broken system (what should I do?)

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titanz7

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I've been contemplating whether or not I should pursue career in medicine (probably peds or psych because I love working with kids and psychology is very interesting to me)
however, after researching about the field of medicine, I learned that the healthcare system is pretty much messed up right now...
I mean the sheer ease of patients to sue for malpractice seem to be influencing how doctors practice medicine (defensive medicine) and from what I read, over 90% of doctors have practiced defensive medicine at some point in there career. basically, the patients are running the doctors here.
After discovering the dirty truth about the healthcare system at the present time, I am afraid to go in to the fear of medicine because I don't want to be under constant pressure to not get sued and have my practice affected by that... If not MD, I would probably just go in to physical therapy or mental health.
Do you guys think the system will change anytime soon?
 
titanz7 said:
I've been contemplating whether or not I should pursue career in medicine (probably peds or psych because I love working with kids and psychology is very interesting to me)
however, after researching about the field of medicine, I learned that the healthcare system is pretty much messed up right now...
I mean the sheer ease of patients to sue for malpractice seem to be influencing how doctors practice medicine (defensive medicine) and from what I read, over 90% of doctors have practiced defensive medicine at some point in there career. basically, the patients are running the doctors here.
After discovering the dirty truth about the healthcare system at the present time, I am afraid to go in to the fear of medicine because I don't want to be under constant pressure to not get sued and have my practice affected by that... If not MD, I would probably just go in to physical therapy or mental health.
Do you guys think the system will change anytime soon?
Click to expand...

You'll have pressures in any profession you choose, physical therapy and mental health included. That said, no, personally I doubt the system will change. Our legislature has a large number of lawyers and is heavily influenced by interest groups. Unfortunately, unless I am mistaken, physicians do not have an effective lobbying body so the concern of malpractice cost will not being addressed because it is not a thorn in politicians sides (American public does not care) or politically profitable.
 
Also, consider the "broken-ness" of other professions before you rule out medicine.
 
punkedoutriffs said:
Also, consider the "broken-ness" of other professions before you rule out medicine.
Click to expand...

could you give me some examples?
I heard that PTs (phys. therapists) are at much less risk for lawsuits. And I can't seem to find anything related to mental health therapies (LCSW/LPC/Ph.D/PsyD) and lawsuits (can people file malpractice lawsuit for psychotherapy?)
 
titanz7 said:
could you give me some examples?
I heard that PTs (phys. therapists) are at much less risk for lawsuits. And I can't seem to find anything related to mental health therapies (LCSW/LPC/Ph.D/PsyD) and lawsuits (can people file malpractice lawsuit for psychotherapy?)
Click to expand...

Well, I was referring to more than just the specific issue of lawsuits. I didn't know you were only considering other healthcare professions. If you only want to work in healthcare, but want to avoid lawsuits, then yes professions other than medicine will give you what you want. But there are trade-offs.
 
punkedoutriffs said:
Well, I was referring to more than just the specific issue of lawsuits. I didn't know you were only considering other healthcare professions. If you only want to work in healthcare, but want to avoid lawsuits, then yes professions other than medicine will give you what you want. But there are trade-offs.
Click to expand...

yeah just healthcare profession. I just can't see myself being happy other than helping other people.
what are some other alternatives? I considered NP/RN/PA but I would like the flexibility and independence of MD. Similar in mental health, LCSW/LCP are not able to do psych tests, but I also wouldn't go into Ph.D since the field is slowly narrowing down in clinical practice due to the encroachment from mid-level degrees (LCSW/LCP).
 
I may be off on the details, but I do recall a case from my Health Law class that involved suing a psychologist/psychiatrist when the patient became a threat to others and murdered someone. There is some point at which you need to break patient confidentiality and alert the police if you feel your patient is about to commit a crime. Essentially, you are required to uphold patient confidentiality unless there is a present threat and then you are required to tell someone. This is a moral gray area.

While this wouldn't be relevant to all areas of psychology, it's another area of liability to consider.
 
MicroSteph said:
I may be off on the details, but I do recall a case from my Health Law class that involved suing a psychologist/psychiatrist when the patient became a threat to others and murdered someone. There is some point at which you need to break patient confidentiality and alert the police if you feel your patient is about to commit a crime. Essentially, you are required to uphold patient confidentiality unless there is a present threat and then you are required to tell someone. This is a moral gray area.

While this wouldn't be relevant to all areas of psychology, it's another area of liability to consider.
Click to expand...

that is definitely a valid case, but in comparison to lawsuits against MDs, how often does that happen to therapists? And psychotherapists usually see less severe cases while psychiatrists deal with schizophrenics and other more severe cases since they require medication as part of their treatment.
 
MicroSteph said:
I may be off on the details, but I do recall a case from my Health Law class that involved suing a psychologist/psychiatrist when the patient became a threat to others and murdered someone. There is some point at which you need to break patient confidentiality and alert the police if you feel your patient is about to commit a crime. Essentially, you are required to uphold patient confidentiality unless there is a present threat and then you are required to tell someone. This is a moral gray area.

