The Doctor Patient Medical Association Foundation conducted a faxed survey of random doctors in May 2012. In the survey, it is clearly delineated that the medical system as it is changing is discouraging doctors from practicing. 83% of the doctors said that current changes made them think about quitting, and 90% of them thought the path of the medical field currently was wrong.
They apparently feel that their Hippocratic oaths are being compromised; 61% of them feel that Hippocratic ethics are getting more difficult to practice, which is troubling, since one of the cardinal parts of the oath is the phrase “I will keep them from harm and injustice.”
85% of the doctors surveyed felt that the patient-physician relationship is declining. 37% of the doctors said they were just squeaking by, and 39% said things would get worse over the next five years.
The doctors were virtually unanimous that the government is at fault for medicine being on the wrong track, and feel that corporate medicine is trying to destroy private practice. The highest numbers ever recorded are opting out of Medicare and Medicaid. They feel the best way to attack the current problems is to restore autonomy, eliminate government involvement, increase patient responsibility and implement free market reforms.
An orthopedist from Texas stated, “I have been in practice for 28 years and medicine is now the worst for doctors it has ever been and I don’t see it getting any better. We needed insurance reform not health care reform, we got neither.”
A general surgeon from Georgia said, “The best chance for controlling cost is limiting government interference and increasing patient responsibility for cost. If the patient pays at time of service and files an insurance claim on their own, it reduces the likelihood of superfluous utilization, AND reduces insurance company denials since the patient is following up on their own claim. Also, removing insurance purchasing from employers makes insurers responsible to policy holder, not employers.”
Another general surgeon from Illinois said, “Less government will mean better and less expensive medical care. Government is the problem. Are there any long term Government run programs that aren’t riddled with inefficiency and corruption?”
A dermatologist from Missouri said, “Obamacare will be the ultimate [end] of the solo practitioner and small practices.”
Barack Obama will probably have a simple solution for the doctors’ despair over their future: “Physician, heal thyself.”
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