Re: I'm a bit confused

On Jun 26, 1:22 pm, "Anne V." <ahvasq...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Considering the cost of MRIs, it would be great if they only ordered them
when absolutely necessary!!!  As part of a research study I took part in at
a local university, I had to have MRIs on 3 separate occasions.  Never once
did the doctor ask whether or not I had any metal implants, but the
technicians always did.  Maybe this isn't the norm, but there are 2 of us
here now who weren't prescreened.  Now that I think of it, the doc yesterday
didn't ask my BF about implants either before scheduling his MRI next month.
Since it IS such a costly procedure and some facilities are so badly backed
up, it sure would make sense for the docs to screen for people who can't
have one done before scheduling it!

Anne

"Bright Spark" <brightspark-notnowh...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:9s1a45pk315c3qlng2fvfo702pn9o0colk@xxxxxxxxxx



I think it's possible that doctors might order MRIs just simply out of
habit and without thinking.

I had a scary experience with this myself just a couple of months ago
when my orthopedist sent me for an MRI of my knee due to problems I
was having.   I didn't think anything of it at all and went gaily
ahead to the imaging place at the appointed time and got the robe on,
etc., in preparation, and before they ushered me in to the MRI chamber
the technician quickly went over a series of questions with me, one of
which had to do with whether or not I had any metallic implants in my
body - it seems like it was almost an "after-thought" type of
question!  Well, I have a metal clip/clamp in my brain from a cerebral
aneurysm surgery of about 12-14 years ago, so I told him that.

Immediately everything came to a screeching halt and the technician
informed me that under no circumstances would they be able to do an
MRI on me because of the aneurysm clip!   I actually practically got
sick to my stomach when I realized how close I had come to a possibly
real dangerous problem.

The thing is - my orthopedist had all this information in my chart, of
course, from the time all the patient information is originally filled
out and the original doctor/patient interview.  Obviously I wouldn't
expect him to have remembered it off the top of his head with all the
patients he has, but apparently he had not even looked at the chart to
check my history to see if it would be okay for me to have an MRI.   I
would have expected that to be second nature before ordering a
procedure that could be dangerous for some people.

That is, to me, the scariest part!

Bright Spark

On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:55:34 -0500, "Anne V."
<ahvasq...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Docs ordering unnecessary MRIs may explain why my BF's appointment for an
MRI is 2-1/2 months out from his injury; they're that backed up.  He's
unable to bear any weight at all on his leg, pain and swelling in the knee
and ankle, very little feeling in his foot, and it's been that way for 6
weeks now.  X-rays show no fracture; we can only surmise it's a soft
tissue
injury.  Only another month to wait to get the MRI!  <heavy sarcasm>  I'm
praying he doesn't need it by that time.

Anne

"Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply" <samh...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
in
messagenews:4a44af9f$0$95567$742ec2ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well you know what I mean.  I work for a doctor who orders an MRI for
every new patient if they have not already been done.  I will concede
that
as a spine specialist, he is not the primary care doctor and when
patients
come to him, they have pretty much exhausted the capabilities of primary
care doctors and that probably the only way to see if his practice can
help them is to get an MRI, which is a reasonable need for an MRI, but
to
order one for my child just because they fell down and bumped their head
is ridiculous.  And I am convinced that all of this extremely-high-tech
medicine that is so expensive is what is driving up the cost of health
care.

I am not saying that MRI scans are not needed at times.  I am just
saying
that maybe having affordable health care insurance for basic health care
might be better than not having any health care insurance because the
cost
of including expensive high-tech medical insurance makes the insurance
prohibitive.  I just read somewhere that the cost of something -- I
think
it was like some kind of organ transplant, but don't quote me.  Maybe it
was in the article I read about Steve Jobs getting an organ transplant
two
months after being put on a list... --
that is now considered a standard of care costs about half a million
dollars just for the transplant process not to mention the
anti-rejection
drugs you have to take as long as you live past that (what's the longest
anybody has lived after an organ transplant so far? A few years back, I
heard the longest was 10 years).  The cost of being able to pay those
costs for every subscriber certainly has to have driven the cost of
health
insurance up for everybody substantially.  And if I don't even intend to
get an organ transplant, which I don't, there ought to be some
cafeteria-type plan just like my car insurance where I can opt out of
something if I don't want it.  I think a lot of people would opt out of
high-tech stuff if it would give them health care they could afford.

Then again, the cost of covering health care and all the insurance
billing
loopholes that have to be jumped through to get things paid for by
insurance plus providing a nice profit for the insurance company is
probably a lot more expensive than getting rid of for-profit insurance
altogether or maybe all insurance altogether and just giving everybody
health care savings accounts to pay for health care.

What really bothers me the most about all this socialzed government
stuff
is that the mindset has gone from "the government should provide the
basics to everybody, and then if you want better you have to fund it
yourself," to "everybody should get the best."- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I am reminded of the T.V. show I saw once when they rushed someone
from the E.R. to get an MRI and the idiots forgot to switch him to a
NON-metalic gurney and the gurney smashed into the MRI machine nearly
crushed the patient. I'm not sure if this could even happen, but it
made an impression on me about metal and MRIs!

Kathy
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: A new record!
    ... cover, provide, health care to all. ... Identifying the cost components of medical care would have gone a long ... where the money is being spent and why the money is being spent. ... You dog can get an MRI in a few days or even the SAME DAY sometimes. ...
    (rec.sport.golf)