Did you have open heart surgery and now are on dialysis?
Do you smoke and use birth control and now have a blood clot?
Did you take X drug and now are experiencing
Well, we may have some $$$ for you!! Call our law offices now now now and we will use your pain and suffering and take $$ from the hospital and give it to you. Of course, after we take our 90% cut, you may not have much left. And theres our legal fees of course.....
Everytime I see these commercials my teeth grit a little. OK alot. I cant stand the fact that our sue happy culture has driven up the price of health care and indirectly driven down my paycheck by these frivilous lawsuits. Vultures!!:argue:
Its not that I would not go look up my meds, just that I don't think we should assume that they will, and it would be better (IMO) for the patient/provider relationship to explain to them what they are getting and why.
I can't help but think of all of the epidurals and pitocin administered without a full disclosure to women in labor, and wish that someone was held accountable to be more clear on the side effects, but I guess I'm going off on a personal tangent here.
Sorry :) everything goes back to my "what would I do if I was in the patient's seat" mentality. Its terrible. :)
I totally agree with everything you just said, particularly the women in labor part. :)
Just my two cents, but I think that as a culture we have to get over the notion that nothing bad is ever supposed to happen to us, and if it does then by-gosh somebody is going to have to pay. Whether it is taking drugs, having a procedure, or even surgery, these are not things that are intrinsically safe people!
Life happening shouldn't equal lawsuit. Aggrrrrrrrr.
How about the ads on the subway for lawyers that list how much money they've won for various birth defects in children. It basically insinuates that if your child has a disability, they can blame and sue the person who delivered him or her, for possibly millions!!! Ugh.
I also think that a lot of this advertising by "vultures" is very wrong. However, let's recall that there are plenty of horrendous errors committed in medical care. There's lots of neglect and minimal care, which might not be illegal in some way but which is truly awful. A lot of this is due to staffing levels, which are not the fault of bedside workers. Those responsible ought to have to pay up. How, though? We who give the direct care are most visible. And if we thought we or our loved ones were maltreated, would we not also be calling a lawyer?
Another issue is that there is probably plenty of research on various drugs and medical devices that is not made known to practitioners or to the public which, if known, would decrease profits for the makers of these items.
We need balance in health care. We need reality. Good luck ever finding it.
I was just about to type the same thing...how insane is that?? They start describing the symptoms of rhabdomyolisis (sorry for typo) and then, say that you can get a cash settlement. Now the absurdity of this is they also have pharmaceutical companies that advertise the statin drugs that warn of these effects. Inserts given by the pharmacy that mention this.
While I know that nurses and physicians are obligated to explain the purpose of medications and their side effects, responsibility also has to be placed on the patient to do their own research. With modern technology and the fact that they do sell drug books for the lay person, there is no excuse to me why so many people still want to place all of the responsibility for their health concerns on us. I tell as many patients as I can to purchase "Best Pills, Worst Pills" or to borrow it from the library to support and clarify what we say in clinic.
These advertisments really make me sick.
You must be dealing with upper income patients who have the money to buy, the time to research, and the mindset to inquire.
A lot of patients are not in this group. A lot just trust the doctor, the nurse, the pharmacist, the drug maker/distributor. A lot are too sick, in body and/or in mind, to ever question anything we do or do not tell them. How do you expect the welfare mom, the addict, the career criminal, the illiterate, the poverty-stricken patient who works 2 or even 3 jobs and never sleeps - except on his night shift job, to find the means to study his meds?
You must be dealing with upper income patients who have the money to buy, the time to research, and the mindset to inquire.
A lot of patients are not in this group. A lot just trust the doctor, the nurse, the pharmacist, the drug maker/distributor. A lot are too sick, in body and/or in mind, to ever question anything we do or do not tell them. How do you expect the welfare mom, the addict, the career criminal, the illiterate, the poverty-stricken patient who works 2 or even 3 jobs and never sleeps - except on his night shift job, to find the means to study his meds?
If patients are picking up their meds from the pharmacy, I'm pretty sure they just read the pamphlet that comes with the drug. It really doesn't take that long. I mean - isn't it a good idea to make sure you got the drug you were supposed to from the pharamcy anyway? Are healthcare professionals supposed to hold their hand all the way to the pharmacy? They should take SOME responsiblity for what they put into their body. Besides, how hard is it to ask the pharmasist what the side effects are? I always check out the pamphlet! Takes 5 min.
If the patient is in the hospital or a clinic and recieving medications, then I think that would be an appropriate time for full disclosure of all meds. Working 3 jobs is no excuse for blaming others what you put in your body (unless there was neglegence involved of course).
I believe the OP is talking not of people who are involved with neglegence, but the ads trying to lure in anyone they may be able to make a buck off of through scare tactics.
How about the ads on the subway for lawyers that list how much money they've won for various birth defects in children. It basically insinuates that if your child has a disability, they can blame and sue the person who delivered him or her, for possibly millions!!! Ugh.
