatment than those that pay for private insurance.

Smellyman

fuck em'

the republican way

Jesus weeps for your souls

Prince Of Dorkness

Hm... one black hip hop welfare queen and everyone on medicaid is bilking the system.

22,000 priests molesting kids.... "Isolated incident."

maj4e

on a side note.... many in urban communities get tattoo's for very little money or even barter from the neighborhood tat guy. the letter reeks of pompousness and prejudiced thinking that if you aren't like me you're wrong.

cincybearcat

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i just showed that letter to the two doctors i work with. one said "you are a physician and you will be reimbursed...shut the fuck up and treat the patient..." and the other said "yeah you make enough money to worry about that..."

Well that first doctor is an idiot then because who is paying him when he is "reimbursed"?

Obviously it's just 1 example. But the reality is, this is part of the problem. I have no idea how big a part and I doubt it is even on the radar screen compared to the other issues though.

who are you to pass judgement on the doctors i work with?

Aren't they passing judgement? Don't you everyday?

He/She is an idiot because he/she doesn't care that someone has to pay the bill. Certainly a doctor has to live with the system and treat the patients, but it's ok to care about waste in the system instead of shrugging it off and passing the bill to Jill Taxpayer.

I also already said, this is hardly the biggest problem in the health care system, but it certainly exists.

Prince Of Dorkness

Well not only could the tattoos have been done for free by a friend or as "barter" for a favor of some kind, but poor people aren't really able to shop at Whole Foods for all their nutritional needs. Poor people often have to resort to the cheapest foods, most of while are extremely bad for you.

I often see young kids having to do with white bread, TRans-Fat Peatnut Butter and "Juice" that's just flavoured High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Poor people are generally in bad health because all they can afford is the poisons made available to them.

And I don't believe this story for one second... what doctor is going to waste his time asking a patient where she usually eats?

OnTheEdge

haffajappa wrote:

Dear Mr. President,

Today I saw an aunt who worked hard at a dead end job in a stamp factory, trying to raise her 3 kids on her own because their dead-beat father would rather give his money to a pub than to his own children. That dead end job happened to be at a rubber stamp factory. She only came to know of the hazards of her job when the owner's wife died of a severe respiratory disease caused by the chemicals in the product.

Now she has a severe respiratory problem, is hooked up to an oxygen tank and awaits an operation. This woman can barely make rent and car insurance, and is unable to work because of her condition. Her sons hope for the best as everyday its harder and harder for her to breathe. She can barely afford rent each month, or, heaven forbid, imagine if she had to pay some corporation for health insurance.

Thankfully, she is a Canadian.
So, Mr. President, once your citizens can fix this "culture crisis", where tax dollars going to your fellow countrymen is considered more of some sort of evil socialist scheme, maybe fewer people will have to worry about the cost of care - regardless of how they came to need it.

Respectfully,
SOMEONE WHO WOULD GLADLY HAVE HER TAX DOLLARS GO TO HEALTHCARE.

You people are twisted. Why shouldn't the company be responsible instead of everyone but??? :?

_

maj4e wrote:

the letter reeks of pompousness and prejudiced thinking that if you aren't like me you're wrong.

Well said.

_

Jasunmark wrote:

Well not only could the tattoos have been done for free by a friend or as "barter" for a favor of some kind, but poor people aren't really able to shop at Whole Foods for all their nutritional needs. Poor people often have to resort to the cheapest foods, most of while are extremely bad for you.

I often see young kids having to do with white bread, TRans-Fat Peatnut Butter and "Juice" that's just flavoured High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Poor people are generally in bad health because all they can afford is the poisons made available to them.

And I don't believe this story for one second... what doctor is going to waste his time asking a patient where she usually eats?

If you check out the Snopes link I posted, it says the letter is real. But the real letter says nothing about the patient's eating habits. Gotta love how some people feel the need to embellish just to try to prove their point that they are better than other people. :roll: Also gotta love how the doc felt the need to comment about her R&B ring tone. :roll: If it were his favorite band (or, I would guess, the "style" of music of his ethnic group) he probably wouldn't have judged her for something she probably got for free.

I'm surprised if he hasn't somehow been reprimanded by his employer for making disparaging remarks about their clients in such a public forum. Can't be good PR for the state facility for which he works. Plus, it's just rude to the patients. And this patient will know he's talking about her and so might other people. It might not technically be a HIPAA violation, but it sure comes close to crossing a line. He should have at least spoken of a group of people over time, not a specific person who was seen on a specific night. People are supposed to be able to trust their doctors and feel that they are receiving caring healthcare, not feel that they have to be dishonest about their lifestyle for fear that the doc will talk shit about them in the paper the next day. He should be thankful that this patient has taken the time & made the effort to get on Medicaid. Otherwise he would be providing care with no compensation if she couldn't afford to pay. Also, the guy's an ER doc, so obviously the woman was receiving emergency medical care. What a way to kick someone while she's down. If he thinks not everyone is deserving of emergency care, then he is not supporting of his employer's mission. I think this guy is definitely in the wrong profession. I hope to never encounter such a judgmental doc myself, whether or not I'm on Medicaid. Asshole.

Cosmo

This was a 'Letter To The Editors'... not a letter to the President:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/starner.asp
...
And my opinion on this?
This is the PERFECT EXAMPLE WHY IT MUST BE MANDATORY FOR ALL CITIZEN TO PAY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE.
If eveyone was forced to pay... there would not be these types of incidents.