nimbleskipper13 said:Just one more thing to consider: why on earth does it take so long to get specialist appointments or procedures at our hospitals, and who is actually pulling the strings behind this mess? Is it a system that tells patients they have a right to everything they want immediately, while simultaneously slapping limits on how many doctors a hospital can hire or how many services they can provide per day, week, or month—basically because Medicare refuses to pay for anything beyond a certain quota—or is it just lazy doctors and nurses who spend more time grabbing coffee than seeing patients? 🙂
Kudos to nimbleskipper13 for bringing this up. 👍 I suspect a primary reason people direct their fury toward physicians is the sheer misconception that these delays happen simply because the doctors and nurses are being lazy.
A few months back, over at the Ophthalmology department in San Diego, there were massive notices posted everywhere explaining that eye surgeries were being moved or postponed because Medicare had essentially cut off the funding for that specific facility.
I’ve been noticing that you seem to have had the incredible stroke of luck where you've only ever crossed paths with polite medical staff 🙂
unless, of course, you actually work in the industry or have some kind of connection that earns you a different level of treatment 😉
No, I don't work in the field, and I certainly haven't been lucky enough to encounter nothing but kindness from staff; if anything, I'm just trying my best to make sense of everyone's behavior.
People generally tend to be quite polite toward nurses, at least when they first walk through the door.
They understand that their experience largely depends on how that nurse handles things.
Well, I wouldn't say that's always the case; I was actually at a hospital near downtown Chicago recently where I watched everyone just lose it on a nurse. She calmly explained the situation to the first five people who were shouting at her, but after that, she just completely lost her patience and snapped back. Then, some patients decided they weren't going to budge until they spoke to the hospital director and threatened to call the local news stations. I managed to push my way through the crowd 😁 so I didn't see how the whole thing wrapped up.
They should probably take a walk through the halls of a major trauma center or spend an afternoon observing the staff in an ICU or a psychiatric ward before making such claims.
I have nothing but respect for the nursing profession, but these front-desk types can be incredibly arrogant, rude, and just plain unpleasant. I’m not one for sweeping generalizations, but the number of decent people in those roles is so small it becomes impossible to ignore.
My take is that their stress stems from being on the front lines with patients; they’re constantly forced to explain decisions made by doctors or administrators, which inevitably triggers patient frustration, leading them to lash out at the staff. Physically speaking, of course, their workload doesn't even begin to compare to what their colleagues are doing deep within the hospital wards.
It’s not quite that, I’m not saying they are, I’m just suggesting they’ve had to endure enough nonsense themselves to justify becoming a bit abrasive. Honestly, the worst part is having to navigate that gauntlet of nurses just to get a moment with the doctors, who are usually the ones actually being decent and polite. I actually called the local vineyard clinic specifically to track down a lab report, and the nurse there predictably snapped at me 🙄 but she eventually handed the phone over to the doctor, who was incredibly helpful. She tracked down my results, walked me through everything over the phone, and then made a copy to mail out to me. See, the thing is, they had already sent the report to my primary physician, but those nurses were insisting it never arrived. But 😁 it wasn't lost; they just didn't feel like doing the legwork to find it.
It isn't easy for those nurses either. They’re essentially on the front lines dealing with patients 😉 and they frequently have to enforce decisions they didn't make and likely don't agree with, yet they're the ones who have to deliver the news and absorb all the hostility and anger. Take the endocrinology department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, for example; they won't see anyone who isn't already an established patient, even though their lab is the only one in Chicago capable of running certain specific tests. That was the director's call. When I was there last year for some testing, I witnessed at least a dozen instances where nurses had to turn people away. Naturally, people start yelling at the staff and picking fights. And let's be honest, not everyone is as polite and civil as we are here 😁; you deal with real aggressors, much like the patient mentioned in nimbleskipper13's post. I suspect those nurses develop a defensive shell behind the counters, which explains why they can come across as cold—much like many government clerks or hospital receptionists in general. If they seem unfriendly, well, they are 😁. Generally speaking, the intake desks and outpatient clinics are the most unpleasant parts of any medical facility.
rustymoose54 said:Good grief, I wasn't exactly keeping track; I just took what you said as gospel.
I had no idea you were going to go back and edit your post without even mentioning it.
It doesn't really matter; the guy is just arrogant and incredibly rude.
Whenever I find myself spiraling into a state of irritation, my immediate reflex is to reach for a bar of chocolate. It’s a predictable pattern, really—a quiet, solitary ritual where I attempt to soothe a frayed nervous system with sugar and cocoa. There isn't much deep philosophy behind it; it's just a blunt way to manage the friction of daily life.
Good grief, what exactly am I supposed to write when I’m editing a post? I just put "PARDON," but apparently, that isn't cutting it. It looks like I'll have to actually sit down and pore over the forum rules to figure out how this works. 😛
The tip is nothing more than raw material. 😁 It’s common knowledge at this point. Personally, whenever I find myself getting worked up, I just start chanting "ommm" to stay level.
rustymoose54 said:Well, look, since we’re splitting hairs here: two out of five isn't exactly a majority, is it? I’m strictly talking about this specific thread; I haven't bothered looking at or reading any other reactions.
And just because he’s a physician doesn't give him a free pass to hide behind the whole "Doctor" title as some sort of shield.
