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Emergency Room Harborview Medical Center
Dr. Marty Makary recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that every week medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets. (AP Photo)

Doctors in revolt

BY Dave Ross  on November 23, 2012 @ 9:12 am (Updated: 11:00 am - 11/23/12 )

We're all familiar with the problem of medical mistakes: the patient who goes in for a routine operation and gets a staph infection and dies.

But there's an even bigger problem:

"Thirty percent of everything we do in health care may be unnecessary, according to the Institute of Medicine, our most respected body," says Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and the author of "Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You ..."

Makary recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that every week medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets.

"There is tremendous potential for reducing the overall level of harm, if we just look at what we don't need to be doing."

And why do doctors end up ordering unnecessary tests or performing unnecessary operations?

"Forty-six percent of doctors are burned out, according to a recent Mayor Clinic study. Of course, when you have your front line providers burned out, in any industry, there's going to be worse care. There's going to be variability."

And more and more, doctors have concluded that the only way they can provide good care is to drop out of the system:

"Primary care doctors across the country are now saying 'we're going to leave the profession as we know it and open up our shop' where if you prescribe to their services, that is if you pay them $1,000 or $2,000 per year, you can have their cell phone number. They'll make house calls, they'll spend two hours doing a history and physical exam, and they'll ask you about your sleep habits and exercise. They're doubling their pay, they're practicing medicine the way they've always wanted to, and they don't have to hire people to fight with insurance companies."

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (61)


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  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    We've Got Obamacare...
    November 24, 2012 11:06 pm
    ... like it or not (and I don't).

    It's really that simple. Time will prove all things. The majority of Americans both by popular vote and electoral voted in favor of policies like this.

    I'll say this... insurance companies ARE NOT our friends either. They have done nothing to try and help healthcare... or any other industry. They are a ginormous lobby group that pressures corrupt politicians (talk about a redundant statement) on both sides to pass laws in their favor.

    Rest assured, somewhere in this Obamacare insurance companies are going to come out just fine...

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Rage, fear, hatred, and propaganda vs. the CBO on Obamacare....
    November 25, 2012 7:02 am
    Quickly now, you guys on the right, take a minute off from calling the President of the United States "Monkey Boy" (Bill Law) and look up the Congressional Budget Office's fiscal evaluation of Obamacare.

    Then you have to decide who to trust. A 300-pound drug addict who makes millions per year stirring up guys making $15 an hour,talking strictly out his tailpipe, or a bi-partisan panel of congressional budget experts.

    On the table for the fiscal cliff indeed....Obamacare, once implemented, will *reduce* the deficit; at least according to the CBO.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Hey, Chuck. Addiction is NOT a joke.
    November 25, 2012 8:01 am
    And, so far as I've seen, that 300 lb. HAS been able to break the grip of oxey and has stayed clean. ... And good for him !

    So, just how are YOUR slurs any different than Bill's ?

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  • rational wrote...
    ron prevost
    November 25, 2012 9:13 am
    So, just how are YOUR slurs any different than Bill's ?

    And the answer is Chuck's slurs aren't any different than Bill's "monkey boy" comment...and since he complains about it and then does the same he evidences the core trait of a liberal....hypocrisy.

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  • maplefish wrote...
    Democrats & Liberals
    November 25, 2012 5:33 pm
    Constantly striving for a new level of hypocrisy.
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @Ron..."How different?"
    November 26, 2012 6:49 am
    The party I referred to easily tips the scales at 300 pounds, and has publicly admitted his drug addiction. You knew immediately to whom I was referring.

    The POTUS is neither a "monkey" or a "boy".

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    And addiction is only a sin when you do nothing about it.
    November 26, 2012 7:55 am
    Rush HAS. He is, so long as he maintains, free of his addiction. As is everyone struggling with past (and current) addiction. I know of many who struggle every day. But also some who have been clean and sober for 40 years.

    But whatever beef you may have with Rush should not dwell on any addiction. You have no right to continue to attack him for a failing several years ago than a racist has a right to call anyone - POTUS or skid road bum - a 'boy' or 'monkey'. ..... The sins of some on the right DO NOT justify the sins of some on the left. Nor vise versa.

    You, of all those left leaning herein, I had thought would realize that.

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Just like the Dear Leader was going to cut the deficit in half!
    November 25, 2012 8:05 am
    Right Chuck?
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  • wsualumn wrote...
    HA HA
    November 25, 2012 8:11 am
    You of all people criticizing Chuck? Shall we take a look at your "less than incredible" track record.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Yo Chuck
    November 25, 2012 5:36 pm
    Do any of you Liberals ever remember Obama claiming that ObamaCare's projected cost would be around $900 Billion? Did you see that your very own CBO protected that it will be closer to $2.5 TRILLION? That's a considerable miscalculation wouldn't you say? Typical Democrat Math.
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  • roomtemp wrote...
    @Chuck... Hypocrisy looks so much better the way you wear it...
    November 25, 2012 8:28 pm
    "Quickly now, you guys on the right_"

    My, what a big brush we use to paint others with. Some of us magically identical right wing clones have never called our president a name. (Unless you want to count socialist, anti-constitutional, inept, ineffective, divisive, or liar as names. I've done that. Then again, I've said the same thing about Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer and their tans aren't so great. So I'm pretty sure it's not race based.) Yup, considering the historical context of that insult, Bill Law's remark was contemptible. So was yours. So it's a race to the bottom for both sides then?

