tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post3267619162617233383..comments2024-03-18T09:00:31.992-04:00Comments on Doctor Grumpy in the House: Catch-22Grumpy, M.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09858110332436246760noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-74115671054408293512011-06-10T23:31:26.416-04:002011-06-10T23:31:26.416-04:00Sounds like what happened to a relative of mine - ...Sounds like what happened to a relative of mine - he collapsed one night, came around, collapsed again. Three incidents of losing consciousness all together, in about 30 minutes, along with trembling that looked frighteningly like seizures. He was taken to the ER, admitted, and they ran tests to make sure he hadn't had a stroke or something else serious, and finally released him with a clean bill of health.<br /><br />So of course, the insurance refused to pay for anything because 'fainting' isn't something that requires hospital admission.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-42455082018780059582011-06-09T11:01:36.312-04:002011-06-09T11:01:36.312-04:00Dr. Heller... hehe... giggle...snort....I get it.....Dr. Heller... hehe... giggle...snort....I get it..staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08872800621811343464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-67389140395016704942011-06-08T15:33:49.938-04:002011-06-08T15:33:49.938-04:00My last post should have said "MS-like _sympt...My last post should have said "MS-like _symptoms_," not "MS."<br /><br />Unlike Packer, I actually have some education on MS.Haddayrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02538105167989517633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-39493937419702596952011-06-08T14:02:27.605-04:002011-06-08T14:02:27.605-04:00No Packer. 'The real question here' was wh...No Packer. 'The real question here' was whether or not the woman had something else that might cause MS--like the tumor she had, which would have left her paralyzed had they not discovered it quickly with an MRI. The correct way to defend the abysmal US health care system is not to say: who needs newfangled stuff, anyway? Back in the Middle Ages, we had leeches, and WE WERE HAPPY.Haddayrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02538105167989517633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-90748001604677458242011-06-06T11:48:43.378-04:002011-06-06T11:48:43.378-04:00I lived in Timmins, Ontario and worked in the hosp...I lived in Timmins, Ontario and worked in the hospital that houses the MRI (it really is a small world, isn't it). Priority was given to most serious cases. I never heard of someone who didn't get an MRI and was paralyzed, etc. If patient had progressive neurologic symptoms they would be given priority.catrowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09646982186635826475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-82506376216401782712011-06-04T22:38:54.068-04:002011-06-04T22:38:54.068-04:00Dr. Heller must think MRI's may possibly cause...Dr. Heller must think MRI's may possibly cause MS...Jakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-21341933320110697322011-06-04T12:20:31.678-04:002011-06-04T12:20:31.678-04:00I went to my bank a couple of years ago to get a h...I went to my bank a couple of years ago to get a home equity loan to replace my roof. My mortgage is paid off and the home is entirely in my name. I have no other debt, and have other assets that would pay off the loan easily many times over. I know, I'm a bad American.<br /><br />The bank turned me down. Why? Because they would only loan money on houses that were 100% intact. For the two weeks it took to replace the roof, the house would not be intact. They were willing to loan me the money after the roof was replaced. But they would charge me a base 7% with a 1/2% penalty because the loan was under $50,000.<br /><br />I paid cash for my new roof.Lorelei Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07639663436142251951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-35284697010603435832011-06-04T12:01:39.508-04:002011-06-04T12:01:39.508-04:00Another socialised health recipient speaking here ...Another socialised health recipient speaking here - this time from Australia. Over here, there are a lot of diagnostic tests which are covered by Medicare (which means you can get the cost of the test largely refunded) and if you have a health care card or pension card or senior's card, you can generally get them bulk-billed (which means you pay nothing out of pocket for the test). Either way, the decision about whether or not the test is justified is the call of the requesting physician, not of the health care bureaucracy. If a doctor is requesting a lot of expensive tests for just about anything, they may get Medicare asking why, but most of the time, our health care system is willing to accept that the doctors know what they're doing.<br /><br />Oh, and a little wrinkle of publicly funded health care systems like ours: there are private suppliers of health care services functioning right alongside the public suppliers. In fact, there's actually more private health care providers than there are public health care providers (particularly if you take the majority of general medical practices into account - most of these are privately run and administered, but they claim costs back from the public system). Private health insurance is readily available (and compared to the US version, dirt cheap - top level full hospital and ancillary cover costs under $100 per fortnight for most funds) and having full private health cover gets you a reduction on your Medicare levy as well. Private health insurance is useful for things like covering the costs of elective surgery (room costs, surgeon's fees etc) and for covering things like dental care and spectacle frames that Medicare doesn't cover. <br /><br />But the real difference between the US system and the Australian system is one I can point to as an unemployed Australian: I can afford to get sick. I can afford to see my GP for little things like a sore throat. I can afford to keep taking my medication on a regular basis (and I don't have to choose between meds