It’s not for professionals who are immodest.
Informative
article that made me reflect. There’s a coincidence too that follows. Kindly
consider going through till the end, even if you skip sentences…
A heartless profession? - The Times of India
Chidanand
Rajghatta, TOI, NY; 24/8/2014
It
is the Holy Grail for almost every Indian parent: that their son and or
daughter go to medical college, become doctors, and embark on a thriving career
that brings laurels - and sure, some lolly. It's no different with NRI/PIO
parents, in the US, UK, or elsewhere, which is why the nearly 100,000 Indian
American physicians in the US includes some 20,000 who are either born or have
grown up in America and graduated from US medical schools. Dr Sandeep Jauhar has been there, done that - and not liked it one
bit. And he's blown the whistle on his profession - or ripped it apart with a
scalpel. Medicine, as practiced in the United States, is sick - very, very,
sick.
In a devastating - and immensely self critical - book that is making waves in the US, the Indian-American physician, with specialization in cardiology, describes how the medical profession has become a pitiless, mercenary medical profession, money ripping vocation where doctors treat patients as revenue generators rather than human beings, keep patients in hospital longer than necessary to bill them more, order needless tests to generate profits, and cozy up with drug reps helping predatory pharmaceutical companies sell dangerous drugs. American doctors - and that includes Indian-Americans like himself -are suffering from a "collective malaise" of discontent, insecurity, and immoderation.
None of this is a great secret; discerning patients, activists, and even many physicians themselves have recognized this for a long time in the US. But its Dr Jauhar's astonishing candor in `Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician' that has shocked the medical fraternity and layman alike, shattering the image of the doctor as a do-gooder -and for Indians, that of the NRI physician as the epitome of nobility. No one comes out looking good in this tortured, self-lacerating book: not Jauhar himself, nor his brother (also a cardiologist), nor physician friends and mentors, and not the American system. This is the Ferguson moment in medicine - ugly but true.
In a devastating - and immensely self critical - book that is making waves in the US, the Indian-American physician, with specialization in cardiology, describes how the medical profession has become a pitiless, mercenary medical profession, money ripping vocation where doctors treat patients as revenue generators rather than human beings, keep patients in hospital longer than necessary to bill them more, order needless tests to generate profits, and cozy up with drug reps helping predatory pharmaceutical companies sell dangerous drugs. American doctors - and that includes Indian-Americans like himself -are suffering from a "collective malaise" of discontent, insecurity, and immoderation.
None of this is a great secret; discerning patients, activists, and even many physicians themselves have recognized this for a long time in the US. But its Dr Jauhar's astonishing candor in `Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician' that has shocked the medical fraternity and layman alike, shattering the image of the doctor as a do-gooder -and for Indians, that of the NRI physician as the epitome of nobility. No one comes out looking good in this tortured, self-lacerating book: not Jauhar himself, nor his brother (also a cardiologist), nor physician friends and mentors, and not the American system. This is the Ferguson moment in medicine - ugly but true.
Asked
in an interview on Thursday if he intended to stay on in the medical profession
at all, given the shock and horror his book is creating (the NYT reviewer said
this is the first book that's prompted her to write "Yuck!" in the
margin), Dr Jauhar said he owed it to his readers to give them the unvarnished,
unfiltered truth, without being irresponsible. "Probably the person who
comes in most for criticism is myself. When you are willing to be self-critical,
people will appreciate it," he told me gravely, after initial jokes about
his taking potshots at his own family, including his father, subsided. "I
am disillusioned with how medicine is practiced in this country but not
disillusioned with being a physician.” The hours are brutal, the money is
meager, and before long he becomes part of the venal system, treading dodgy
ethical terrain to keep his body, soul, and family together. He moonlights on
other jobs and shills for pharma companies as he observes compromises, cronyism,
and corruption flow like crud through the system. Doctors, hospital
administrators, the health insurance sector, and pharma industry collude and
conspire in sundry ways to rip-off patients - some who want to live forever
despite being at their careless best.
The dysfunction is not entirely due to doctors. Jauhar describes how external sources - the government, the insurance industry, and pharma companies - have all played a role. Doctors, particularly primary care physicians and internists, who previously spent 20-30 minutes with each patient, now hurry out after 10 minutes because they now have to see twice the number of patients to generate the same revenue. As a result, patients do not get the attention they deserve and are not diagnosed properly. Meanwhile, some specialist doctors get to trick the system (which is why everyone wants to specialize and there are fewer primary care doctors in the US), prescribing a multitude of tests and treatment -some to cover for malpractice liability, others to generate more revenue. Patients who came in complaining of even routine breathlessness are hustled into taking nuclear stress tests and bumped into cardiac procedures. That's because insurance companies don't pay doctors to spend time with patients trying to understand their problem. But they pay for CT scans and stress tests whether they're needed or not.