While this wouldn't be relevant to all areas of psychology, it's another area of liability to consider.
Click to expand...

This is actually a landmark case -- the Tarasoff v. U-California.


titanz7 said:
that is definitely a valid case, but in comparison to lawsuits against MDs, how often does that happen to therapists? And psychotherapists usually see less severe cases while psychiatrists deal with schizophrenics and other more severe cases since they require medication as part of their treatment.
Click to expand...

People here are not going to be able to give you a valid response concerning MH or PT. You need to go seek out professionals in those fields and talk to them. There are issues in every field. Medicine, MH, and PT are no different.
 
punkedoutriffs said:
Also, consider the "broken-ness" of other professions before you rule out medicine.
Click to expand...

+1

Having come out of the mental health field (practiced as a Child & Family Therapist and also a Crisis Counselor), you'll run into some daunting things there as well. For example, you could be employed by an agency that expects you to be their "puppet", offering therapeutic practices that they want to provide versus what you feel would best benefit the patient -- so in essence, you'll find yourself practicing defensively, not to avoid lawsuit, per se, but to avoid termination. This has happened!
 
If you fear lawsuits, you could consider something like veterinary medicine. In most states, vets can only be sued for gross malpractice, and then the maximum amount you can be sued for is the value of the animal.

However, there are other things to consider in any medical field. Such as debt:income ratio. I know this is a major problem in veterinary medicine, where going to an OOS school is just as expensive as MD school, but income for vets is a fraction of what MDs make.

Research and examine all the options. Then make an informed decision.

Good Luck!👍
 
Do I think that the practice of medicine will be free from malpractice suits? No. Not as long as the life of the patient is in the practitioner's hand. And it's not necessarily a bad thing: It can make physicians more discerning. What is amock is the amount physicians get sued and the ease with which patients can bring 'sham' cases to court...these sham cases can seriously hamper a physicians career. The hard part, however, is determining what is sham. And that's a bigger discussion. But the current system does lead to, as you said, the practice of defensive medicine, which doubly doesn't necessarily benefit the patient and runs up healthcare costs.
 
Faol said:
You'll have pressures in any profession you choose, physical therapy and mental health included. That said, no, personally I doubt the system will change. Our legislature has a large number of lawyers and is heavily influenced by interest groups. Unfortunately, unless I am mistaken, physicians do not have an effective lobbying body so the concern of malpractice cost will not being addressed because it is not a thorn in politicians sides (American public does not care) or politically profitable.
Click to expand...

+1

I have to agree with this statement. Basically our country is pretty much runs on lawsuits. You ever wonder why they don't serve green onions in nachos at taco bell? Uh.. lawsuit. Even if one makes a contract stating that "you forfeit you right to sue if you sign this," people can still sue the person who made the contract. Almost anything in the U.S. can turn into a lawsuit. I guess we have the lawyers who are politicians to thank for that.

Well anyway, OP you will face lawsuits where ever you go. If you want to do medicine, then do it because you like the field. There will always come problems with anything you choose in life.
 
It also depends on the medicine you do and where. If you were to do psychiatry in a community clinic setting, chances are you'll never be sued because the patients are poor and would be seen as crazy people, especially against the word of a mental health professional.
 
How much do you enjoy medicine? I know many physicians fed up with the system but still wouldn't give up their jobs for anything because they are doing what they love. Many physicians also tell me they would have chosen different careers if they knew what was going on with the system (but strangely enough, they never tell me what other career they would follow).

If you're doing what you love, annoyances and hassles are nuisances, but don't ruin your drive. If you don't love what you are doing, they will be stressful monsters. Just keep in mind every profession has problems. You can be a teacher but in some states you'll face hiring freezes, low salaries and disrespect. You can be a CPA but if you're the only CPA for a company, you'll be working just as much as a doctor for a lesser salary. You can go get a Phd in a science, but you'll be struggling to find a professor job that pays more than 60 grand a year after years of graduate school debt.

And ALWAYS keep in mind what practicing medicine is like in other countries. Go tell a Cuban or Russian doctor your problems and see how much sympathy they have when they make less than 10k a year and their practice is dictated bby the state.
 
titanz7 said:
I've been contemplating whether or not I should pursue career in medicine (probably peds or psych because I love working with kids and psychology is very interesting to me)
however, after researching about the field of medicine, I learned that the healthcare system is pretty much messed up right now...
I mean the sheer ease of patients to sue for malpractice
Click to expand...

It is actually quite difficult to bring a medmal case. They are time intensive, up-front costs are high for the plaintiff (expert witnesses and whatnot), payouts for most injuries are low, and the few that go to trial are usually ruled in the doc's favor. Lawyers don't make money by losing.

titanz7 said:
seem to be influencing how doctors practice medicine (defensive medicine) and from what I read, over 90% of doctors have practiced defensive medicine at some point in there career. basically, the patients are running the doctors here.
After discovering the dirty truth about the healthcare system at the present time, I am afraid to go in to the fear of medicine because I don't want to be under constant pressure to not get sued and have my practice affected by that... If not MD, I would probably just go in to physical therapy or mental health.
Do you guys think the system will change anytime soon?
Click to expand...