and food). I can afford to have an accident and bust my ankle (provided I don't need an ambulance). If I wind up with my thyroid condition triggering a malignant growth, I can afford the surgery and chemotherapy for thyroid cancer, and it won't wipe me out for the next twenty years financially. What I can't afford, strangely enough, is a funeral. Even a pauper's funeral and cremation would be more than I could cover the costs of right now. What a pleasure to know I'm able to afford to live, instead.Meg Thorntonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17315024973849851898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-26777339256457241572011-06-04T07:21:54.745-04:002011-06-04T07:21:54.745-04:00Just want to add, that her Routine one probably wo...Just want to add, that her Routine one probably would have never been done , because the Insurance company would have said no way, unless they had a couple of grand to toss at the MRI center while here every patient who the doc thinks needs a MRI gets one.<br /><br />Kay<br />PS oh the person who the doctor doesn't think needs one and refuses to order one (or browbeats the doc into ordering one that is coded for the bottom of the pile) always has the option of going the private clinic route.Kayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05454417326718098922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-80268934317747379072011-06-04T07:12:48.766-04:002011-06-04T07:12:48.766-04:00Dual Citizen, There are lies, dammed lies and Sta...Dual Citizen, There are lies, dammed lies and Statistics...<br /><br />The wait time stats are average for all MRIs. I can't speak for Timmins, but locally, any requisition has a little set of boxes where a clinician is asked to select ACCORDING TO HIS MEDICAL Judgment, the degree of urgency, if any for the requisition. My friend just had one in Ottawa Ontario with a delay of 3 weeks for a "Routine" one to clarify a question on an x-ray, that was totally without symptoms and found during an x-ray for something else, but the Doc wanted to be sure it wasn't anything important. If it had been Urgent she would have had it the same day. However if the doc coded it has "this patient is a PITA who doesn't really need one" well they go at the bottom of the pile and get called in in 3 years for a MRI on Christmas day when the tech is there in case of emergencies but has nothing better to do. <br /><br />Also fumy but when I Access http://www.waittimes.net/SurgeryDI/EN/Priority.aspx?View=1&Type=0&LHIN=13&LHINIDString=&city=Timmins&pc=&dist=0&Modality=0&ModalityString=3&TrendModality=0&ModalityType=4&ModalityTypeString=23&TrendModalityType=4&hosptID=907&HospitalIDString=0&str=&Level=3&IsServiceExits=0&period=0<br /><br />For Timmins, the numbers are <br />Timmins and District Hospital<br /> <br />90% completed Wait Time (days)<br /> <br />Priority # of Average <br />Level Cases Wait<br />Priority 2 62 1 <br />Priority 3 49 7 <br />Priority 4 1198 71 <br /><br />Has we can see Priority 1 are handled immediately (Which is why they are not tracked on the wait tables), Priority 2 Average within a day (90% within 2 days) it's the priority 4 that slews your numbers. <br /><br />Hey Dr. Grumpy, how long does it take to get a MRI approved and scheduled and done for a possible MS patient? (My guess is that she is Priority 2 or 3)<br /><br />So DC I defiantly call you on your use of Stats.<br />KayKayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05454417326718098922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-11198960562070302962011-06-04T05:47:49.332-04:002011-06-04T05:47:49.332-04:00As another recipient of non-privatised medical car...As another recipient of non-privatised medical care, this time in the UK, I would also like to say we don't need to get approval for any procedure the doctor feels is necessary for the differential dx. I needed a CT, echocardiograph, carotid scan, MRI and EEG a couple of years ago. The first 3 were done on the same day (which meant I could be discharged), the MRI in less than 2 weeks (it was non-urgent) and the EEG (also non-urgent) within a month - the only delay was in writing the detailed report as there was little of note to be found.<br /><br />Yet in the press you hear the scare stories about months of waiting for an MRI and everything else - they are the exceptions rather than the rule and probably for the patient with a sore knee that doesn't respond to their non-compliance with treatment. And a presumptive dx of MS before sending the patient for that MRI to confirm it would never compromise their medical insurance costs in the UK - we pay a fixed proportion of our income for social benefits. Trouble is - it also benefits other people from outside the country. But you'll never be asked if you have the money to pay before getting the same treatment as everyone else. Maybe that's our problem...Eileennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-49548904572438626092011-06-04T00:29:33.837-04:002011-06-04T00:29:33.837-04:00It makes me sick that any business has authority o...It makes me sick that any business has authority over health care, diagnostics, and everything else that should be none of their damn business. So did she get her MRI?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-44177387209624785302011-06-03T23:11:56.984-04:002011-06-03T23:11:56.984-04:00Okay, so out of curiosity I looked up the wait tim...Okay, so out of curiosity I looked up the wait times for an MRI in the community I work in, the one I live in and the next one over from that: 107-89-41. The hospital where I work has the longest wait time. Of course the wait time is "the point at which 9 out of 10 patients have completed surgery or have had their exam" - it's not the average wait time.SarahRxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-42380645376328631822011-06-03T22:27:40.296-04:002011-06-03T22:27:40.296-04:00It's Grumpy versus the Death Panel.It's Grumpy versus the Death Panel.Jonhttp://www.northcoaststables.