Originally posted by: Balt
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: Balt
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Doesn't sound unreasonable at all to me. Think about all the cost associated with it. Someone has to pay for the thread that's holding your wound shut, the drugs that numbed your hand while they stitched you, the electricity to provide the light so they could see to stitch you, the staff that empties the container of sharps that contains the needle that injected the drugs into your hand, the office staff that processed your paperwork and the doctor that actually sewed you together. Not to mention the risk of lawsuit the doctor and medical facility face if you get an infection or suffer long term effects such as poor circulation due to a blood vessel that didn't heal or loss of feeling due to nerve damage or allergic reaction to the drugs they used to numb your hand.
There are a lot of different costs associated with putting coffee in a container and transporting it too, but they don't add up to $452/lb. Most of the things you described don't add up to much, just a couple of them.
to be fair, you have to realize that you are paying a specialist who you trust to be trained to the top of their game. This is not a coffee maker.
hell, half of the ATers will reasonably argue the validity behind the expenses of a good mechanic, someone who knows the ins and outs of your car. Someone who charges $100+ per hour, for their expertise, and that's perfectly fine with you.
cool.
...so...why is this unreasonable for a medical professional? Mechanic fucks up, "Whoops, sorry dude, looks like you're gonna need a new motor."
doctor fucks up, "Whoops, sorry bro! oh...btw, that finger is toast for the rest of your life now. kthxby."
really?
Well I was mostly just trying to point out that describing all of the mundane tasks involved isn't what makes the cost add up. There's really just one of two major things.
That being said, is a stitch job really that complicated? I certainly don't know how to do one, but it's not something that fully uses the skills of an MD either.
it isn't in itself very complicated--after training.
is [insert ridiculously jargoned programing/computer-fixing issue] that difficult?
no, not with proper training.
You have to spend a good bit o time practicing on pigs, or other animals, or other surfaces. you have to practice with real patients.
And yeah, I can understand and accept that you want people to be doing the absolute top job, for even this minor procedure, but try to understand that this was not always the case.
Would you be happy going to the doctor to have your finger stitched, coming out an hour or so later with a scraggly job, a finger that, for the rest of your life, has about 30% of its former motion? I'm gonna guess no. Thing is, this was once perfectly acceptable medical practice. We, as patients, accepted this was how things were. This was the state of medicine. And we were fine.
Thing is, medical practice has advanced, and we are much better. At the same time, however, this issue of liability has come onto the scene. necessary to some degree, but more than anything else, it has become a vice on health care, lack of tort regulation and corporate liability have driven costs of advanced procedures which we absolutely demand!
Of course...there is still less risk with more advanced procedures....yet liability has not scaled down to reflect that. wtf is going on? why do we accept that?
I know I'm not happy with being forced to pay way more than I should for the medical care that is available, when other countries aren't...
wth happened to the US? are you happy with it?