Persistent lightheadedness

[fisherdvm]

So what happened to the days of old (well....30 years ago or so) when the family physician (or today's primary care) set broken bones, gave shots, did house calls, delivered babies, sewed up cuts, gave physicals to the school's sports teams, attended the high school football games in case of injury (whose son used to get away with speeding tickets etc because "Ole Doc" was the most respected man in town).....?

The lawyers killed them, gutted them, and they became extinct...

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Boy, Mr. surgeon, you are too anal to be a surgeon. Are you sure you're not an internist??

Can't you take a joke about idiopathic?? I've been a physician long enough to know that I am an idiot when I don't know the answer.

I am anal to be sure, but it's hard to tell when someone is joking in print. Sorry. An idiot is not someone who doesn't know the answer, it's someone who does a L34 discectomy for an L45 disc herniation...not that that's ever happened to ME (I plead the Fifth).

You must know, of course, that surgeons ALWAYS have an answer. It's just not always right.

 

[fisherdvm]

Have you heard of this one, surgeon?

How do you hide a dollar bill from a surgeon? Put it in a book.

How do you hide a dollar bill from an internist? Put it in the vagina.

How do you hid a dollar bill from a plastic surgeon? You can't hide money from a plastic surgeon.

He, he, he.... You're reading too many books...

 

[Hank49]

The lawyers killed them, gutted them, and they became extinct...

Too bad it wasn't the other way around.....

 

[DandyDon]

Originally Posted by fisherdvm
The lawyers killed them, gutted them, and they became extinct...

I don't think so at all. I think the medical profession evolved dramatically in the last 50 years I've been getting stitches and life saving treatments, and the doctors learned new needs that require medical office visits and specializations - and we've all benefited.

Fisherdvm, are you a physician? You don't have a profile.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

I don't think so at all. I think the medical profession evolved dramatically in the last 50 years I've been getting stitches and life saving treatments, and the doctors learned new needs that require medical office visits and specializations - and we've all benefited.

Fisherdvm, are you a physician? You don't have a profile.

I agree. There was a time when one mechanic could fix anything on a car, too, but no longer.

Do we really want the same doctor setting broken bones, delivering babies, treating diabetes, sewing up cut chins and doing hernia surgery? How many deliveries a year can a jack of all trades do, and how good at them can they be if they only do a few a year? yes, the lawyers had a hand in it --- by penalizing people who were crummy at what they do. Sixty years ago, Doc Jones could deliver a baby and set a bone too...but if Doc Jones killed a baby or sentenced someone to limp for the rest of life by his amateurish orthopedics, he could get away with it. Not today. And Fisherdvm says he is a physician, although DVM is a veterinarian degree, isn't it?

 

[DandyDon]

I agree. There was a time when one mechanic could fix anything on a car, too, but no longer.

Do we really want the same doctor setting broken bones, delivering babies, treating diabetes, sewing up cut chins and doing hernia surgery? How many deliveries a year can a jack of all trades do, and how good at them can they be if they only do a few a year? yes, the lawyers had a hand in it --- by penalizing people who were crummy at what they do. Sixty years ago, Doc Jones could deliver a baby and set a bone too...but if Doc Jones killed a baby or sentenced someone to limp for the rest of life by his amateurish orthopedics, he could get away with it. Not today. And Fisherdvm says he is a physician, although DVM is a veterinarian degree, isn't it?

If Fisherdvm is a vet, fine - just didn't want to read conclusions into suggestions of a Username. That would explain his sense of humor, altho with the gentleman's jabs at medical practices today, it would be polite to include that on his profile. Large or small animal? Any specialties? They have specialized, too.

Actually, we have some do-anything docs in here in my town. Small towns don't attract the best. It's only 20 miles to a much better system, tho - and yeah, I wanted much better for my Dvt, etc. We took my nephew to the local ER recently after he broke a glass bowl he left in the floor by stepping on it, but only cause he was bleeding too much for the 20 mile trip to Plainview. He was stabilized and transported, and my brother's family generally goes 70 miles to the Lubbock system.

No, an Ekg machine couldn't fit in the old country doc's bag, no could an ultra sound, Mri, etc, or would he know how to run it. Perhaps some EMS field vehicles have some of those and techs who can, but generally - specialization and centralization has been medically and economically beneficial to the public, IMO.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

If Fisherdvm is a vet, fine - just didn't want to read conclusions into suggestions of a Username. That would explain his sense of humor, altho with the gentleman's jabs at medical practices today, it would be polite to include that on his profile. Large or small animal? Any specialties? They have specialized, too.

Actually, we have some do-anything docs in here in my town. Small towns don't attract the best. It's only 20 miles to a much better system, tho - and yeah, I wanted much better for my Dvt, etc. We took my nephew to the local ER recently after he broke a glass bowl he left in the floor by stepping on it, but only cause he was bleeding too much for the 20 mile trip to Plainview. He was stabilized and transported, and my brother's family generally goes 70 miles to the Lubbock system.

No, an Ekg machine couldn't fit in the old country doc's bag, no could an ultra sound, Mri, etc, or would he know how to run it. Perhaps some EMS field vehicles have some of those and techs who can, but generally - specialization and centralization has been medically and economically beneficial to the public, IMO.

The changes in the last thirty years make generalization impossible. When I went to medical school, the drugs used to treat high blood pressure were HCTZ, aldomet, inderal, hydralazine, that's about it. The CT scanner was just being installed and took an hour per scan... no MRI, no statin drugs, limited numbers of anti-depressants, and so on. Now, it takes a fellowship just to know the optimal treatment of hypertension or diabetes, given the array of therapies available.

Also, in the 1980s, courts forced a national, not a regional, standard of care as the basis for negligence suits. The fact that a patient lives in a rural setting is no longer an excuse for reduced care. Basically, a farmer 100 miles from nowhere MUST have whatever is available to a wealthy Manhattanite, as soon as that Manhattanite would get it, too. Anything less is malpractice. So the days of the country doc, largely a myth anyway, are gone for good.

 

[DandyDon]

I follow all but the last line...

...the country doc, largely a myth anyway, are gone for good.

I vaguely remember one. He once had dad administer ether to me while he removed a fingernail (obviously, I survived), and I remember him once coming 8 miles out in the country to check on mom ill in bed. Those memories are over 50 yrs old.

Today's ways are much better...

 

[fisherdvm]

I was a vet, but now an MD. I don't like to fill out profiles, as I find these open forums can be very nasty at times. There arent't very many MD DVM's with my background, and I prefer to keep my privacy.