Idiotic Things We Go Through

[TomOD]

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An interesting letter written by an M.D. in 1908 (94 years ago) regarding a bill introducted in his state's legislature:

"Dear Sir: I want to ask you to use your influence to defeat the optometry bill No.347 now before the Senate, or if you feel you cannot do that, to at least make an effort to secure its ammendment. To enact such a law as this bill contemplates will be to expose the people of this State to dangers of which you can have no knowledge.

To adopt lenses to the eyes of children without the use of the drug "atropine" is, in many ways, little short of criminal. There are thousands of children in the State who suffer from defective eyes, and who need glasses. More than 50 per cent of these children, if fitted with glasses without the use of drugs, will be worse off than if they had no glasses.

There are numberless cases of adults who have defects in their eyes, which glasses will temporarily relieve, but who will be exposed to blindness or death if glasses are adjusted to their eyes and proper treatment deferred. If the demand for the passage of this bill it too great that something must be done, at least amend it so that the children may not become vicitims of the great mistake."

Fortunately State legislatures even back then "saw through this non-sense"....just as it did TPA's/DPA's and just as it will injections and surgery in the future. The same tired arguments by same tired group.....all saying we will kill people one way or another...but it just never happens.

It just shows the arrogance of some in the Medical Community even 100 years ago. 🙄

 

[chury]

I do not know, but Tom you seem to be hunted in your dreams by MDs. Are you feeling inferior to them or what is your problem? Could not get to med school? Why do you have to keep complaining? The same situation is MD Vs. DO debate. DOs always have a need to prove something!

You always post: "MD missed brain tumor and I found it", "we want to do surgery etc"


My wife is an O.D. student and I have respect for her. There is no need for this "crying".

 

[TomOD]

Hey Chury,
Thanks for your (sarcastic) reply. This topic is fresh on my mind only because OD's here in NC recently have gone through another round of silly legislative debates with the medical society ( a few minority M.D.'s mind you) that seem obsessed with absoluting controling every move optometrist make. What I don't understand is why they can't mind their own affairs and leave OD's to provide eyecare as they were trained to do.

Last year the medical board, at the urging of the optometry board, granted NC OD's the right to perform minor injections (Oh thank you Masters). Shortly after this a small group of ophthalmologist and Pediatricians (of all people) sued the optometry board and a judge (with the help of some campaign contributions) withdrew our authority to perform injections. Who in the Hell are they do tell me I can't do something that I was trained to do. I do this almost everyday in my practice (for chalazions, rarely subconj. injections and most importantly F.A's) but have to "hide" to do it. I work with PA's and Nurses who do injections without problems. I do think I am more trained when it comes to eyecare then they are.

The point of my post was not to bash the medical profession. Quite to the contrary, I have said many times that I have a great deal of respect for most all MD's. Just not the one like this idiot 100 years ago and the few vocal minority today in the medical profession who have the ENORMOUS arrogance to tell me that OD's are too stupid to inject 0.3cc of Kenalog into an eyelid bump but a P.A. with absolutely no supervison can perform virtually any medical procedure he wishes.

Don't you see the hypocracy in this. I don't want to be an M.D. I have a very limited scope of practice....THE EYE. But I also don't want people who have no idea what they are taling about telling me what I can and can't do. The same argument 100 years ago was put forth last year....that we will kill countless people. It is an idiotic argument. If your an MD, be confident in your skills. Don't worry what an OD is doing. I should be no threat to you......Or am I? You can believe all this "protect the public" crap if you want. It is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. A few very insecure M.D.'s are having a fit and I don't know why!

 

[chury]

To tell you the true, I am from Europe and there are only 3 optometry schools there (Germany, Sweden, England). When they ask me what my wife is studying I have hard time explaining what the optometrist is, its role etc. Most of the world is doing fine with MDs only. If there is optometry in the US then they should stick what to do whatever training they have.(refraction, minor infections, glasses etc)

I really do not think that study in your OD school how to inject. It might not be hard but that's not the point. Did you go through residency? Are you really competent to do surgery? Why do MDs then go through 4 years of residency? Hey it is easy to do, let my plumber do it. I can teach him in 10 days.

If they let you do surgery or injections what's next. Remember you were not trained to dispense drugs either but you fought for that and you got it. But it is not enough and every time you want more and more and more.

I am going through MD school right now while my wife is in optometry. In her opinion there is no way optometrist can be allowed to do the same stuff regarding the treatment of the eye like MD, especially after 4 years of residency.

Do not be mad at me and if you want tell me (my wife) how to study for this step 1 optometry boards.

 

[turtleboard]

Brooklyn, New York, 11219? MY HOME ZIPCODE! 🙂

Are you a long-time resident of the Borough Park/Dyker Heights area?

 

[cpw]

For the record... I WAS trained to do injections and prescribe drugs.. otherwise that killer pharm class I'm taking next year is going to be a heinous waste of time and energy. 😉 This whole arguement is ludicrous. OD's are only fighting for rights to do what they're already trained to do in school. End of story. I won't talk about surgery because I personally don't really care to do it.

 

[UWSO2003]

Ok Chury,

My school occasionally has Optometry students from Germany and Sweeden transfer over for a term. While I have little doubt that your wife is a highly intelligent individual Optometry training in the above mentioned two countries is quite different from the North American system of training OD's. I know for a fact that Sweeden does not have TPA legistlation, and that German OD's place a much greater emphasis on the optics/dispensing aspect of Optometry rather than the medical aspect of Optometry.

As usual, these fruitless arguments stem from ignorance. You should perhaps realise that while your wife with her level of training does not feel comfortable with minor surgeries and injectables/TPA's, most of the OD's trained in North America (where the medical aspect of eye care is stressed)are competant to practice full scope optometry.

To add another viewpoint, most of the excellent professors at my school studied in England. I doubt that you would have the nerve to approach them and insist they were not properly trained to prescribe. I would say that English OD's are some of the best trained optometrists in the world. There is not one lecture that goes by where everyone in my class is impressed with the level of training they have received!

So before you put your foot in your mouth again, please do your research and educate yourself. There is a world outside of Med School you do realise?

Before you go running off saying that I don't know anything about Medical Education I will tell you that one uncle is a family doctor, another is a professor at Wayne State Univeristy teaching Pediatric Neonatology, my girlfriend has a sister who is a GP, and my GF is in her second last year of MD school here in Ontario.

 

[TomOD]

Churys comment are like many others. He has absolutely no idea what he is talking about so this whole discussion if futile.

My original post was about a humourous article written 100 years ago that I thought some optometry students might get a good laugh about. Just for the record, I have no desire to do surgery on the eye or any other part of the body although I do think this is the natural progresson of the profession in the next 25-50 years.
But I do intend to do injections and other minor procedure such as chalazion removals that I was trained to do. I don't have the time or inclination to spell out the entire optometry school curriculum but rest assured that it does include a very through understanding of both systemic and ocular pharmocology (possible even more than you will get) AND injection procedures with labs and "real-life" practical application through clinic training and externships. Optometrist didn't just "all of the sudden" decide to expand their scope of practice. In many states here, like NC, OD's have been providing medical eyecare for 25 years.

So Damn, if your going to comment here at least know what your talking about.