The only way to have a job free of liability is to have job free of responsibility. Good luck with that. Although if you're already this paranoid about getting sued, well, perhaps medicine isn't the best field for you.
 
titanz7 said:
I've been contemplating whether or not I should pursue career in medicine (probably peds or psych because I love working with kids and psychology is very interesting to me)
however, after researching about the field of medicine, I learned that the healthcare system is pretty much messed up right now...
I mean the sheer ease of patients to sue for malpractice seem to be influencing how doctors practice medicine (defensive medicine) and from what I read, over 90% of doctors have practiced defensive medicine at some point in there career. basically, the patients are running the doctors here.
After discovering the dirty truth about the healthcare system at the present time, I am afraid to go in to the fear of medicine because I don't want to be under constant pressure to not get sued and have my practice affected by that... If not MD, I would probably just go in to physical therapy or mental health.
Do you guys think the system will change anytime soon?
Click to expand...

I think this is a somewhat naive view of the medical profession. The fact that doctors practice 'defensive medicine' does not indicate a 'broken system.' To be truly 'broken,' a system would have to fail to deliver goods at an effective and necessary scale and quality across the board. The flaws would be endemic, widespread, and hazardous. To call the entire medical system 'broken' would be a stretch.

Sure, the medical world has inefficiencies, as all large organizations do. On the whole, the medical system still does its job. Although the US lags behind many leading countries, people in the US still enjoy among the highest qualities of life in the world.

And yes, Doctors are smart to protect themselves legally, just as every medical decision carries inherent risk, just as all professions practice defensive decision making (think: online companies and iphone apps that make you sign legal waivers in 8 point font, businesspeople who try to get everything in writing, corporations who pay 100Ks a year to lawyers just to have their own legal team), just as there is no 'perfect system' in any organization or community or profession.

It is also naive to say that "patients run doctors." A patient cannot legally force doctors to provide care that the doctors don't think is necessary. In most cases, defensive medicine comes down to ordering extra tests and procedures, which is expensive in the long run, but in no way in opposition to medicine's central goal of providing healthcare.

I would highly suggest that you learn more about the medical profession before writing off the entire field using badly-informed platitudes.
 
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Every job in the world has crap you have to deal with. You should do some shadowing and base your decision off of that rather than looking exclusively at the con side of the equation.
 
cheesier said:
Every job in the world has crap you have to deal with. You should do some shadowing and base your decision off of that rather than looking exclusively at the con side of the equation.
Click to expand...

Yes every job has crap to deal with but NOT after training for 13-14 years. One would think that after training for 12-14 years that the crap would not be so as evident as it is in medicine. And its not even the fear of being sued that looms largest.
 
bala1 said:
Yes every job has crap to deal with but NOT after training for 13-14 years. One would think that after training for 12-14 years that the crap would not be so as evident as it is in medicine. And its not even the fear of being sued that looms largest.
Click to expand...

Yes every job has crap to deal with, but NOT with the risk of being shot (a cop could say that)

Yes every job has crap to deal with, but NOT for 20K a year (social worker)

Yes every job has crap to deal with, but NOT with having to worry about finding a job in their field of study (PhD)

I could go on and on. Every job has crap. Some jobs have more training, more risks, etc, but at the end of the day everyone has a reason to say that their job sucks more than the other guy's.
 
If you let fear get the best of you, you'll never fly.
 
bala1 said:
Yes every job has crap to deal with but NOT after training for 13-14 years. One would think that after training for 12-14 years that the crap would not be so as evident as it is in medicine. And its not even the fear of being sued that looms largest.
Click to expand...

Go into primary care then. 7-8 years of training and you rarely get sued because all you do is refer people to specialists who make the tough calls :laugh:
 
titanz7 said:
I've been contemplating whether or not I should pursue career in medicine (probably peds or psych because I love working with kids and psychology is very interesting to me)
however, after researching about the field of medicine, I learned that the healthcare system is pretty much messed up right now...
I mean the sheer ease of patients to sue for malpractice seem to be influencing how doctors practice medicine (defensive medicine) and from what I read, over 90% of doctors have practiced defensive medicine at some point in there career. basically, the patients are running the doctors here.
After discovering the dirty truth about the healthcare system at the present time, I am afraid to go in to the fear of medicine because I don't want to be under constant pressure to not get sued and have my practice affected by that... If not MD, I would probably just go in to physical therapy or mental health.
Do you guys think the system will change anytime soon?
Click to expand...

1) Psychiatry and peds both have relatively low med mal rates.

2) I think you're overstating the problem, although tort reform is important.

3) Read this:

M. Mello for the RWJ Foundation (2006). “Understanding medical malpractice insurance: A primer.”

http://www.rwjf.org/pr/synthesis/reportsandbriefs/pdf/no8_primer.pdf
 
I feel like the OP hasn't done much research at all into this subject...

If you want to make an informed decision on this maybe actually read a couple of books, do some shadowing, or maybe even take a class over the subject.
 
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