marmalady
01-26-2002, 04:04 PM
Are we being too critical of our docs, that we can't post recommendations? I know that anyone who has been as closely involved with health care providers as people with SCI, as well as other chronic/acute injuries/illnesses, tends to become critical. As Americans we're critical - of everything! We were brought up on images of Robert Young, Marcus Welby, etc., etc., the kind, compassionate, all-knowing, sincere doc who could fix anything. We go to our docs wanting them to fix us with the same care and compassion we see and remember.
Medicine has changed so much since then; the legal structure of medicine has changed; the practice of medicine has changed; the philosophy of young folks going into medicine as a career has changed. Our attitudes toward our docs has changed - we want them to be partners in our care/cure, not dictators.
Perhaps we need to cut our rehab docs/centers some slack, and make some recommendations. No doctor or rehab center is going to be perfect. The mix of human beings, insurance laws, and legislative dictates sometimes hogtie each other and prevent the 'perfect' picture. But I honestly, really, really, fail to believe that there isn't one person with one doc/rehab center who wouldn't recommend it to another person.
My son was at Kessler, West Orange, N.J. Although we had some problems there - some rather major problems with one of the staff - I would still recommend the facility highly; the fact that they're hamstrung by dollars and can't provide enough nursing/aide/therapist support to the patient population does make it less than perfect. BUT - the care that was given to our entire family, the learning curve which we received from every aspect of the staff, and the quality of the rehab was such that I would and have recommended it highly.
Everyone has had bad experiences with docs - I'm having a battle with my own doc right now - I want to go on natural hormone replacement therapy, after much research - she wants me to stay on the old horse urine HRT. But she's still my doc, I trust her and have trusted her with some very critical situations in my care, and I would recommend her to anyone!
I guess all I'm trying to say is that, yes, in a perfect world, we would all like to see perfect docs and perfect rehab centers; but that ain't so, Joe, and in spite of that I think there are probably quite a few docs and centers which could be recommended. Remember also, that all we're doing is making recommendations; people who see the recommendations need to make up their own minds about what is the best care for their own situation.
End of rant. I love you all.
_____________
Tough times don't last - tough people do.
Medicine has changed so much since then; the legal structure of medicine has changed; the practice of medicine has changed; the philosophy of young folks going into medicine as a career has changed. Our attitudes toward our docs has changed - we want them to be partners in our care/cure, not dictators.
Perhaps we need to cut our rehab docs/centers some slack, and make some recommendations. No doctor or rehab center is going to be perfect. The mix of human beings, insurance laws, and legislative dictates sometimes hogtie each other and prevent the 'perfect' picture. But I honestly, really, really, fail to believe that there isn't one person with one doc/rehab center who wouldn't recommend it to another person.
My son was at Kessler, West Orange, N.J. Although we had some problems there - some rather major problems with one of the staff - I would still recommend the facility highly; the fact that they're hamstrung by dollars and can't provide enough nursing/aide/therapist support to the patient population does make it less than perfect. BUT - the care that was given to our entire family, the learning curve which we received from every aspect of the staff, and the quality of the rehab was such that I would and have recommended it highly.
Everyone has had bad experiences with docs - I'm having a battle with my own doc right now - I want to go on natural hormone replacement therapy, after much research - she wants me to stay on the old horse urine HRT. But she's still my doc, I trust her and have trusted her with some very critical situations in my care, and I would recommend her to anyone!
I guess all I'm trying to say is that, yes, in a perfect world, we would all like to see perfect docs and perfect rehab centers; but that ain't so, Joe, and in spite of that I think there are probably quite a few docs and centers which could be recommended. Remember also, that all we're doing is making recommendations; people who see the recommendations need to make up their own minds about what is the best care for their own situation.
End of rant. I love you all.
_____________
Tough times don't last - tough people do.