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Letter: Patients should be treated equally

The Columbian
Published: April 30, 2011, 12:00am

Many of our physicians, both primary care and specialists, are very dissatisfied with treating Medicare and especially Medicaid patients under a fee-for-service structure. I am treated well, but I know they don’t like to see me coming. Being on a ventilator makes it slightly worse. Newspapers publish testimonials written by physicians who want to be the heard on how frustrated and disillusioned they feel.

I had 20 years of rehab and maintenance done by the best of specialists. There was no emergency or weekend services, no such thing as a private room, the food was terrible, and you didn’t always get the same doctor. Resident physicians were used a lot, under strict supervision. The number of “rounds” was important.

All of this wasn’t just to be tough with welfare patients. The physician needs to have some compassion for the poor, sick, disabled and just plain dysfunctional. How much money the patient has or does not have does not interfere with objective care.

Many doctors choose the patient with high-end insurance and provide luxury accommodations. They may have to wait for the right patient.

Jerry Daniel

Vancouver

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