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[ChairmanPoo]

*snip* waah! doctors are expensive! *snip*

...allow me to refer you to some of Truean's posts on the topic of whether the time of a professional costs money or not. Also, I can't guarantee it 100%, because laws change from place to place, but in many countries aggression against a medical professional rates on par as aggression against a cop, so it might be a bad idea to carry out your threats..

[Bauglir]

Also, if this involved an actual hospital instead of a private practice or something, there's a good chance the doctor had nothing to do with the charges. And hospitals are always going to be expensive to run. Your rage is entirely justified, but you might want to take it up with the people who decided that, instead of everyone paying 100 bucks a year, you have to pay a couple thousand, but only when you actually use the hospital (and maybe your insurance, which you're paying hundreds of dollars a year for, will cover part of it, though you of course have to deal with the strong motivation they have to make as few payouts as possible to sustain a profit margin).

[Frumple]

*snip* waah! doctors are expensive! *snip*

...allow me to refer you to some of Truean's posts on the topic of whether the time of a professional costs money or not. Also, I can't guarantee it 100%, because laws change from place to place, but in many countries aggression against a medical professional rates on par as aggression against a cop, so it might be a bad idea to carry out your threats..

Honestly, gryph's rage seems more about this

after doing a barrage of pointless tests I told him I didn't want. And I just paid a fucking thousand dollars in who knows what this morning for OTHER bills, and it's impossible to find out what they were even for, because god forbid they actually tell you.

than problems with the cost. Less a "medicine is expensive" and more "doctor just billed me for shitloads without actually seeming to do anything, after doing shit I specifically said don't do." If the costs were actually explained and the reasoning behind them sound, there probably wouldn't be as much anger there. As it is, it just looks like flat out robbery and spurious charges from gryph's perspective, which is something that's fair to get pissed off about.

[Tellemurius]

*snip* waah! doctors are expensive! *snip*

...allow me to refer you to some of Truean's posts on the topic of whether the time of a professional costs money or not. Also, I can't guarantee it 100%, because laws change from place to place, but in many countries aggression against a medical professional rates on par as aggression against a cop, so it might be a bad idea to carry out your threats..

as a computer tech i can tell you i charge 40 bucks to build computers and 100 to fix it.

[MaximumZero]

*snip* waah! doctors are expensive! *snip*

...allow me to refer you to some of Truean's posts on the topic of whether the time of a professional costs money or not. Also, I can't guarantee it 100%, because laws change from place to place, but in many countries aggression against a medical professional rates on par as aggression against a cop, so it might be a bad idea to carry out your threats..

as a computer tech i can tell you i charge 40 bucks to build computers and 100 to fix it.

The answer is simple. We need to get doctors to build us new bodies! It'll be cheaper and easier!

[ChairmanPoo]

"doctor just billed me for shitloads without actually seeming to do anything, after doing shit I specifically said don't do."

Thing is, a hospital isn't a supermarket. The patient doesn't choose which tests are in order and which aren't. The patient might decide NOT to do some, or any tests, as he might with any other procedure, but since this is interfering with the diagnostic process, he would likely be asked to sign a voluntary discharge form, because what's sure as hell is that it would be ridiculous to be held liable if whatever was afflicting him or her ends up causing grievous harm AFTER they rejected following the diagnostic and treatment process.

And yes, sometimes test results might be negative, because the patient doesn't have anything, or because the condition hasn't been diagnosed yet, or whatnot. This has no bearing on the fact that the doctor's time and the diagnostic tests are, in fact, worth money. In the practice of medicine (just as in the practice of law, and many others) the client cannot demand guaranteed results*, because there are no guaranteed results. What he can demand is that the adequate means are provided, according to the scientific knowledge at the time.

(*with plastic surgery there are some variations with this, though)

[GlyphGryph]

This is the rage thread. Rage is seldom reasonable.

My rage is more at the hospital than the doctors, I know - The doctors don't set the prices. (Though the majority are absolute dicks with huge egos and a general disregard for their patients, this part, at least is not actually something they are responsible for. Thank god I've actually got a wonderful PCP that quells my rage against doctors every time I visit by not being like all the others I encounter regularly)

I'm just generally not a fan of any industry that decides how much their going to charge you after the fact and will outright refuse to tell you the costs in advance, especially in situations where you literally have no option other than to shut up and pay up. It's basically the reason why the only medical proffesionals I've never raged at are Dentists - the dentistry industry just so happens to be the only one willing to tell you the price of service in advance instead of gouging you for all your worth after the fact. (On the assumption you'll probably find someone else to pay for it, usually. Honestly, I have more sympathy for the insurance companies in this situation than I do the hospitals)

This is the difference between an expensive professional (Lawyers, Dentists, Quality artwork commissions) and thievery (refusing to tell you the price of a vital service in advance, meaning you can not shop around or make a reasonable decision regarding the situation, like the con-men who will give you a small gift like a flower or bracelet, and after you've accepted it tell you that it will be $20).

And the worst part is, the doctors are actually literally incapable of telling you because of the way the hospitals assess costs - I've had three wildly different charges for the exact same procedures. This makes me especially unhappy when it magically becomes three times the price it was in the past.

So, yeah, the rage against doctors is uncalled for, and that makes it all the ragier since I don't really know who sets this up to rage against them instead.

Edit:
I would also like to add that most lawyers will actually speak to you about your options and costs FOR FREE, while doctors start charging you the moment you step through their door and basically won't explain anything because they've got 5 minutes to finish with you and get to their next patient. The systems themselves are set up completely differently.

[Bauglir]

Yeah, I don't mean to suggest that you should be okay with it. The charging practices are bullshit.

[GlyphGryph]

I still wish healthcare plans (like, you pay a yearly fee for your yearly healthcare) were more common in the US instead of our bullshit insurance plan run industry that drives costs up for everybody.

[Hanslanda]

I made a comment about insurance a while back, and someone got very upset with me. But insurance is seriously bullshit in every way, shape, and form. You pay and pay and pay, and when something happens, you get dropped. Or they deny your claim. Or they funnel you through years of lawyer bullshit so any money you might get just goes into legal fees. But god forbid you miss a single payment, because the wrath of heaven itself has no comparison to a insurance company scorned.  I don't like insurance.

[Aklyon]

Congressional staffer in this article.
You are an idiot of the idiotest idiocy. Stop talking.

[AntiAntiMatter]

Congressional staffer in this article.
You are an idiot of the idiotest idiocy. Stop talking.

It appears that either she is stupid, or is banking on the public being just as stupid, if not more so. Probably both.

[Aklyon]

Even the supporters of SOPA said the opposite of at least on of their points.

[Akura]

AUGH, THE SUN! IT BURNS!! STEPPING OUTSIDE IS LIKE WALKING INTO A WALL OF FIRE!!


No, I haven't become a vampire. It's just fucking hot outside.

Congressional staffer in this article.
You are an idiot of the idiotest idiocy. Stop talking.

my thoughts:
*sigh* morons.

Sometimes, I wish stupidity was something punishable by a death that's both gruesome and ironic .

[Darvi]

Sometimes, I wish stupidity was something punishable by a death that's both gruesome and ironic .

"Don't push this button. Doing so will kill you. Seriously, don't."

Not exactly ironic, but...