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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1957)
riGHT TtSCTTOBO (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Monday. March 11, 1937 Misunderstanding Usually Found Major Cause Of Complaints Registered Aqainst Doctors Kdltof, nntr: Tku H tke tint drnm. W,,...,..j .u- ...u.t- I .1 I.-J ...:.u t.:. s.vt j. i.,,. us.t i u -..;..... ... : t .. . - O inre cmpau-nps fcy last veir pmi. dnt of tb America M'dtrat Aspo rtation examining liiui4trLandinr bftwwn the public ad the medical profession. 7 DJt. ELMER HESS Wriie for Umiteti Pre What do people think about doctors? Does the public respect the medical profession, have ith in physicians. Or is there a Rowing animosity toward medi- q cai men? rom me trunks you some times read or the commpnti vnn .fctar you might get the idea peo ple are pretty disgruntled about the men who serve their medi cal needs. How many times have you encountered criticisms like these? Doctors are impersonal, they a?V curt to people who aren't seriously ill and belittle their problems . . ." "Doctors charge too much . . "Doctors add to a patient's bill when they find out he carries insurance . . ." . Sought Reactions Well, I can tell you that dur lnr my term of office as presi dent of the American Medical .association I got some first hand ; information on this subject. In " my extensive travels I ques- ' tioned all kinds of Americans to find out their feelings toward doctors. And I studied every let i ter of complaint I received. : It seems to me the number of ' complaints the president of the - world's largest medical organi- ration receives ought to be a '- pretty good means of measuring the extent of dissatisfaction : around the country. I was actu ally amazed how few letters I . received. In a country with a population of over 160 million people I received less than 1.000 letters of complaint and I personally answered each one. Attempt to Clear Air Within the last few years the medical profession has set up mechanisms to handle real or imagined grievances. We call them grievances or mediation committer and a majority of state and county medical socie ties have them today. These are committees made up of doctors to whom a person can take a complaint about a physician or some aspect of medical service. You get a fair hearing before such a committee. And an hon est attempt is made to settle problems fairly. One thing that doctors have learned in their recent efforts to reduce complaints is that sim ple misunderstanding is usually the major cause. Often, when both sides to the controversy come to understand the whole situation, complaints vanish in thin air. An Example The medical profession tradi tionally has kept tabs on its own members; policed its own ranks, so to speak, in an effort to make sure doctors conform to the highest ethical concepts of the practice of medicine. And just to show you that doctors don't whitewash a colleague when they find he has violated an ethical principle or has not acted in accordance with good stand ards of medicine, let me tell you a true story. An Oakland, Calif., woman had surgery and when she re- cevied her bill, felt her surgeon had overcharged her. Even though she was wealthy, the woman refused to pay this bill. She took her complaint to the Alameda County Medical socie ty. Their grievance committee heard her story. "Of course, I could pay the fee charged," she said, "but it is many times what is charged for a similar operation in this area." No Price Quoted The committee investigated and learned that her physician had failed to tell her prior to the operation what the charge would be. The AMA, to prevent such misunderstanding, encour aged all physicians to discuss fees in advance with patients and to itemize the bill for clar ity. When the committee sug gested to the physician that he reduce his bill to make it closer to the going rate for such sur gery, he refused. Then the griev ance committee took its stand. It told him that since he had not agreed upon a fee prior to the operation, he should accept the usual fee. If he did not do so, the committee said, it would de fend the patient's position if the case went to court. Needless to say, the physicians accepted an "average" fee. Cases Not Alike However, there's one thing patients sometimes don't realize. No two cases are exactly alike. There way be good reasons why Mrs. Jones may pay less for a medical service than someone in your family does for a similar procedure. I once treated two men who were neighbors. Both had similar symptoms and both had to have surgery. In one case the man had a condition easily corrected. The other unfortu nately had a malignancy so his operative result wasn't good. The man with the malignancy O. Around Hollywood Las Vegas, Nev. U.PJ A "Ghost hotel" that's been Las Vegas' glamorous white elephant at last is com ing to life as the gambling town's most sup ercolossal spa. A year ago Las Vegas had rolled snake eyes and the town sang aii. M..hT Dusiness oiues (wSile hotels opened, closed and thned hands giddily. tfodiyothe community appears (ttt 1 more prosperous. The Q55'S1 Nevada and Dunes hotels. nc shuttered, are open again. (3"bgirport reports it's handling 10.000 more visitors so far this trtr than it did the first two ponths of 1956. Vow another new hotel, the million Tropicana, finished out sitting empty for a year, rtll open its doors to take ad vantage of the better business. Cggt VIegant Visitors who've toured the Tropicana rave that it's the most elegant in the country and the most costly of this resort area. One booster claims it makes Miami's famous Fontainbleu "look like last year's tract house." Ground was broken on the Tropicana in April of 1955. But authorities objected to one of the owners