Elsewhere, hospital administrators are also constantly putting pressure on doctors to keep occupancy rates high enough to generate profits (somewhat like hotels). Jauhar cites the economist Julian Le Grand's idea of humans as knights, knaves, or pawns, to describe how the American system promotes knavery over knighthood. The chapter headings in his book says it all, going from "Learning Curve" and "Good Intentions" to "Denial" and "Deception," before he takes a "Diversion" and becomes "A Country Husband" - leaving New York City for suburbia and greater attention to his family and children, instead of running on the treadmill of practicing soulless medicine. It is an unfinished story, in part because Jauhar is still on the margins of the system, even though he is "an outlier" as a fellow Indian-American physician, gastroenterologist L Chandrashekhar describes him.
The book, he says, should serve as a warning to India, where some physicians are already on the hook put out by American companies, with paid trips to Las Vegas and Disneyland (under the cover of invitation to conferences) for hawking expensive and often unnecessary surgeries and treatments - from stents to hip and knee replacements.
But most of all, once you read this tormented, self-lacerating book, it's hard to see a doctor with the same respect. Doctors know it too. In a survey cited by Jauhar, 30 to 40% of US physicians today say they will not choose the same profession if they had a choice; and even more would not encourage their children to. The medical profession, it appears, is terminally ill, in the United States at least.
The dysfunction is not entirely due to doctors. Jauhar describes how external sources - the government, the insurance industry, and pharma companies - have all played a role. Doctors, particularly primary care physicians and internists, who previously spent 20-30 minutes with each patient, now hurry out after 10 minutes because they now have to see twice the number of patients to generate the same revenue. As a result, patients do not get the attention they deserve and are not diagnosed properly. Meanwhile, some specialist doctors get to trick the system (which is why everyone wants to specialize and there are fewer primary care doctors in the US), prescribing a multitude of tests and treatment -some to cover for malpractice liability, others to generate more revenue. Patients who came in complaining of even routine breathlessness are hustled into taking nuclear stress tests and bumped into cardiac procedures. That's because insurance companies don't pay doctors to spend time with patients trying to understand their problem. But they pay for CT scans and stress tests whether they're needed or not.
Elsewhere, hospital administrators are also constantly putting pressure on doctors to keep occupancy rates high enough to generate profits (somewhat like hotels). Jauhar cites the economist Julian Le Grand's idea of humans as knights, knaves, or pawns, to describe how the American system promotes knavery over knighthood. The chapter headings in his book says it all, going from "Learning Curve" and "Good Intentions" to "Denial" and "Deception," before he takes a "Diversion" and becomes "A Country Husband" - leaving New York City for suburbia and greater attention to his family and children, instead of running on the treadmill of practicing soulless medicine. It is an unfinished story, in part because Jauhar is still on the margins of the system, even though he is "an outlier" as a fellow Indian-American physician, gastroenterologist L Chandrashekhar describes him.
The book, he says, should serve as a warning to India, where some physicians are already on the hook put out by American companies, with paid trips to Las Vegas and Disneyland (under the cover of invitation to conferences) for hawking expensive and often unnecessary surgeries and treatments - from stents to hip and knee replacements.
But most of all, once you read this tormented, self-lacerating book, it's hard to see a doctor with the same respect. Doctors know it too. In a survey cited by Jauhar, 30 to 40% of US physicians today say they will not choose the same profession if they had a choice; and even more would not encourage their children to. The medical profession, it appears, is terminally ill, in the United States at least.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/deep-focus/A-heartless-profession/articleshow/40839153.cms
As though to wake me, the
following ‘Internal communication’ amongst doctors that alerts colleagues is in
circulation.
Dear doctors
Beware of medical representatives especially unknown as in Delhi 250 doctors were secretly recorded by pen cameras by a pharma company and then doctors were blackmailed. As it is against law to accept gifts so beware of unknown MR. Also don't do any loose talk or loose comments on drugs gifts demands commission or jokingly saying about what you had got from other company or holiday or sponsored tours. You may be recorded by tiny cameras n then may be used as evidence in complaint in MCI or IMA. Take care.
This made me realize, that
India is not too far behind!
I am reminded of a real event:
While
returning home, Dr K picks up some bread and cookies from a bakery. Mrs K is
amazed to see her husband unusually carrying the bag containing bakery
products. She instantaneously asks Dr K, ‘Medical Representatives have started
even giving these bakery products!?’ Ah! Ah!
Majority of the doctor
professionals would vociferously defend stating that each pillar of the
society, leave alone Politicians, the Judiciary, Executive, Media, educational
institutes etc. have got diluted with unethical practices. Then why, single out
Medical Profession. So be it, however, this is just to communicate that I can
relate to the book and the views contained within it, though a shade different…
Dr. Sharad M. Tanga
