Posted on 09/01/2012 8:36:40 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
SHREWSBURY, Mass. — Ida Davidson is the first to admit her weight goes up and down, but the Shrewsbury resident said she was stunned when a new primary care physician said she could not become a patient because she weighed more than 200 pounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at wcvb.com ...
Some member of the Massachusetts bar is about to score a big payday.
She doesn’t have to treat whoever presents themselves unless it is an emergency.
The oh so sainted civil rights act should deal with this.
(I feel for the patient but the doc should have every right to refuse any patient he wishes in his private practice.)
Very interesting. If that is a picture of the doctor it doesn’t look like she has missed too many meals herself.
"Both patients and physicians should be able to exercise freedom in whom to enter into a patient-physician relationship ... physicians do not give up their freedom of association by merely becoming professionals."
NHS in England also likes to reject working with the overweight. I wonder if anyone remembers what the NHS and Massachusetts have in common. That’s right, socialized medicine.
Next, old people will be instructed to take an aspirin and go home to die. No one wants to waste any of their precious resources on them.
Thanks, Mitt. /s
Interesting.
That said, boys scouts, wedding halls, etc. should have that same right. Some refuse to host same sex marriages and they are penalized. From the article ... physicians do not give up their freedom of association by merely becoming professionals." But the Boys Scout, owners of establishments, owners who refuse to rent are expected to give up their's. This is the next nazi - fat is out - you are on your own. Next will it be 'you smoke or have smoked so you are on your own, I can't help you'?
Ocare in full action.....(yeah I know it is England but the truth is that is where our health care is headed if Ocare stands)
Honestly, although I in no way support the concept, the way medicine is going it makes no sense economically for a physician to have overweight patients, or other patients who have higher risk of hospitalization and requirement for advanced care. There has been lots of talk, and actual movement toward, paying primary care docs in accordance with how successful they are in keeping their patients out of the hospital and using resources. It’s much easier to do that if you have young healthy patients.
This is the way it works to some extent in the NHS, and the Canadian system, where a hospital or regional medical system gets x dollars/pounds each month or year, irrespective of what patients they wind up treating.
My vet refuses to personally treat large dogs. She lost an eye a couple of years ago when a dog she was treating attacked her.
Se says she loves them but fears them at this point and can’t effectively treat them. Her business partner treats the big ones for now. (with a muzzle)
I don't blame her; she's down to her last eye.
.
Her business partner treats the big ones for now. (with a muzzle)
The muzzle her business partner wears protects his face from the dogs?
This was the second visit to the previous
"Best Teaching Resident University Of Minnesota 1992"
I find it telling that the obese patient is choosing to change her doctor instead of her weight!
?????
"SHREWSBURY, Mass. —"
no they’re not. You don’t have to take whoever. Just like attorneys evaluate whether they can help a client or not too.
Ever heard of a declination.
I have a friend who was an EMT. Her response to a call involving an obese patient left her with a severe back injury. She has had to undergo several back surgeries and been bed-ridden many times. She had to give up a career she loved and will spend the rest of her life with chronic back pain.
I don’t blame the doctor one bit.
How tall is she. At 6 feet she would be a little overweight according to the BMI chart. At the 95th percentile height of 5 foot 9 she would not be clinically obese. At the 5th percentile height of 4 foot 11 she would be very round (BMI 40).
If a physician accepts a patient, they have taken on an obligation to treat and not abandon the patient. But since Lincoln freed the slaves, they cannot be forced to accept a patient. Zero may change that, but for now slavery is still against the law.
If the patients are mobile without assistance, I’m not sure how the doctor’s staff gets injured. Even helping the patient balance while she’s climbing onto the exam table could lead to injury, but in that case the patient could be examined in a chair or standing. I’ve seen dentist-style chairs used in dermatology offices, which would be an extra expense but allows the patient to be raised up and reclined.
If the the doctor sees HMO patients, she might be concerned about the capitation (set fee for each patient) and the higher potential costs in treating overweight patients.
I’m a nurse and an EMT, and I really don’t see a problem treating independently mobile obese patients in the doctor’s office. You’re not going to hurt yourself lifting a heavy arm to take a blood pressure.
Dr. Chunk certainly doesn’t look like she’s missed many meals either.
In Canada, some physicians treat only low complexity patients, the so-called ‘worried well’, because, they are easier to deal with and there is no significant difference in reimbursement between low and high complexity patients.
When these pay-for-performance schemes are tried, providers often engage in ‘cherry picking’ patients likely to have better outcomes. Even when bureaucrats counter by trying to give more consideration to more complex patients, the math usually works put in favor of numerous non-complex patients. Providers can also take advantage of overly rigorous patient compliance rules which can be implemented to exclude and discharge patients that fail to comply with treatment regimens. This makes the provider’s profile look better to reviewers.
The lady in blue and white is the patient. The doc is fairly thin looking, she shows up at about 30-45 sec. in.
That’s not the doc - that’s the patient.
Cacomorphobic
Fear of 2nd hand fat
Hatred for people of the Fat Race !
I understand this doctor. My mom was a emergency room nurse and she suffered with slipped disks and hernias from obese patients they had to lift coming into the ER.
depending on the insurers and the contracts, the doc may get a significant bonus for keeping medical costs down, by excluding the obese, she increases her chance of getting a big bonus.
I’m not saying that her behaviour is right but you tend to get more of the behaviour that is rewarded.
Funny doctors can choose, but a baker or Inn keeper can’t?
Welcome to the future. Wonder if the doctor asked her if she had any guns in her home?
The hospitals have the resources to accommodate overweight patients with wider operating room tables, wider wheel chairs and stronger beds and lifts.
A private primary care doctor probably can’t do that. They make very little money after they pay their malpractice insurance, rent and staff salaries and benefits. (Surgeons and radiologists may be another story.)
Plus three of her staff members have been hurt trying to move/assist her overweight patients. She’s probably making high worker compensation payments too.
The poor woman is still gaining weight even though it’s not healthy for her and she had agreed to try to control her weight. Nobody wins in this scenario.
Is Spag’s still next to Lizer?
It’s been a while since I have been to that area. I did see a few shows at the Centrum but that was late 80s.
How I miss Spag’s! I used to love to go there for their free tomato plants every year. I could never keep them alive and thriving but it was a nice annual tradition one the less. It’s been replaced with a Building 19. :-(
it would be better if restaurants refused to serve her
Britain-style socialized medicine comes to Massachusetts.
Soon to be in a community near you.
News at eleven.
sorry my bad..... brain went into stupid mode
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