    "A 300-pound drug addict who makes millions_"

    So you choose to point out his physical characteristics, his disease, and his income level as if this was somehow relevant? How very moderate of you. Maybe it would have been faster to just call him a beluga. (Hey, for the record, I think Rush is a fatuous gasbag who jumped the shark a long time ago. But none of what you said about him means anything in the context of political discussion.)

    "Obamacare, once implemented, will *reduce* the deficit_"

    Bwaaahahaha! I didn't think that smoking law took effect until december 6th or something?. Obamacare (AHCA), by definition, is a government program. Government programs, by definition, mean using the violence of government to confiscate the wealth of some citizens to give it to others. You put whatever euphemism you want on it. It is legalized theft, plain and simple. To say that starting another government program is going to reduce government spending is a complete fallacy. Removing government programs and or reducing their scope is in fact the only thing that will reduce deficits.

    From Dave's post... "_if you pay them $1,000 or $2,000 per year, you can have their cell phone number_"

    Sign me up for that one! Because I flat out refuse to pay an insurance company because the federal government tells me to. You thieving liberal cowards can get in line with the neo con world police and walk right off the fiscal cliff as far as I'm concerned. My tax revolt has already begun. I got nothing for ya.

    On a side note, If Obamacare brings a resurgence of the good ol' country doctor, that might be one good unintended consequence. We'll need those after these morons get done crashing the world's economy.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Funniest one of the day: Roomtemp takes me to task for....
    November 26, 2012 6:57 am
    commenting about the size of a grossly overweight radio commentator, and even mentioning that same party's admitted drug addiction. Roomtemp is steadfastly against name calling, so if John Doe admits he is a drug addict and somebody else then describes Doe as a drug addict, that's "name calling" (as long as John Doe is a conservative).

    Then it gets rich. Right after a four paragraph scolding for "painting with a broad brush and name calling", Roomtemp launches this one: "You thieving liberal cowards....."

    Once again demonstrating that a lot of folks, maybe even the majority, have no actual scruples or principles at all. Whether something is right, wrong, good, bad, or indifferent depends on political perspective- not moral values.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • roomtemp wrote...
    You're right Chuck... My bad...
    November 26, 2012 2:58 pm
    I actually meant to say 'thieving socialist cowards'. But for some reason there is a direct mental link to liberals and socialists for me. (I guess I haven't met any conservative socialists yet to balance things.) Not all liberals are socialists of course. Truth is, many of my friends call themselves 'liberal' and I love them just as much as the conservative ones.

    My apologies to all the liberals that aren't thieving socialist cowards.

    Go ahead and attack Limbaugh all you want. Or Hannity, Matthews, Maddow, and the rest of the media circus clowns. I don't really care. They're all easy targets. I just thought that diatribe was lazy and beneath you Chuck. We have others here that fill the vitriolic media parrot role already. That ain't you.

    "Whether something is right, wrong, good, bad, or indifferent depends on political perspective- not moral values."

    OK Chuck. Lets toss out semantics and the labels for a minute and focus on a couple questions of morality.

    Can you legislate morality or does it come from within the individual? [extreme example] I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't think you're a murderer Chuck. Is the reason you're not, because there are laws against it or because your own morality tells you it's wrong? If the government said murder was legal, would you then do it? Somehow, I doubt it.

    Do you steal from your neighbors Chuck? I'm guessing that your morality tells you that stealing things is wrong. Please explain the morality of using the violence of government to take things from a person against their will and give them to another. If you do this to your neighbor, you go to jail. If you use the government to do it, it's suddenly OK? Is this type of theft moral, amoral, or immoral?

    Does evil hidden behind the auspices of government become good?

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    You of all people criticizing Chuck? Shall we take a look at your "less than incredible" track record.
    November 26, 2012 5:51 am
    I could care less of what you Left wing Parrots say about any so called "Track" record! Besides, it's not about me. It is about your Dear Leader and you Useful Idiots who did EXACTLY what you were programmed to do and re immac Comrade Obama. As a result we have to look forward to inferior government run ObamaCare and the massive increase in Taxes as a result of SCOTUS saying that ObamaCare is legal because it is a tax.

    Track record? You kidding Parrots? How is your track record for re immaculation? I did not mindlessly mark my ballots for re immaculation. YOU DID!

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    You of all people criticizing Chuck? Shall we take a look at your "less than incredible" track record
    November 26, 2012 6:03 am
    Track record? Your kidding! First of all, it's not about me. It is about substandard ObamaCare and who here who voted for a President and you Left wing Parrots who were brainwashed into wanting FOUR MORE YEARS of the last four years by re immaculation of your Dear Leader?

    The next 4 years being far worse!

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  • sportsguru wrote...
    Really Dave?
    November 26, 2012 6:47 am

    "_if you pay them $1,000 or $2,000 per year, you can have their cell phone number_"

    Let's look at that $2000 a year number, that comes to $166 a month? How come most Americans are paying over twice that right now if it would be that easy to get there cell phone,ha,ha.

    With all the medicare fraud being organized by all of these so called burned out providers. Maybe they need to leave the profession.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Guru, I don't think the $1,000 to $2,000 per year gets you any actual service,
    November 26, 2012 6:52 am
    just access.

    Health insurance costs more because it covers covers, at least partially, the cost of most treatments.

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    With all the medicare fraud being organized by all of these so called burned out providers. Maybe they need to leave the profession.
    November 26, 2012 3:05 pm
    Sports, if what you post is the truth, then you will no longer have to worry about it. Your Dear Leader and you beloved ObamaCare will run all the private insurers out of business or simply take them over and this regime will have it's monopoly on healthcare. Government run government administered healthcare.

    How about them Death Panels?

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