Dr. Davis Dishes Dirt on Dirty Doctors

[Nancy LC]

Oh my! I wish he'd write a book about this, it'd be scandalous!
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/cardiology-confidential.html

Snippet
For the most part, my cardiology colleagues are a hard-working bunch committed to . . . Uh oh. I was going to say "Saving lives, preserving health." But that's not true. Once upon a time, it was true for many of my colleagues, often revealed over $2-a-pitcher beer-softened, "we're going to save people" conversations in medical school. Ahhh, medical school. I remember walking along the street alongside my medical school in St. Louis, bursting with pride and a sense of purpose.

But, for many of us, something sours our purpose through the years. Maybe it's the smell of money, maybe it's the series of distasteful experiences that show that healthcare providers are, in the midst of health crises, the innocent recipients of anger, frustration, disappointment.

Whatever the genesis, the stage is set for an imperfect scenario that pits healthcare provider against patient in a less-than-perfect system.

This would read as a mindless rant if it wasn't based on such pervasive and pravalent truths, tales of the flawed deliverers of healthcare driven by motives less lofty than "saving people."

Take Dr. S, a doctor who performs a large number of procedures on patients. I'm told he is very capable. He manages an extraordinary amount of heart work--in between jail time for wife beating and Medicare fraud.

Or Dr. C, well-known in the region for his procedural talents, also. Usually acerbic and freely-swearing, he opens up engagingly when drinking--which is most of the time. Paradoxically, as is true for some serious drinkers, he works more effectively while intoxicated.

Or Dr. ST, who proudly admitted to me one evening over dinner that he has accepted 6-figure payments from medical device companies on a number of occasions to use their products.

Or the manic ups and downs of Dr. J, who refers just about every patient he sees for emergency bypass surgery when in his down phase, mangles coronary arteries in daring angioplasties during his up phase.

How about 310-lb Dr. P, who hounds her patients about indulgent lifestyles? That would be excusable as innocent lack of self-insight if it weren't for her propensity to use heart procedures on patients as punishment. "I have no choice but to take you to the hospital."

Dr. M. manages to maintain the appearance of straight-and-narrow during the day, all the way to attending church twice a week with his children. His daytime persona effectively covers up his frequent visits to prostitutes.

[rightnow]

Oy! It's only missing an hourglass and daytime TV.

[lowcarbUgh]

I'm never going to able to see a cardiologist after reading this. :lol:

Again, love your titles!

[Wifezilla]

Yet they cover for and protect each other.

[KvonM]

and people wonder why the last time i went to a doctor was 6 years ago for bacterial pneumonia.

[Wifezilla]

Got you beat....over 10 years and only because I fractured my elbow :p

[KvonM]

heh... it would have been 12 years, except for the lizards :).

[LessLiz]

Why isn't THIS doctor reporting the conduct of the doctors he cites as incompetent to the state medical board?

Sorry, but I never thought doctors are saints, or that all of them are competent, or that a doctor who is great at what he does is a fabulous human being.

He cites 6 cardiologist -- giving his version, most of which sounds like the rankest gossip -- an impugns all cardiologists with his opening line. If I need a cardiologist or other doctor I don't care what sort of person he is, whether he visits prostitutes, is gay or straight, takes money from medical device companies or wears a halo -- the only thing I care about is how good he is. Period.

[Nancy LC]

Being a cardiologist himself he's probably in a pretty good place to evaluate the ethics and actions of his peers. He is highly critical of what he sees as greedy behavior that they indulge in by pushing everyone into surgery, he blames that on the hospitals as well. But it is big money for both hospitals and cardiologists.

Frankly, I appreciate an insider giving criticism of his peers. Otherwise we'd be completely ignorant of some of the forces of evil at work in medicine (to state it very dramatically). And what real options do we have for evaluating who is good or bad? My parents decided that based on how nice their doctor was.