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-33361138851103086032011-06-03T19:40:24.655-04:002011-06-03T19:40:24.655-04:00Insurance company once told me I couldn't have...Insurance company once told me I couldn't have my wisdom teeth out because I already had them out. I asked, why would I want them out again, if I didn't have them. They said they didn't know, but that I had already had the surgery...I asked for the supervisor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-38642449126071755232011-06-03T18:22:45.508-04:002011-06-03T18:22:45.508-04:00As you do not know if she has MS without the MRI t...As you do not know if she has MS without the MRI then at this time she has and does not have MS at the same time. There for she can have the MRI because there is a probability that she has MS until the act of observation [the MRI] collapses the wave-function to one of the possible eigenstates.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-47639985204693113892011-06-03T18:14:07.086-04:002011-06-03T18:14:07.086-04:00Jeeze. PITA.Jeeze. PITA.ERPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15973334581468131595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-58322338326817194762011-06-03T17:19:33.678-04:002011-06-03T17:19:33.678-04:00As tempting as it might appear to some to just dia...As tempting as it might appear to some to just diagnose the patient with MS, if she doesn't in fact have it, now it's in her medical records and can become a nightmare for her down the road. If she gets dropped by her present insurance company or changes companies, it's one of things that can pop up later and be used to deny or severely impact her ability to get coverage.genahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02373351074743496781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-14683114893018396612011-06-03T17:15:41.847-04:002011-06-03T17:15:41.847-04:00Here's what I wonder: how much does employing ...Here's what I wonder: how much does employing Dr Heller and his company really SAVE?terri chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09398808840234914275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-63683517684601842152011-06-03T15:46:58.134-04:002011-06-03T15:46:58.134-04:00I see... I'm actually in northern Quebec. Thin...I see... I'm actually in northern Quebec. Things may be a bit different in our small community(but I have no clue by how much). My wife very recently had an MRI. There was a waiting period but quite brief, not even two weeks.<br />Not that it matters but I'm a clinical biochemist here and quite active in the hospital, scheduling, consults and everything and things don't appear as dramatic here as the numbers you presented for ONT. Just my 0.02 of course. As I stated before, things may be quite different in various cities, let alone provinces. We may be even luckier than we realize up here. It just depends on the angle at which you chose to look at the situation...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-42507905296318041502011-06-03T15:35:30.835-04:002011-06-03T15:35:30.835-04:00It's not a patriotic thing. As I said, I'm...It's not a patriotic thing. As I said, I'm a Canadian. <br /><br />May I ask if you've actually had an MRI? The Ontario government, for example, has a public database of waiting times for diagnostic and surgical procedures. I did a search for MRI wait times in Timmins, ON, which is relatively remote. Their MRI waiting time is *131 days*, which is slower than the speedy provincial average of *108 days*, and far slower than the desired 28 days. So yes, if your physician says you need an MRI, you get an MRI... in 3 or 4 months.<br /><br />Here's a link to the search I did if you'd like to see for yourself:<br /><br />http://www.waittimes.net/surgerydi/en/Data.aspx?LHIN=&city=Timmins&pc=&Modality=3&ModalityType=4&dist=25&str=&view=0&period=0&expand=0&Type=0&<br /><br />And here's a link to the search page. You can find the waiting time for emergency rooms, various surgical procedures, and diagnostic imaging:<br /><br />http://waittimes.hco-on.ca/Dual Citizen, M3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-64141489414729250792011-06-03T15:02:16.555-04:002011-06-03T15:02:16.555-04:00To dual citizen:
We could argue all day long about...To dual citizen:<br />We could argue all day long about this and who's best, whose father's stronger and whose mama's fatter/makes the best sauce...doesn't matter to me. <br />My point was solely that up here there's no need to fight with insurance cies. <br />Your experiences may vary depending on location within CA but I'm in a very remote community up north and if your physician says you need an MRI, you get an MRI.<br />I didn't mean to turn this into a political/partriotic thing at all my friend. But the "no fight with insurers" remains true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-29148848659773371712011-06-03T12:54:51.766-04:002011-06-03T12:54:51.766-04:00About Canada, to the first anonymous poster:
Spea...About Canada, to the first anonymous poster:<br /><br />Speaking as someone who's lived in both countries, I find it quite ironic that you chose to mention Canada's superior health care system in the context of ability to provide timely advanced imaging services, which is one area where the US healthcare system (such as it is) is vastly superior. <br /><br />And in fact, based on Dr Grumpy's 8:53 AM comment, this patient did end up having an MRI relatively quickly. In Canada, depending on the province and city, they might well not have been able to get the MRI before irreparable damage was done.Dual Citizen, M3noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-80733164172455523582011-06-03T12:20:40.292-04:002011-06-03T12:20:40.292-04:00Dr Heller: "Your're the neurologist.&quo...Dr Heller: "Your're the neurologist."<br /><br />Dr Grumpy (under his breath): "Yeah, and you're the orthopod."ndenunznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883634615775822475.post-55569354391152553882011-06-03T12:06:16.740-04:002011-06-03T12:06:16.740-04:00So, when it turned out that it wasn't MS but i...So, when it turned out that it wasn't MS but instead was a tumor, was the insurance company all pissed off? I mean, it wasn't even MS, and now they have to pay for surgery! Damned sick people, it's always one thing or another with those folks....Pollyhttp://marysisson.comnoreply@blogger.com