My Doctor by Ted Bacharach MD (retired)

 

Once upon a time, as all old stories begin, people used to talk about “my doctor”. Recently one hears this remark far less frequently. Today people are more apt to mention my “primary care” or “the doctor they sent me to” or  the ER doc, and so forth. What happened to my  doctor  and what changed?  The answer is really  quite simple. The doctor no longer works for you, he works for the insurance company or the corporation that employs him.  His loyalty has shifted from his patients to some other more distant  entity which provides him with a monetary return. Most people, even doctors, try to please the entity that provides their financial rewards. The relationship that once existed between doctors and their patients has been fractured but it is remembered with great fondness by  many doctors as well as patients. Progress is not  always in an upward direction.

Editor’s note: Amen!