[KvonM]

If I need a cardiologist or other doctor I don't care what sort of person he is, whether he visits prostitutes, is gay or straight, takes money from medical device companies or wears a halo -- the only thing I care about is how good he is. Period.
you had me up until "takes money from medical device companies." if i'm going to see a doctor, i want them to give me the best way to fix my problems, not prescribe the device that gives them the most kickbacks.

what scared me about those dirt-dishes was the intoxication, the medicare fraud, and the surgery bungling due to manic mood swings. i agree that the church-attending prostitute visitor is irrelevant since that's a behavior in his personal life that has absolutely no bearing on his professional abilities. i don't want someone insinuating that i can't do my job effectively just because i like to dance with glowsticks and wear big stomper boots on the weekend.

[Wifezilla]

I have a friend that had 5 unsuccessful back surgeries. Turns out that 2 of his doctor were pill poppers and another was a drunk.

So..yeah...maybe you should care.

[shortstuff]

I think we need to remember that doctors are only human and just as fallible as we are. No, I don't work in the medical field; I work in the legal field.

[Wifezilla]

If I screw up in my job as a graphic designer, nobody dies.

[LessLiz]

Taking money from a medical device company doesn't mean that the device is poor -- it could even be great.

And the issue with 5 unsuccessful back surgeries may well be the perfect example of bad doctors. The point is not whether they pop pills, are drunks, or are just plain stupid -- the point is they are bad at what they do.

It took one doctor seriously screwing up my health for me to become very aware of the dangers of bad doctors, and get very picky about them.

[feelskinny]

So what can one do when suddenly thrust into the care of a specialist, ask for a list of references?!

[KvonM]

Taking money from a medical device company doesn't mean that the device is poor -- it could even be great.
that actually wasn't what i meant... the device may indeed be the greatest thing to hit the market. but the doctor may be insisting on implantation (and all the expensive surgery that may or may not go along with it) in cases where it's not warranted or necessary.

15 years ago i had ACL reconstruction. the damage to my knee was such that i was well beyond the threshhold for being a candidate for it. but what if my orthopedist was getting a percentage of all the ACME-brand replacement knee joints he implanted? it may be perfectly safe and be the latest cutting-edge technology in joint replacement, but it doesn't change the fact that i didn't need a whole new knee joint, i just needed the ACL reconstructed. and instead of $15,000 and 3 days in the hospital, it's now $150,000 and 2 weeks in the hospital.

So what can one do when suddenly thrust into the care of a specialist, ask for a list of references?!
actually, yeah. only problem is i'm leary of those too. who's to say that the reference the doc has given you isn't his brother's wife's cousin who's been told what to say when someone calls?

[ReginaW]

So what can one do when suddenly thrust into the care of a specialist, ask for a list of references?!

that's one option....you can also contact the state medical board to ask about complaints, investigate the doctor's education (where, when, etc.), find out if s/he is boarded and if yes, through which organizations and what they require to maintain board certification, you can ask around town the people you know if they know of his/her quality......and one huge source of info, especially surgeon skills - find someone who is a scrub nurse (ask around if you don't know one) and they'll tell you who has "good hands" and who to totally AVOID like the plague!

[rightnow]

What I see in Dr. Davis is something I've observed in myself and others over time -- burn out and disillusionment, followed by some degree of anger. When you really believe in something, and gradually discover profound hypocrisy and often a field full of people who have totally sold out, and at best are not real helpful, at worst are far more harm than help, it can wear on you until you just "can't be nice" about it anymore. You just can't NOT say anything anymore. You can't play into the BS conditions that have allowed such travesty to come about and continue, which saying nothing would do. So it just leaks out all over the place, your disgust about it. Sometimes a little much, sometimes onlookers think "Gee, that person has some kind of axe to grind it seems." But there are occasions when there's a real good reason for that, and the emotional side effects are usually seen the most in the people who care the most. I didn't really think the prostitute ref was any of his business (though I believe his point was the religion/family fake there, more than the sex), but I think I understand why he's gotten to where he has with many topics related to medicine and its practitioners, so I let the occasional things like that slide.

[teaser]

Yeah, I don't know who Dr Davis thought he'd be helping with that. I usually love his blog, never seen him this cranky before. Eades and Colpo, Dr Briffa scrapping it out with nutritionists in his comments, and now this... I guess you need a little bit of an edge to go against the common wisdom of your profession.