Two out of FOUR, haha. 😁 Still not a majority, but at least it's fifty percent.
Nothing justifies a reaction like that, though I suspect it was more of a momentary lapse in composure than actual arrogance. He told the patient she should address him as "Doctor" rather than calling him "buddy," so one could argue he felt insulted by her tone—it wasn't particularly polite of her to be so casual, even if she was clearly just joking around. That said, I’m not trying to defend Petar Jukić; his behavior was primitive and completely unacceptable.
Megan Morales5 said:It was a double blunder on my part; I didn't read it correctly, nor did I actually quote anyone, which would have at least mitigated the first mistake. I think it's best if I step back now before I embarrass myself any further.😳
rustymoose54 seems to think my failure to quote was the issue, but honestly, I find the whole process of quoting far too tedious to bother with.😁 Besides, I wasn't aiming to respond to one specific post, but rather to provide a general overview of how people are reacting to this situation—after all, this isn't the only corner of the internet where I've been tracking the fallout from this article.
rustymoose54 said:I went ahead and edited my previous post because I didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea—I wasn't actually claiming he lacks expertise.
On another note, it’s honestly pathetic that this idiot believes he lives in a country where a specific degree grants him the right to be condescending toward his own patients.
And judging by that "Yes, ma'am, doctor" comment 🤣 , it’s pretty clear that’s exactly how he views himself.
Give me a break. 😁 The man is just high-strung and crude; he wasn't being arrogant, he was having a genuine nervous breakdown. I truly believe the stress and the sheer workload are causing him to unravel, and when an irritable person hits their limit, they react exactly like that. I see people snapping like this at my job almost every single day.
If you ask me, the only real takeaway from this news story is that Dr. P. J. is simply an unpleasant individual; his medical skills aren't the issue, as he remains a top-tier expert in his field.
No, I’m not counting your post. In the opening thread, the author was actually questioning why doctors seem to carry themselves as if they were divinely inspired, and boldeagle3 seems to think this kind of ego is just a standard flaw among American doctors.
I honestly can’t wrap my head around why we’re back to debating the entire medical profession again. We have one specific doctor, mentioned here by name, who acted with nothing more than pure rudeness and a complete lack of class. I fail to see how his individual behavior serves as any kind of indictment of doctors as a whole or the sanctity of the medical field 😛 My former boss used to spend half his day swearing and shouting at everyone, yet I certainly wouldn't go so far as to claim that electrical engineers are a bunch of uneducated thugs 😉
It seems like doctors aren't actually striking against the system much anymore, considering they’re still seeing patients most of the time. During the last major walkout, I ran into an acquaintance of mine who works at a hospital, and when I asked if he was actually participating in the strike, he just gave me this deadpan response—he said they were basically just wearing their badges and playing pretend.
Larry Ortiz2 said:There was certainly medical malpractice and negligence involved in that situation.
I wouldn't go that far, though I have no interest in dragging this out any further. Honestly, I regret even weighing in on the matter; it was uncalled for of me.
Gary Jones10 said:I wasn't actually bringing up that specific case to talk about bribery, but rather to touch on medical negligence. If I recall correctly, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into the matter, though it only happened after the media started breathing down their necks and things got messy. I don't remember all the specifics, but I believe it involved a woman suffering a uterine rupture during childbirth that went unnoticed for several hours until she fell into a coma and, tragically, passed away.
Of course, there was no legal accountability found, just as there was none in my father's case, where a doctor conveniently "misplaced" a pathology report that clearly indicated cancer and told him he was perfectly fine. 🙄
Hmm, yeah, my mistake; I skimmed through your post a bit too quickly. I'm not entirely sure how that investigation concluded, but again—my point is that there was no actual liability established there, which obviously doesn't mean an investigation shouldn't happen in the first place.
Things are running as usual over at the Mayo Clinic, at least regarding the department I was asking about; so, if you have any upcoming appointments or tests scheduled, don't just go ahead and cancel them without thinking it through.
Gary Jones10 said:One of the most glaringly obvious examples is that case involving the mother who passed away at Holy Spirit. You wouldn't believe the sheer amount of bureaucratic hoops her family had to jump through just to get an investigation started. It’s exactly this kind of systemic exhaustion that discourages people, driving them toward the "path of least resistance"—whether that means bribes, kickbacks, or whatever else they call it...
A bribe wouldn't have done that mother any good at Holy Spirit. People generally die from the very things that a bribe can't fix. I don't know the specifics of what the family had to endure to trigger an inquiry, and my heart goes out to them, obviously. However, I really don't see medical malpractice being the issue here.
I don't quite grasp the logic behind these arguments regarding bribery either. It’s as if people assume that kickbacks and illicit gifts are just standard operating procedure, essentially treating them as a legitimate component of a physician's salary rather than corruption 😕 Just the other day, I was watching a segment on T. Ladišić's show on TV, and some guy actually argued that doctors shouldn't be striking since they're already making money through bribes. That is essentially telling doctors to just settle for their meager official salaries and keep taking under-the-table payments to stay quiet 😕
The whole argument about being on call doesn't make sense to me either. Anyone working shifts—whether it's afternoons or overnight—gets paid extra for that time. Even at my company, we have people working afternoon and night shifts who get their differentials, and their total take-home pay ends up being higher than mine.