and turned down the hotel's application for a gam bling license. New owners have taken over, and the Tropicana is set to open April 3 with Eddie Fisher singing in Las Vegas for the first time. Touring the "ghost hotel" is eerie, even though the place is beginning to liven up with re- By ALINE MOSBY United Press Correspondent hearsing chorus girls. The 300 rooms feature tasteful regency modern decor marble coffee tables, grecian statues, antique looking chests, crystal chande liers and private balconies. The supper club where New York's Monte Proser will present shows has glass walls and nine stages including one that nearly circles the room a la Cinerama. The hotel also features a 40 foot high fountain in front, a 10 foot waterfall, roof gardens and a scalloped swimming pool with music piped imderwater. Shocked Gamblers. Veteran gamblers are shocked, but the Tropicana owners insist gambling will be secondary. Thus the hotel will violate all Las Vegas rules for parting the customer with his money. The guest usually must not be pro vided with any distractions that might keep him from the crap table no windows or clocks so he can't see what time of day it is. no TV sets, tennis courts, tempting restaurants or sports. Eut the formal, wood-panelled Tropicana casino has both win dows and clocks. There's also a TV room, tennis courts, badmin ton courts, putting green and plushy Gourmet's Dining Room operated by Perino's restaurants. As one hotel worker says, "class now has come to Las Vegas." HATS FOR HORSES Newmarket, England (U.R) Saddle-maker F. E. Gibson said Saturday he is branching out into the hat business for horses. He said he has asked a hat man ufacturer to supply him with straw hats of Spanish design, with room to cut holes for the horse's ears. "Women riders like to see hats on their horses," Gibson explained. CONSTIPATED? New laxative discovery un-!ocks bowel blocks without gag, bloat or gripe Constipation is caused by what doc tors cail a "thrifty" colon that, instead of retaining moisture as it should, does the opposite: robs the colon of so much moisture that its contents become dehydrated, so dry that they block the bowel; so shrunken that they fail to excite or. stimulate the urge to purge that propels expels waste from your body. To regain normal regularity, the dry, shrunken, constipating contents of your colon which now block your bowel must be remoistened. Second, bulk must be brought to your colon to S-T--E-T-C-H STIMULATE it to action; to a normal urge to purge. And, of all laxatives, only Colonaid, the amazing new laxative discovery possesses Colonaid's great moutunz- i capacity, plus Colonud's slrtleh snmulaimg bulk. So effective it re lieves even chronic constipation over night, Colonaid a yet so smooth, so gentle it has proved safe even for women in critical stages of prepssncy. Superior to old style bulk, salt or drug laxatives. Colonaid neither gags, bloats nor gripes; won't interfere with absorption of vitamins and other valu able food nutrients; in clinical tests, did not cause rash or other reactions. It's a physiological fact: Exercise tones your body! And Colonaid exercises your colon to tone it against constipa tion, overnight! Get Colonaid, in easy-to-take tablet form at any drug counter, today! Only 98c for the 60 tablet package, brings positive relief at less than 2c per tablet. checked with his neighbor found there was a difference in the operative results, and re fused to pay his bill. Did we attempt to collect? Of course not. This story merely illustrates the many variations in what of ten appear to be identical cases. That's why it is difficult to es tablish definite average fees for specific conditions. Mostly 'Misunderstanding' The matter of fees does some times result in justified com plaints. There are occasional in stances of overcharging. A few doctors may hike a bill when patients have insurance. But I'd be willing to bet that when you hear a complaint about over charging or fee hiking, it is gen erally because of a misunder standing of the situation rather than because the physician is guilty. The medical profession itself is working hard to weed out any cases of abuse of this type. As for the complaint that doctors are curt and impersonal, to say that doctors are tremen dously busy doesn't really justi fy such attitudes. Our profession is continually impressing upon its members the importance of treating each patient as a special individual, not just as a clinical case. Our efforts to build better doctor-patient relationships help reinstill the qualities of kindli ness and patience that made the horse and buggy doctor such a revered man. We're seeking to train tomorrow's doctors this philosophy. Even so, remember that doc tors are human, too. They get tired, they have personal prob lems, they don't alwavs nfirf sunshine and light. But they try Tomorrow: Dr. Hess writes! about the fantastic success of pre-paid medical care through insurance programs. CHARLES D. HOLBROOK TAX SERVICE Jackson Hotel Bldf Phone 2-5969 Evenings By Appointment Phone 2-8840 Evenings YOUR LAST CHANCE For Night School This Year CLASSES BEGINNING MARCH 25 Accounting Math English Shorthand Typewriting Business Law Calculators Spelling SPEEDWRITING Robertson SCHOOL of BUSINESS 40-42 N. Riverside Medford, Oregon Featured at a New Low Price! Jell -Wei Gelatin Dessert Nine Wonderful Flavors pkg. To Choose From. G3 LJU,.(.,4I J I,. L. ISAFEWAY: M wvM&Dldce i to save! Yes it's true . . . you do save more on your TOTAL food bill at Safeway every day of the week! Lucerne 3.3 Milk Richer "Bonus Quality." Regular or Homogenized Milk Half Gal. 47c Torpedo Brand Prices in this advertisement are effect ive through Wednesday, March 13, at Safeway in Medford. 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