rita.gibson
Proud Member
Walgren was as cautious as he could with these character witnesses- he could have dug in mercilessly and paraded them around , especially senior citizens with that generational 'he's the Doctor!!" type mentality. Good thing he didn't and still managed to get to the point- and even introduce 'damage' like that letter of reprimand- surprised he got away with that, is the defense asleep at the wheel? Geez.
Seems like Murray knows exactly when to play up the "I'm so concerned about" you card. Untrained personnel in his office and the next person hears that the stress test might be too much in an office environment. Interesting difference in standard of care.
I also wished that someone would explain that senior citizens on medicare are by NO MEANS a verdict of bankruptcy.
Seriously???? I could point you to COUNTLESS medical practices in so called working poor environments. A lot of practices are very happy about self-pay patients whom they let pay upfront. I'm about to cry, really. *sarcasm* The fact that he can afford 2 practices tells you that taking care of the working class by no means indicates an automated death sentence financially. I actually don't know many Doctors in an employee status that can afford working for free for several months.
Also... there is a generation of seniors that has worked at a time when pensions and the like were much more generous- especially in union negotiated retirement surroundings. That's his market. Not 20 year olds working 2 jobs. Don't let the fact that these are largely older people fool you. Many of today's working poor and many seniors can unfortunately only dream of lifelong healthcare after retirement. (so please don't misunderstand me)
It's difficult to generalize but as an Office Manager I have seen a lot of people in traditional labor jobs with better healthcare insurance then those who graduated college and in current academic environments. Once upon a time working retail still meant access to healthcare insurance, much different currently.
Murray certainly didn't work for free, if people buy that then I'd like to propose selling them an awesome bridge in China. Don't think he was placing stent after stent for free, lol. And don't think hospitals do things for free, either.
And all the follow-up maintenance in heart care related issue. Repeated follow ups are LOVED in the right medical field, since you can squeeze maximum charge out of people with a minimum of effort. Especially in a 'scary' field such a cardiology. OF COURSE he'd have loooooots of follow up visits- if things go well you spent half the effort- or let your untrained people take care of that- and still charge for an exam. Murray always finds someone who do it for him- 7 children later and volunteers in his practice.
I thought my head would explode when I heard "he helped to obtain the medication" ("that he prescribed"). I'm sure he did, obtaining medication seems another specialty. Especially when it's so called "maintenance medication" (that's what insurance companies call regularly taken medication such as iron supplements, high blood pressure medication etc)- it keeps your patient flow steady since by law a patient has to be seen regularly to be able to prescribe them. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Prescribing cholesterol medication is a gold mine. Even if you sent your patient to a lab to do the lab work- you can always have a patient make an appointment to 'discuss the results', lol, since you can charge for that.
Put that in contrast with Michael and his exceptionally clear status of no build up in his arteries. I wonder just how many Doctors tried taking Michael for a ride by trying to keep him by their side.
I'm not trying to take away from those who are being helped by honest Doctors- but unfortunately he's not in court because of outstanding care, but because his patient died a completely senseless death.
Edit: They are a lot of "Murrays" out there in the world- but only one Michael- and they know exactly how to slide through life while everyone else fixes their messes. Murray is an expert in that. 7 children and untrained volunteers later. They know exactly to pick those who they will either use, abuse, drop, or discard when they are no longer needed.
And they know how to get by- until they really mess up. Let's hope Murray will never ever have a chance to fool one more person
I love this post, You have it in the bag nicely, thank you I have nothing to add.
Actually I do, It's not unusual for elderly patient's to remember a doctor in their will.
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