Hospitals Try to Control Cost of Patient Care, Medical Gag Orders, and the First “Bionic Cat”
California mandated minimum levels of patients per nurse in the hospital setting: There was no evidence of an impact on patient safety.
Would you sign a contract at a supermarket checkout forbidding you to complain to friends and neighbors about its prices, services or products? That is what some physicians are demanding their patients do.
Bionic cat gets prosthetic feet: He lost his two hind feet to a combine harvester.
Photo credit: Huffington Post
The safety argument is always the last refuge of scoundrels. Of course sfety did not improve. The nurses’ union doesn’t care about safety. The union only cares about more union dues.
I think it is outrageous for doctors to ask patients to sign a promise not to evaluate them.
I have an uneasy feeling that I know what is going to happen next. Wait a few years and then watch the left wingers start pusihing for health insurance for pets.
I am afraid that the nurses’ unions are becoming as bad as the teachers unions. And that is very bad.
So how long before the body-piercing crowd gets hold of this?
That cat’s prosthetic hind legs are pretty amazing.
It is troubling that some physicians ask their patients to refrain from telling others whether or not they liked their service. Feedback is what allows buyers and sellers to have honest transactions on eBay. However, physicians should be allowed to ask patients to sign waivers allowing the doctor to refute patient’s complaints without risking a HIPAA violation. Feedback has to be a two-way street.
I had never thought about Bart’s idea. But, I totally agree. We’ll see more and more people with antlers as this technology takes hold.
I’m sure that in the future, we’ll be debating whether or not pets have rights to health care, which doesn’t bode well given our propensity to vote in large entitlements (imagine non-pet owners subsidizing pet-owners).
I agree with Devon Herrick. If you choose to sign such an undertaking with a physician, on your head be it. However, if you choose not to sign it, and not engage the physician, you need to be free to publicise that fact too.
Indeed, someone could maintain a master-list of physicians who demand non-disclosure, populated by people who decline to participate!
Also, (although folks know I am not a fan of physicians having contracts with insurers through PPOs) I suppose insurers should have the right not to contract with physicians who demand such non-disclosure. Some insurers appear to value patients’ participation in ranking doctors. (For example, WellPoint has a collaboration with Zagat in some regions.)
However, this may become moot, because there is going to be such a shortage of physicians in the near future, as a consequence of ObamaCare, that they will be able to demand whatever they want from patients.