>>As for the rest, they are sick leaches who feed off the population and are concerned only with his/her investments and profits. Combined with the AMA, pharmaceutical houses, insurance companies and lobbyists, we have a medical nightmare!
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>That's why I decided to stay healthy, and have only marital relations with the doctors... OK, I also wrote a lot of software for them. But being a patient is very low on my priority list.
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>>My recommendation to everyone is to never get sick or injured and you have a better chance of survival into old age. Medical intervention in this country has a price ? it could be your life. But then what is an attorney for? After the fact resolution is not the answer!
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>I read this whole thing to my wife, and she immediately said "vrana vrani o?i ne vadi"... which is a very pithy Serbian proverb. Literally "a crow doesn't pick crow's eyes", liberally "snakes don't bite snakes". A doctor in those 15% that you mention is in a tight vise between the insurance and pharmacy on one side, his own (or his hospital's) profit and the Aesculapus oath. Note the order of these. I figure they spend more time doing paperwork than talking with the patients.
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>This summer our daughter fell in the bathroom, hit her shoulder blades and was left breathless for a short while. We were pretty sure she didn't break anything, but not quite, so we called 911. The fire truck came very quickly (the VA Beach volunteers, good guys), in ten minutes there were about 6-7 of them in the room, they put her on a stretcher, carried her downstairs, and for a while I had the illusion that the system really works.
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>But then at the hospital it took one whole hour until we saw a doctor - a case brought by emergency car(!). We had to get our data registered several times, the anamnesis taken at least three times (in addition to the one given to the 911 team), name address etc written into four different sheets and a computer on wheels... and when a doctor finally came, it took about two minutes. He didn't even roll up her shirt to see if there was a bruise, just palpated her back and listened through a stetoscope through the shirt, not staying on any particular spot more than a second. This guy must have ultrasound ears, if he heard anything. Fifteen minutes later another doctor came, and did pretty much the same, in the same time.
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>I was paying some extra insurance to cover for accidents, and guess what. Didn't get a dime refunded.
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>Today's the deadline to extend this insurance or not. One chance of guessing whether I'll pay or not would be enough.

I was in the similar situation once or twice.

It is always paperwork first, then the patient. Our child doctor spends less than 5 minutes with our son in his regular visits (Each visit costs $15). I don't remember hearing anything important from him. Each time it's about 30-45 minutes wait period in the reception room...