So, I accidentally deleted my comment earlier. Grrrr. What I had said was, my stepmom was diagnosed with stage 4 non Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002, (just after my mom died).. She found a wonderful oncologist who got her into a clinical trial. Not typical chemo/radiation. Well, she responded so positively, that the tumors completely shrank, and she was technically in remission. Check ups confirmed no new growth, dormant. Around the end of 2007, she started having digestive issues. She went to a gastroenterologist, who determined she had celiac disease. She went on a strict gluten free diet, which was helping somewhat, but still wasn't perfect. The GI doc said, oh it's nothing, just your body adjusting, and maybe an infection. So she and my dad continued with the gluten free regimen, because that's what the doc said to do, and that's what their generation does, and she continued to lose weight and wasn't able to keep anything in her body. This went against what my the rest of us, my sisters and brother and I urged. To get a second opinion. Finally they said enough, this was in April 2009. She had blood tests done and cancer was found in her intestines. She was given the traditional chemo protocol of chemo/radiation. She briefly improved, but her body could not tolerate the intensive chemo. By the beginning of July, she was dead. I still want to get my hands on that dr. I'm still so angry about it! He just would not look at any other explanation for why she didn't get any better.

Exactly!! Very well said. And I am convinced that is the intention. Drive all private dentists and doctors out of business; force them to work for hospitals or big corporations. It's much easier for the government to take over a few big institutions. I think the insurance companies are in on the deal.

So all hands, and wallets, are tied.
:-(

John, I had a perfectly healthy very active 75 year old male patient. Well, his doctor put him on cholesterol medication, which caused severe muscle pains, for which they gave him steroids, which caused him to become diabetic. The pain was debilitating and never went away. He became a frail, pitiful old man, and within a year was dead. He was a good man, and the world was a better place with him in it. I miss him, and wish he hadn't done what the doctor said.

NMA, you can't survive without taking insurance. I am a dentist, not an MD, but my overhead is way too high to survive without a large patient population. The insurance companies are excellent propagandists; they have convinced the public that without insurance they can't even seek out care.

This has been mentioned before here. Does Elizabeth Holmes plan to do what you describe legally?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142412...

Oh, pure torture!! "But WHYYY?!"
Lol

There is no doubt that surgeons love to cut. That's their job and they take every opportunity to do it. It is up to the patient to look out for himself and use his 2nd favorite organ.

I'm doing it for conditioning, like the emphysema
exercises they taught me to do. . need to hook it
to the treadmill ! -- j

so I vote for fun and campaign against the bad folks! -- j

Herb, I've known this super-frugal guy for about 27
years, and it was only when he turned 65 that he
decided to visit a doctor. . he was advised that he
had thyroid cancer and had his thyroid removed....
then, the endocrinologist advised him that he needed
to go to see a heart doctor because of the results
of an MRI ... enlarged artery. . 2 doctors (surgeon plus
heart Dr) later, he was "getting his life in order" for
"open heart surgery" -- aneurism repair. . and valve
repair or replacement. . and possible bypass
surgery. . scared the poop out of him.

almost a year of foot-dragging later, they did the
aneurism repair, valve repair (not replacement)
and found that no bypasses were needed.

still, he's never seen a scope picture, xray, or a
piece of flawed blood vessel. . just trusted the
doctors.

I saw the flawed vein removed when I had vein
stripping, and xrays of my implanted metal stuff
from a broken leg and a broken arm. . and a wire
cage placed in my "inferior" vena cava to catch
clots. . evidence.

I just wonder about all of this surgery. -- j

remember those awful words "stay in" ? . a meaning
beyond bad, way into torture! -- j

didn't kill me, either! -- j

And eat the white paste in a jar that we got at school.

An example of your post, I was having a heart attack in the small rural town of Valley View, pop. 646 if one of the cows didn't die. The closest hospital which was not more than a glorified veterniarian clinic but I was told to go there, They didn't have the equipment or the personal to handle it so I was medevaced to a real hospital thirty miles away, The next thing I knew I woke up while they were pulling the hose out of my throat. I was sent to a rehabilitation clinic where they left me notes on what to do each day and charged me $80 per note. Also, they met every Wednesday to decide who could be released. So you could be fine and just sit there for a week with no reason that you couldn't go home. I got tired of the scam and told them that I was going home. They said that I couldn't until the once a week meeting said I could. I left anyway and notified my supplemental insurance of what they were doing and that I was no longer there and to not pay their invoices. They have a sweet racket going.

I have sometimes thought of stocking up with home health medical equipment...so, not a bad idea.

Jan

I try to look at things objectively. Really, I do. Freedomforall is right, Ben is right, and yet -- It is insane. Going back to when I was a kid and hospitalization insurance was a waste because it hardly covered anything to today when it attempts to cover diseases not yet detected. All of the plans and all of the coverages don't make purely rational sense, unless you are wealthy enough to afford the gold plated private plans. And if that's the case, you probably can afford to self-insure.

I've got small solar panels from broken fence chargers on my small ranch I've got rigged to do the same. Guess your welcome to my gulch if you want your production to be pedal power supplier. Lol

Its only one source and disguised as two. Thats why the lesser of two evils vote never works. It just ends the same taking a slightly different path toward dictatorship.

Good point. One of the best papers I have heard in my carrier was given by a guy from one of the "stan" countries - former soviet union. The guy was trained in the US and doing research overseas. It was on tumor necrosis factor and my take home message was that he was able to avoid US government intervention in his own country. I wonder home much medical research is done over seas to avoid US government hassle.

What!?!
Before I got my bypass, I got a 2nd opinion, had the Dr. show me the angiogram, and had him explain the various options such as a stent vs. a bypass etc. I was not about to have them crack my chest, put me on a heart & lung machine if I didn't absolutely need it. I hadn't had a heart attack, but prevented it from happening.

Boy, did you bring back some wonderful memories! Being stuck inside was punishment, not the norm!
Thank you also for sharing your insights and experiences with regard to obamacare an the closing of small hospitals. My town ha approx 25,000 people in it. Large small town. But our hospital is contracting, having already closed the maternity ward and next on the chopping block is the ER. It's a travesty! And I am so disheartened for those in the medical profession. Unless one can survive by hanging up a shingle and being a sole practitioner, cutting out insurance, this bloated excuse for wealth redistribution is going to kill off Md's and any desire to go into any medical profession.

Agreed! Guess what O, you didn't build ANYTHING! EVER!

I have a pedal-power thing with which I can charge
lithium-ion batteries which are strong enough to
jump-start a car. . fun with electricity! -- j

I know it seems highly unlikely but it peeks through. I left L.A. and Phoenix. To start my own gulch before I knew their was a gulch. You would be surprised how different and well one can live by getting away from it all.
Yes I'm working on building my own solar and wind power system so yea you can send me a couple forklift battering. Lol