Check out this video. The accompanying article mistakenly says that “market forces” are to blame for this fiasco. At the end of the video the fool reporter quotes some government regulator that suggests that more regulation is needed to prevent this from happening in the future. If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know exactly why this happened. Different “not-for-profit” hospital groups fed on this man’s unfortunate condition like hyenas. This has nothing to do with the free market. These are mercenaries and shakedown artists continuing to get rich “not making a profit.”
This is a great lesson for patients, too. If you ever hear a surgeon or physician say that “..I am the only one in this part of the country that can manage your condition…” or something like that, RUN…the other way. Narcissistic predators are in all professions, medicine being no exception. Oh. And this whole episode was kicked off due to the use of webcam medicine. I guess there are several lessons here. My apologies for the title…I couldn’t resist.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
