Skip to main content

Is the Medical Profession a 'Special Interest'?

Image
By
Don’t expect this humble blogger to explain Donald Trump’s broad and sustained GOP support, if our most seasoned political pundits are flummoxed.   Why is this man with no prior political or governmental experience trumping all of his competitors?

Is he ahead because he is right on, or is he leading because the competitors are way off?

Like most folks, the conventional politicians are by and large an uninspiring lot who offer scripted screeds that are canned and calculated.  Indeed, most political junkees like me can almost orate their stump speeches, since they vary little from speech to speech.

Trump Appears to have no 'Special Interests'

The conventional candidates often rail against ‘special interests’, a pejorative term that conjures up an evil group that is possessed by greed that tramples over the public good to serve themselves.  I challenge you to identify a candidate who has not spewed vitriol against these nefarious ‘special interests’.   When they do so, the audience reliably responds with loud applause.

Of course, this is pure political pandering.  Here’s why.  Special interests are not a dark and ominous cloud hovering over us ready to thrust a bolt of lightning impaling us.  We all are ‘special interests’. Every one of us either belongs to or supports one of them.  
  • My beloved first grade teacher Mrs. White belonged to a teacher’s union.  Is she a ‘special interest’?
  • Is the letter carrier who delivers mail to my house a ‘special interest’?
  • My accountant prepares my taxes.  I pay him for this service.   Does he have a ‘special interest’ to resist tax reform?
  • Are NRA members and gun control advocates ‘special interests’ who are trying to further their agendas?
  • Is Emily’s List a ‘special interest’?
  • Is the Sierra Club a ‘special interest’?
  • Are trial attorneys who donate millions of dollars to politicians to pursue good government or are they a ‘special interest’?
  • Aren’t corporations allowed to advocate for their ‘special interests’ like the rest of us?
If you carve out all of the 'special interests', who's left?

When politicians speak of 'special interests', they never identify them specifically.  If they were to name them, they would alienate many voters who support them.  Politicians want voters to believe that the special interests being targeted are other voters’ interests, not theirs.

Is the medical profession a special interest?  You’d better believe it.  We are gluttons feeding at the ‘special interest’ trough.  Physicians, pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, hospital administrators, medical device companies, nursing home owners, home care companies and medical insurance companies all have their own interests which may collide against the public interest.  For example, there may be many reasons why a particular artificial hip is used in a hospital.  Why are only certain heartburn medicines available on hospital formularies?  Similar questions can be asked of every medical specialty or hospital.  Get my point?

Who’s looking out for the patients?  What ‘special interest’ is advocating for them?


Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 1, 2016 at 2:57 AM

    The relevant definition of "special interest" seems to be known by everyone but you: it is when a group has undue influence, and their large gain is harming society generally.

    Who's looking out for patients? Well, with the corrupt, greedy medical system we have, it sure isn't those profiting from the special interest that is our medical system!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Most Doctors Choose Employment

By
Increasingly, physicians today are employed and most of them willingly so.  The advantages of this employment model, which I will highlight below, appeal to the current and emerging generations of physicians and medical professionals.  In addition, the alternatives to direct employment are scarce, although they do exist.  Private practice gastroenterology practices in Cleveland, for example, are increasingly rare sightings.  Another practice model is gaining ground rapidly on the medical landscape.   Private equity (PE) firms have   been purchasing medical practices who are in need of capital and management oversight.   PE can provide services efficiently as they may be serving multiple practices and have economies of scale.   While these physicians technically have authority over all medical decisions, the PE partners can exert behavioral influences on physicians which can be ethically problematic. For example, if the PE folks reduce non-medical overhead, this may very directly affe
44 comments
Read more

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

By
Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier.  There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform.  Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele.  It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance.  For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings?  If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits?  The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform.   Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat.   The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families.   Indeed, even today
36 comments
Read more

Electronic Medical Records vs Physicians: Not a Fair Fight!

By
Each work day, I enter the chamber of horrors also known as the electronic medical record (EMR).  I’ve endured several versions of this torture over the years, monstrosities that were designed more to appeal to the needs of billers and coders than physicians. Make sense? I will admit that my current EMR, called Epic, is more physician-friendly than prior competitors, but it remains a formidable adversary.  And it’s not a fair fight.  You might be a great chess player, but odds are that you will not vanquish a computer adversary armed with artificial intelligence. I have a competitive advantage over many other physician contestants in the battle of Man vs Machine.   I can type well and can do so while maintaining eye contact with the patient.   You must think I am a magician or a savant.   While this may be true, the birth of my advanced digital skills started decades ago.   (As an aside, digital competence is essential for gastroenterologists.) During college, I worked as a secretary
6 comments
Read more