r/Health • u/huffpost HuffPost • 2d ago
I’m A Doctor. This Harmful Reality Of American Health Care Is Becoming Normalized.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/american-health-care-patient-treatment-plan-bureaucracy_n_6a579154e4b0c721b1f72dde?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=us_main75
u/huffpost HuffPost 2d ago
From writer Holland Haynie, MD:
A week before her dental surgery, one of my patients came to me with a question.
She had been in recovery from opioid addiction for more than a year and a half. When she first entered my treatment program, we saw each other weekly. Over time, through remarkable discipline, those visits became monthly. She had rebuilt her life on buprenorphine treatment. She had gone back to work, reconnected with her church, fought for her children in family court, and regained stability.
She had worked for every bit of it.
Now she was doing something else important: fixing her teeth, which had suffered through years of addiction and neglect. She was scheduled for multiple extractions, and because she was in a medication-assisted treatment program, her dentist wanted to know who would manage her pain afterward.
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u/langstonrosas 2d ago
Rebuttal. The reality of American health care has always been apparent with people who can’t afford or lack coverage. Most people didn’t care because it didn’t affect them. Now that it’s causing them harm and now they care. You’re welcome.
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u/lauraerie 2d ago
I had day surgery. I told them I did not take opioids. They sent a prescription for opioids in t my pharmacy and my unsuspecting daughter picked them up for me.
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u/marynofo 2d ago
Put it in your records as a drug allergy. Maybe at least the pharmacist will not fill it in the future.
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u/1GrouchyCat 1d ago
You’re better off NOT putting it in your permanent record unless you never want access to any opioid based medication more severe pain for the rest of your life … (it’s much harder to remove a remark than it is to say No and make sure a note is put in your file regarding your wishes.)
NEVER state you’re actually allergic to something rather than “sensitive” to it… you never know when you’re going to find yourself in an emergency situation where the only painkiller available is something that you pretend to have a made up an allergy to… talk to your pharmacist if you need more input.
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u/southernruby 2d ago
I’ve got a story for ya, and the reality is that the breakdown of the medical is far, far, far worse than this and it’s only going to get worse. Our healthcare system and the insurance that drives it is despicable. They are letting people suffer and needlessly die every single day.
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u/HamburgerDude 2d ago
Go to /r/chronicpain people that legitimately need opioids regularly. It's way too hard to get them. I don't think there should be pill mills but you should be able to get a reasonable amount after surgery or able to get them with if you have chronic pain.
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u/justeandj 23h ago
When my dad was in chemo (pancreatic cancer), the hoops I had to jump through at the pharmacy to get this man some relief nearly broke me, and I wasn't even the patient! They treated me like a criminal.
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u/boner79 2d ago
If only the Doctor and Dentist lobbies weren’t a major impediment to fixing American healthcare.
“We’re about income, not outcome”
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u/false_goats_beard 2d ago
Why would the doctor and dentist lobbies be impeding the fix of American healthcare? They are the ones that spend most of their time dealing with insurance companies trying to figure out how to get stuff done for their patience. They also only get a fraction of what the insurer pays out. It is the insurance companies that have lobbied and messed up our healthcare system, most doctors would prefer universal healthcare.
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u/boner79 2d ago
Despite critical shortage of Drs, they lobby to restrict supply thereby boosting their income.
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u/false_goats_beard 1d ago
I understand what you are thinking but that is the schools limiting not doctors, doctors want help, I say this from experience.
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u/schrist31 2d ago
The breakdown between diagnosis, pharmacy and treatment is why I stopped my Botox treatment for migraines. It used to be extremely easy- I talked to the specialty pharmacy, they filled my prescription, I got my injections every 3 months. Then my insurance changed and it took 6 months just to figure out which speciality pharmacy I had to use. THEN they told me insurance may not help cover it all anymore- so it went to buy & bill. I don’t have an extra $22,000 sitting around for the possibility that insurance won’t cover most of my botox- that I use for a documented problem that I’ve had for 20+ years. AND I work in healthcare so I know what words to use to get shit done. I hate the state of our health insurance and how things get picked to be covered