riGHT TtSCTTOBO (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Monday. March 11, 1937
Misunderstanding Usually Found Major Cause Of Complaints Registered Aqainst Doctors
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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
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