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This may have been a valid argument some decades ago. Greedy doctors killed my aunt by selling her all the drugs she asked for. This is commonplace in the US.

joshgel 5y ago
Sorry that happened to your aunt. Doctors aren’t reimbursed for prescribing medications directly (except chemotherapy infusions). Was the physician selling the medication directly? That’s not commonplace. Clinicians may financially benefit from not refusing their patients requests and thus losing the patient to another doctor that will acquiesce. But that’s a tricky topic to untangle.
ejb999 5y ago
I agree - goes on still, all day everyday all across the USA. Easiest thing for a doctor to do to not have to deal with a problem patient (i.e. a drug seeker - not saying your aunt was one of them), is give them what they want, and send them on their way. Doctors should be held accountable - every script they write, is tracked - it would not be hard to find the doctors that are outside the range of normal. Insurance companies should also be held accountable - they pay for a big portion of these oversubscribed opioids, they know who is writing those scripts, they know when a duration or quantity is out of the normal bounds, and yet they still keep enabling it. But doctors do not get a cut of the prescriptions they write, not legally anyway, so don't think its greedy doctors - more like doctors who have to see upto 32 patients a day, in 15 min increments, and don't have time to argue with persistent drug seekers, so the close their eyes and pretend they don't know what is going on - and move on to the next 15 min appointment.
- stathibus 5y ago
  It is greedy doctors; they would prefer to keep the patient and keep collecting payments for their visits than to call them out on their addiction, or god forbid actually treat them for it.
  - ejb999 5y ago
    so they they are greedy for collecting payments for visits to keep writing prescriptions, but if they spend their time treating them during the visit, they are not greedy? How does that work? do you think somehow they get paid extra for writing prescriptions during a visit, vs spending their time during the visit coming up with alternatives? If you think that, you are wrong.
    - stathibus 5y ago
      Do you know what a drug rep is?
- fallingknife 5y ago
  Why do they take 32 15 min appointments a day instead of 16 x 30 mins? It's not rocket science.
  - ejb999 5y ago
    because that is what the insurance companies will pay for - they CAN take 30 minutes, but the only get paid for 15 in many cases.

joshgel 5y ago

Sorry that happened to your aunt. Doctors aren’t reimbursed for prescribing medications directly (except chemotherapy infusions). Was the physician selling the medication directly? That’s not commonplace. Clinicians may financially benefit from not refusing their patients requests and thus losing the patient to another doctor that will acquiesce. But that’s a tricky topic to untangle.

ejb999 5y ago

I agree - goes on still, all day everyday all across the USA. Easiest thing for a doctor to do to not have to deal with a problem patient (i.e. a drug seeker - not saying your aunt was one of them), is give them what they want, and send them on their way. Doctors should be held accountable - every script they write, is tracked - it would not be hard to find the doctors that are outside the range of normal. Insurance companies should also be held accountable - they pay for a big portion of these oversubscribed opioids, they know who is writing those scripts, they know when a duration or quantity is out of the normal bounds, and yet they still keep enabling it. But doctors do not get a cut of the prescriptions they write, not legally anyway, so don't think its greedy doctors - more like doctors who have to see upto 32 patients a day, in 15 min increments, and don't have time to argue with persistent drug seekers, so the close their eyes and pretend they don't know what is going on - and move on to the next 15 min appointment.

stathibus 5y ago
It is greedy doctors; they would prefer to keep the patient and keep collecting payments for their visits than to call them out on their addiction, or god forbid actually treat them for it.
- ejb999 5y ago
  so they they are greedy for collecting payments for visits to keep writing prescriptions, but if they spend their time treating them during the visit, they are not greedy? How does that work? do you think somehow they get paid extra for writing prescriptions during a visit, vs spending their time during the visit coming up with alternatives? If you think that, you are wrong.
  - stathibus 5y ago
    Do you know what a drug rep is?
fallingknife 5y ago
Why do they take 32 15 min appointments a day instead of 16 x 30 mins? It's not rocket science.
- ejb999 5y ago
  because that is what the insurance companies will pay for - they CAN take 30 minutes, but the only get paid for 15 in many cases.