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TEXAS MEDICAL DREAM TEAM, Invite No. 5, The hunt is on. Roll the dice. We invite the Patient named DENIAL.

By Steve Lombardi

What if your child ate a tack? What would you do and what would you expect from the dream team? What if after getting to the dream team a doctor performed stomach surgery on your child without reviewing the X-rays to see if the tack your child ate remained in their stomach? Would you be upset? I suspect you would. How would the next patient know this before making a decision on whether this doctor should operate on your child?

If you buy a car do you research consumer information about the make and models before buying? Do you do more research for buying a car than you do for surgery?

• How do you make critical medical care decisions?
  • On what information do you base your decisions?
    • Where do you get medical risk information?
      • Where do you get physician skill information?

Today's work for the dream team isn't about sending out another invitation. The Dream Team doesn't have to send out invites because today's candidate is one surgery or hospitalization away from becoming a unsuspecting member of the Texas Medical Dream Team. The invitation doesn't have to be sent out because this doctor already lives and is practicing in Texas. Now you go out and see if you can find him. And the patient lives here as well. It's you.

Medical information is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Let us conduct a guessing exercise, like the one you do every time you need medical care from a doctor you don't really know much about. This is an exercise in doing what you do every time you seek medical attention from a doctor whose reputation is not known to you. Every time you use the E.R. for a critical medical decision you roll the dice. Every surgery for the most part is by a doctor whom you don't know a thing about. You have to roll the dice because you have no idea what problems followed the doctor to work that day. Did they sleep last night, were they up with a delivery, are they just in a bad mood, are they taking medication or do they have a hang over. The variations of personal problems are as broad as is human nature.

Information is more readily available for pizza delivery, buying cars and trucks than for medical care providers, hospitals and medical mistakes by the good doctor you chose to operate on your son or daughter.

But, what about basic information you need just to select the right medical service provider? How many of these surgeries have they done? Have they had a wrong-site surgery? Have they ever operated on the wrong patient or conducted the wrong procedure? Have they been disciplined for substance abuse? What is this hospital's rate of infection when this doctor does surgeries? You as the consumer lack critical information upon which to make an informed decision. So roll the scalpel because this is the medical care lottery, sometimes you win and sometimes you can lose.

There should be a kiosk in every hospital where patients can check basic risk factors or indicators when making major medical decisions.

There are times I wonder if the issues surrounding electronic medical records are just about keeping you from knowing the truth.

And even though you Texans lack basic information upon which to make an informed decision you have allowed your Texas legislature to enact protectionist legislation for doctor's and hospitals to not be responsible for their medical mistakes. The doctors with the most mistakes get the most financial benefit from living and practicing in Texas. Make a big mistake and in Texas the patient pays. In this great State of Denial you roll the dice whenever you go under the knife.

Patients aren't making informed decisions when it concerns medical care, they are rolling the dice and relying on naive hope. So say a prayer because you may need Divine intervention to save your quality of life.

So today I'd like to send out an invite to the patient named Denial. You can collect your invite at the hospital check-in office. And don't forget your health insurance card; we'll need to make a copy.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).