Re: Dental malpractice (UK) - Some questions - mostly legal

From: Dr Steve (nospam_at_home.net)
Date: 10/07/04 

Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2004 17:08:56 GMT

Over here the problem with healthcare is that there is so much expensive
technology available. Even if the test is not needed, the patient and the
physician each demand the test. The patient because they want every bit of
information they can possibly get; and the physician because they are scared
to death of being sued if this patient was the one out a million who would
have had something show up positive on the test.

When every condition gets an MRI, a CAT scan, expensive blood-work, and
other tests despite the fact that the physician knew what the problem was
after the initial verbal description of symptoms, cost go out the roof.

There is no way an insurance scheme or a government funded plan can keep up
with this.

Dentistry suffers from some of these same ills. Many a time, I could have
spent 10 minutes or less with a patient and taken out a problem tooth, but
had to spend 30 minutes getting a detailed history of the tooth, the pain,
the previous treatment, radiographs, consent forms, etc.

Sure am glad we have so many lawyers/solicitors. 

-- 
~+--~+--~+--~+--~+--
Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S.
Troy, Michigan, USA
....................................................
This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes only.
Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on
the advice or opinion expressed here.  Only a dentist who has examined you
in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will affect
your health.
......................
"G Xpetros" <chpetros@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:c4f75ed3.0410062224.2f56cd03@posting.google.com...
> dentaldoc@hotmail.com (Bill Combs) wrote in message 
> news:<42da265d.0410061046.3b889e4c@posting.google.com>...
>> Thanks for sharing the reality of the situation. This should be
>> required reading for those who try to promote a government-controlled
>> dental system on this side of the pond.
>
> Bill,
> The NHS started as a good idea: to keep patient free of pain and
> sepsis. But it then quickly mutated in a comprehensive service that
> tried to offer everything and succeeded in nothing. It's still a good
> idea to have a safety net for people who can't afford dentistry, but
> not for those who won't rather than can't. Dentistry evolves in giant
> leaps and there's no hope for a tightly regulated government plan to
> catch on.
> The NHS suffers greatly today as a whole, not just dentistry. Latest
> news is some hospital in the north had so huge waiting lists that have
> trained administrative personnel to do colonoscopies and
> sigmoidoscopies (!). The news proudly said that it was a world-first.
> You bet... other countries actually have doctors for that kind of
> thing. It's madness I'm telling you.
>
> George

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Should physicians treat dental problems?
    ... patient did not tell their MD that they simply refuse to see a dentist unless it ... He states that other health professionals just don't have ... education is a 3 year program focusing on 1 of 6 areas of dentistry. ... was seeing the patient at that point to add a tooth to her denture that she had ...
    (sci.med.dentistry)
  • Re: Victims show support for LD bill
    ... Existing law provides that a physician and surgeon ... conduct solely on the basis that the treatment or advice he or she ... rendered to a patient is innovative care or conforms to a different ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • Re: Amalgam Replacement & NTI TSS...HELP PLEASE!!!
    ... Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on ... >>> patient by the dentist. ... This is not at all unusual in dentistry or ... >>>> Keeping the teeth from touching each other for a while with such a ...
    (sci.med.dentistry)
  • Re: Probably the best summary yet IMHO
    ... First a general statement, then a rebuttal, then a rant on why *no* healthcare reform bill will most likely succeed. ... Palin feared that the death panel would kill her son with Down's Syndrome. ... Most state laws already allow for discontinuation of care in a patient with no documentable brain activity, ideally after the family has time to accept the fact, that only machines are keeping alive. ... and I'll give you three guesses on how private insurance companies base their compesation to hospitals and the first two better be Medicare. ...
    (rec.sport.pro-wrestling)
  • Re: The Great Imitator: Steere as an LLMD
    ... > response is to blame the patient rather than themselves. ... > negative test that helps rule something out, ... it isn't just Lyme where this happens and wherever it ... healthcare and much can be learned about the serious shortcomings ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)