tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6211405954943098401.post2533209699166746324..comments2023-11-20T00:23:16.290+01:00Comments on Stethoscope On Rome: Social Complications: The Dark Underbelly of American MedicineSusan Levenstein, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04664082134917253721noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6211405954943098401.post-47678337671444431912019-06-16T19:44:13.486+02:002019-06-16T19:44:13.486+02:00What you wrote is very astute. Sink or swim, that&...What you wrote is very astute. Sink or swim, that's the American motto (or perhaps model). Think rugged individualism, think the frontier spirit, think pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and you wind up with "small government" excuses for abandoning the population.Susan Levenstein, MDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04664082134917253721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6211405954943098401.post-17734069819625764382019-06-16T19:41:17.058+02:002019-06-16T19:41:17.058+02:00Yes, I saw that article posted at a narrative medi...Yes, I saw that article posted at a narrative medicine Facebook group I belong to. I found it very interesting but in the end barking up the wrong tree. As you hint, Americans think they deserve perfect health -somewhere in my book I do devote a few lines to that! Here's what I wrote on Facebook: Putting difficult patients aside - a difficult task for me and other practicing physicians! - the reason the USA spends so much on health care has been amply demonstrated to be overwhelmingly because of high prices, not overutilization. For example check out https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2019/us-health-care-spending-highest-among-developed-countries.htmlSusan Levenstein, MDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04664082134917253721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6211405954943098401.post-4108889627693056592019-06-16T17:33:32.357+02:002019-06-16T17:33:32.357+02:00This is very timely. An article in the July issue ...This is very timely. An article in the July issue of the Atlantic, "The Worst Patients in the World," pins part of the blame on Americans' social values and structures, expectations and beliefs--authors of their own misfortunes.<br />https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/american-health-care-spending/590623/ <br /><br />I was struck especially by one observation: Americans treat death as "optional" while almost everyone else accepts its inevitability.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11627547125516148043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6211405954943098401.post-77891544480339525732019-06-15T21:26:59.637+02:002019-06-15T21:26:59.637+02:00Having lived in Western Europe for a long time, th...Having lived in Western Europe for a long time, the cost of the American medical system, in absolute terms, and to its patients, in personal terms, is outrageous. You can also see the cultural connection between the costs and lack of provision for the ill in other ways, like the ridiculously short sick leave people have. Please excuse the generalization, but I find the U.S. to be a rather hard country, in many respects. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01024306588312165379noreply@blogger.com