Recent discoveries in genomics have opened up new worlds
of complexity in the study of the human body and made it even clearer than before
that each of us is unique. In spite of
this, medical institutions in this country persist in trying to standardize
treatment for all individuals in a particular category. Medicare, which pays for my drugs, would like
me to get off Premarin, which I’ve taken for more than thirty years and get on
Estradiol, a newer and less tested medication.
They would also like me to swap the Synthroid I take for hypothyroidism
for a generic. (I tried a generic once
before and it didn’t work the same.) If
a patient doesn’t follow orders when using a prescribed treatment, doctors call
it “non-compliance.” What should we call
it when institutions want to take patients off prescribed medications that they have used
successfully for years?
Monday, August 13, 2012
More Imponderables
Medical professionals generally would like people to take
better care of themselves, to take more responsibility for their own health. You can’t take responsibility unless you know
the facts of the situation, yet some doctors and hospitals continue to place
obstacles in the paths of patients seeking access to their own medical
information. I understand that privacy
concerns necessitate the signing of a waiver and I have no objection to showing
a picture ID, but even then my request is sometimes denied. When a patient has had blood work, the actual
numbers should be shown to him or her. Some
doctors provide interpretations of the tests rather the results themselves. I remember the letters I used to get from one
doctor, IN ALL CAPS, like a bulletin from the front lines. Sharing and discussing the facts encourages
cooperation between medical personnel and patients and may help to prevent
erroneous diagnoses and the unnecessary treatments that result from them.
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