I live in this body and know it well. I know how far I can push it, when it needs a tune-up, and when I need to park it for a few days.
I am fully qualified to take my own temperature, monitor my energy and pain levels, and know when dragging my sick self to work will have a negative affect on my health, my work, and/or my co-workers. I know how to treat most conditions, that many have no treatment and must run their own course, and when I'm in over my head and need a doctor's assistance.
I also know my doctor trusts my judgment and does not want me in his office exposing him, his staff, and his other patients to the flu or a virus. Nor does he want the patients who need him that day to wait in line behind me because I've called with an emergency that only exits in my employer's imagination or suspicion.
Yet employers demand validation from doctors before excusing medical absences, and few employees question the legality of this request, or the unethical abuse to the healthcare system and cost. These unnecessary doctor or emergency room visits not only drive up the cost of healthcare and spread disease, they also delay recovery of conditions that require rest (most), and cause undo stress for patients with conditions that require immediate access to the toilet (many of the common ones).
After seeing how willing Americans were to abuse the healthcare system at the employers' request, our school system joined the cause. If we can't trust adults to know when they are sick, how could we possibly allow them to determine when their children would be better off at home?
This one turned into a crime. Parents are arrested for keeping a sick child at home without a doctor's note. Tough luck to those who don't have insurance or money to pay for an unnecessary visit to the doctor, and who can't get into the overcrowded clinics; the children will be better off with their poor parent in jail.
The underlying psychological surrender of freethinking and personal accountability in our society makes the individuals who fail to question these practices as guilty of destroying their own system as the corporations and systems are. We must question inappropriate use of authority in order to protect the things we need, like affordable health care. Refusing to see doctors unnecessarily is one small way we can do that.
Physician Visits
Total Number of Doctor Visits Last Year - 829 million (about 3 visits per person)
- Number of Unnecessary Doctor Visits - 207 million (25%)
- Average Doctor Visit cost - $55.00
- Yearly Cost of Unnecessary Doctor Visits - $11.4 billion
E.R. Visits
- Total Number of E.R. Visits Last Year - 75 million
- Number of Unnecessary E.R. Visits - 41 million
- Average E.R. Visit Cost - $360.00
- Total Cost of Unnecessary E.R. Visits - $14.7 billion
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Comments: 21
It's just part of the whole decline of personal responsibility in our society. People stick their hand in running snowblowers and sue! They commit crimes and blame their background. They blame teachers when children perform poorly.
We have abdicated our responsibilty for our own actions, and this is how it comes back to bite us!
Great article.
You bring up some interesting points. But I have to ask, how is unnecessary E.R. visits defined? If you notice, the 41 million unnecessary ER visits is more than half of the total number of ER visits. Perhaps Americans do run to the doctor more than necessary, and perhaps this does drive up the costs of health care. However, the number of emergency room visits has a greater impact on healthcare costs than the number of doctor visits does.
Because so many millions of Americans don't have insurance, many are required to rely on the emergency room which will treat them for ailments like strep throat - something they should see a regular physician for. Emergency rooms are required to treat them and end up absorbing most of the costs. The absorbed costs result in higher health care costs which are then absorbed by insurance companies - resulting in higher premiums.
Many proponents of universal health insurance believe it would actually save the U.S. a ton of money each year in health expenditures. Meanwhile, our health would improve across the board because we'd all have access to preventive healthcare and quality primary and urgent care. This proposal is NOT universal healthcare - but a government-run single-payer health insurance system, which could be operated by the private sector and provides all Americans plans similar to those offered to members of Congress. Intriguing to say the least...
i worked for several pediatricians in the 80's as a medical assistant & as an lpn. that office was open 7 days a week. mon-fri 8am-10pm; sat & sun 12pm-5pm. try to find that in 2009.
Candida, I went through this with my daugher when she was in high school. She missed school with a condition I knew how to manage, a doctor who knew that, yet the school notified me she had an 'unexcused absences' because I hadn't sent a doctor's note and there was nothing I could say to change their mind. The doctor wrote a note without seeing her, but I had to call the doctor, she had to take time out of her schedule to write the note, and I had to pick it up and deliver it to the attendance clerk with an exlanation... all unnecessary and insulting. It amazes me how easily people have given in to this, mostly in the name of insulting other parents.
Mimi, thanks! I appreciate your taking the time to read and leave a comment.
Meryl, I like your 'not something we use to control one another' comment. I agree that most of us know when to stay home - but this brings up another of my peeves - perfect attendance certificates and bonuses. In my opinion, it's shallow to commend people for being healthy, when for the most part it's a matter of genes. These practices also encourage people who value glory over ethics to come to school and work sick and expose others.
i hate people who get other people sick. it is one of my biggest pet peeves. thanks for this great article!
Bryan, I like the house call suggestion. I think we're slowly working our way back to house calls, via the home health agencies. I'm not sure doctors will be making those calls any time soon, but other health care professionals might be.
One of the companies I worked for didn't have sick days, vacation etc..., it was all considered "personal time off." That way you could use it to leave town, take care of a sick child or for a "mental health" day. I can't understand why more employers don't do the same.
You want to hear assinine? My last job was working for a group of doctors. They DID pay for us to see the other doctor to prove we were sick. We had great insurance, but this group paid for any medical expense our insurance didn't cover, including cosmetic surgery, dental work, one employee got a pair of $2000 glasses (real gold frames), most of the female employees had breast implants... I didn't last long there.
Great article, Sandy, and a shocker on the stats!
This lends a lot to the debate. Thank you for sharing Sandy.
Thanks, Ms. Meacham. How'd you find this old thing? I'm glad you did because I had forgotten about it and it's a topic that is still pertinent.
That sort ended when someone came in and barfed all over stuff. Now it's up to the manager's discretion if you call in sick whether or not you should be written up for failure to give notice of need for time off.
I almost said unbelievable, until I remembered the day I went to the ER (I worked in a hospital) during work hours and my boss came over to make sure they took me "right back" so I could return to work.
You remember how people used to say women who worked in the ricefields would drop and baby and get right back to the field? Well, that mentality exists in the American workplace and it's another reason we are not healthy people. You can't have an illness or a pregnancy or any major bodily event without giving yourself time to repair.
Since I've gone to part time work, I've missed 5 HOURS of work in 5 years. I have not had anything worse than a bad cold. I usually work 4 days a week and put in between 24-30 hours. Fulltimers are out sick constantly or saying they don't feel well.