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Medicine and the Consumer Revolution
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17069 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1990 |
5,323 Words |
| Author
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Charles B. Inlander
Charles B. Inlander is president of the People's Medical
Society and faculty lecturer at Yale University's school of
Medicine. Among his numerous publications are Medicine On
Trial (Prentice-Hall, 1988) and Medicare Made Easy (Addison-
Wesley, 1989). |
Today, the most prestigious medical journals are reporting alarming numbers of unnecessary surgeries and inappropriate treatments, and a significant amount of misuse and failure of medical technology.
While there has been little apparent change in medical policing, there has been a dramatic change in the public's perception of physicians and medicine. A new wave of medical consumerism is beginning to sweep through America. Consumers are seeking, in some instances demanding, more information and accountability from their practitioners.
To many within the medical professions, the change in patient attitudes - and the decline in patient admiration and respect for medical practitioners - is seen as a threat. The same medical journals that report the achievements and failures of medicine are also filled with letters and editorials, authored by physicians, bemoaning what they perceive as the negative change in the public's attitude toward them as caregivers. It is not unusual to read statements like "I have advised my son not to enter medicine," or "Given the negative feelings consumers have about doctors, I no longer find the profession rewarding."
Clearly, there is a growing rift between the patient and physician. On the one hand, physicians are more technically sophisticated, better educated, and able to perform procedures and treatments not even dreamed of a few short years ago. Doctors and their professional trade associations proclaim American medicine as the "best in the world.” They point to new specialists, longer life span, smaller weight baby survival, and a myriad of other accomplishments as evidence for their claim.
On the other hand, consumers see a different picture. They see a system out of control. Medical inflation is more than double non-medical inflation. According to most polls, consumers and businesses believe health insurance rates have risen far beyond any corresponding increase in medical service or quality. From the volume of mail received by consumer health organizations, it is apparent the American consumer believes he is receiving less benefit for his medical dollar.
The traditional image of the doctor painted by Norman Rockwell or portrayed by Robert Young is certainly now a relic of the past. Few encounters with the medical system leave the patient with a feeling of warmth, compassion, or satisfaction. In fact, a great many consumers leave feeling bitter, betrayed, and broke - victims of uncaring, greedy,
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