I understand and what is so ill about this is that good nurses, docs and medical personnel suffer. When these commercials come on I think about what it is doing to those persons (like me) who want so badly to be in the medical field. It makes me think that I would fare somewhere else better without all this darned stress. Nursing does not pay what it's worth for all the stress in nursing school and definitely not on the floor. We are already preoccupied a lot of the time with not harming the client and safety issues enough. To me it's like telling medical persons that ha! ha! so you are stressed but this is your punishment for choosing this darned field. There is not incentive and as it goes along, I believe the medical field is going to see some great shortages. Nurses will leave just like some OB/GYNs have decided to take other courses of action in regards to their practices. Like with me, I don't want to even think about being a obstetrics nurse because people want to blame every one for their child's mishap and sometimes it's an act of nature and not something someone done straight down to the janitor in the hospital.
I don't know why I like nursing so much because it is definitely not the money - it's skimpy. Traveling nurse pay isn't enough for me. It's to see someone survive and do well is what my pay is.
If patients are picking up their meds from the pharmacy, I'm pretty sure they just read the pamphlet that comes with the drug. It really doesn't take that long. I mean - isn't it a good idea to make sure you got the drug you were supposed to from the pharamcy anyway? Are healthcare professionals supposed to hold their hand all the way to the pharmacy? They should take SOME responsiblity for what they put into their body. Besides, how hard is it to ask the pharmasist what the side effects are? I always check out the pamphlet! Takes 5 min.
If the patient is in the hospital or a clinic and recieving medications, then I think that would be an appropriate time for full disclosure of all meds. Working 3 jobs is no excuse for blaming others what you put in your body (unless there was neglegence involved of course).
I believe the OP is talking not of people who are involved with neglegence, but the ads trying to lure in anyone they may be able to make a buck off of through scare tactics.
If you're doling out drugs, you really need to make sure the people you give them to are aware of the possible side effects. I am honestly shocked that this is something we're actually debating.
That being said, I DO think that people need to be responsible for their own care, but our society makes that quite difficult in so many ways. Ever try questioning a doctor who has already decided to do something to you/give you something? I had a doctor scream at me in front of an entire office when I, as a patient, wanted to discuss the tests and meds he wanted me to have before going to get them done. (didnt refuse, just wanted to discuss it because I felt I needed to understand the exact side effects/implications on my impending birth) I actually left the office crying my eyes out, 3 weeks before my child's birth (and the issue was high blood pressure......wanna bet he brought it to all new higher than ever levels?)
But this is getting quite off topic...
Ambulance chasers (or in this case virtual ambulance chasers) are not helping healthcare at all. But someone has to hold the medical industry accountable, and in this country (being the USA) the only thing that gets the higher up's attention is the all mighty dollar.
I really don't like these commercials either as I think they encourage people to see wrong doing where there is none and take the focus off of those situations where they REALLY should be upset.
But this comment, I disagree with. I don't think its fair to expect patients to go look up their meds on the web or on a (possibly outdated) drug guide. I also think that our physicians/nurses should definitely be in full disclosure mode, and while I would appreciate the reccomendation of a good drug book, I would hope that it would be in regards to OTHER drugs, and not the one that they were giving me at that moment. I would really like to have a full disclosure of possible side effects when I get a medication. Call me crazy if you will, but it would make me feel better to know that I may experience appetite loss and blurred vision and what my provider wants me to do if they happen, than go home and get blurred vision and do a search for lisinopril + vision on the net to see if thats why I'm having trouble seeing all of a sudden... or worse yet, delay starting meds because we feel as though we need to look them up first to make sure we are aware of all the side effects.
......And, I very kindly disagree with your comment. Shouldn't it be 50/50? Healthcare providers are and should be obligated to disclose such info, but it is also the patient's responsibility to confirm and seek higher knowlege on what they are putting in their bodies.
I always encourage my patients to do so and offer them references. Times have changed and with the increased shortage at the bedside, it's good to start getting them prepared and out of the usual custom of holding no self responsibility.
I can't be held responsible for the noncompliant pt, the druggy, the overworked, the poor......etc (Heck, I'm overworked and poor myself).
It doesn't take much time to do so and everyone should have their own interest vested. We need to ecourage them!
(Plus, to me, it's like going to church and not having a bible as a reference.) {sorry for the poor analogy-I'm sleep deprived :zzzzz}
Nurses will leave just like some OB/GYNs have decided to take other courses of action in regards to their practices. Like with me, I don't want to even think about being a obstetrics nurse because people want to blame every one for their child's mishap and sometimes it's an act of nature and not something someone done straight down to the janitor in the hospital.
There is so much that is wrong with obstetrics in the USA and elsewhere in the world that it could (and has) filled volumes. Its scary to be a part of that system unless you just close your eyes and pray till you get to the other end of it. I am very passionate about birth, but its such a messed up issue, one of many reasons being the sue happy and the sue fearing, that I would not touch an L&D ward for all the money in the world.
Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN
1,130 Posts
I totally agree with everything you just said, particularly the women in labor part. :)