25yearsmlc??? Are you there?

[25yearsmlc]

total agreement with what you just said.

And for the record, heck yes there are doctors who can turn into "dr. feel good-write something and get her out of here" mode, and that stinks, and there 's the whole other side where there is so much "anti-med" pressure against ANY opioids for people with some real pain. As hospital legal counsel I saw both extremes, and there is a law in our state that gives pain patients certain rights. That state law SOMETIMES gets the docs in trouble with the feds, via the DEA, and that all just turns it into a legal circus with the doctor afraid of going to jail or losing his license, whichever way he goes, and the poor patient saying wtf? Can I get some damn help?

But yeah, I felt I saw a pattern on the thread of whining, that seemed to be a pattern in some lives as well, and my feathers got a bit ruffled when a little "pile on" started against docs, BUT dang, I did apologize for my bias up front, and the interrupting of the thread. People jump on docs all the time to bitch and moan and then not even know the name of their med....

I don't see myself as "bitter" about the med mal lawsuit thing in general, but it was a big drag. OTOH God knows what would have been worse is if h HAD really hurt someone...that would really suck and h is human so there's a real chance that someday, he will.

But I do remember the sleazy process server acted like she knew me from high school (??) and told our then d8 y/o to get me out of the shower. So I go to the door all wet, with a towel and robe and she hands me the legal notice and the d8 said "is that an invitation?" (Yeah, sort of). Normally this is something that is served on the hospital counsel, and not the doctor at his home to his family...and I should know.

I've worried about lawsuits as a cost of doing business, but this particular case was so crazy and unwarranted, H didn't even recall the patient as it was almost 2 years ago, literally. And the wife of the patient was a nurse...so wth?? She had to know my h's work had nothing to do with her h's problems (morbid obesity and prostate cancer which spread, and lead to having his testes removed....so umm, come on, it was not the epidural that messed up the sex life, please) and yet...here we were, missing work and paying out some big bucks defending and spending a fortune...TO WIN the dang thing... just thought a little feedback was in order but then, I was in a grouchy mood to start with....OH WELL....



RE: Your pain issues ---Have you heard of spinal cord stimulators? Somewhat new, (and pricey BUT some of the makers will work with you to get advertising on their behalf, fyi) but very helpful for selected patients. Much better than a TENS unit, but sort of similar in theory. (And I liked my TENS unit anyhow.) They're much less invasive than spinal "surgeries", you can have them temporarily placed so that if you don't like it, it's no big deal to remove them, and they have given great results in clinical trials.

With the stimulators being less invasive, and fewer meds needed, it's a possible 'win win'. H implants them, but the higher the disc, the weirder it gets. Which disc is it for you? More than one? Yikes. Good luck on that. He does interventional pain med (anesthesiologist originally) and there are a lot of options that were developed literally the past 5 - 10 years so who knows? There may be hope for your sitch. It sounds as if you've had enough of it all.

And a GP prescribing that at age 14, (?) wow... Of course, there are probably 10 million kids that age who would LOVE to know that doc's name.
Well, thanks for not slamming me!

Anyhooooos, I have seen your name and sitch before, btw. Been here since '06 and am I am in piecing, thank God. I'll have to go re-read your posts as I definitely recall your name.
j-