has anyone seen the top story at Worldnetdaily today? "Shalala pulls plug on public comment". the admin is proposing new medical rules which would strip away all your privacy. they include allowing 3rd party access to your records without your consent, and a "unique identifier" number for each person.

the deadline for public comment is THIS THURSDAY, FEB 17. you can register your comments at http://www.stopbigbrother.org where they will be forwarded to the admin and your elected reps.

please take the time to comment on that page. my husband and i already did, and we were very blunt. we said that if the new rules go through, we will boycott all doctors, hospitals, etc and hit them in the pocketbook until they cry uncle. luckily, we are very healthy so we can afford to take the risk of no annual exams. we have every intention of following through on our threat.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), February 15, 2000

Answers

I wonder at what point on this road the average person will start complaining about these things. When do you think they will start feeling "uncomfortable"? I'm thinking it will be after it is TOO late.

-- jeile (tjfarrar@bellsouth.net), February 15, 2000.

Yep, I e-mailed my 2 cents worth I think yesterday or Sunday? Far be it for me to submit to living the line in the movie "Airplane"? where the dude steps up to the counter to get his ticket and the lady asks him how his hemmorhoids are...

Diagnoses are determined by "what insurance will cover" verses what is really identified by the doctor. Medical diagnoses include psychiatric diagnoses. Today psychiatrists that I work with write any diagnosis that the insurance providers cover today, and change the diagnosis tomorrow if again the provider now covers only something else.

Do you want your six yearold labeled all her life as a manic- depressive just cause she cried alot when her hamster died so the school counselor required a consult?

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.

I have not been to a doctor for years. I am frankly scared to death of them all. I feel I have enough college background in the health sciences to better care for my self. I know more about myself than the doctor does. Prevention is the best cure. The Bible says "my people perish for lack of knowledge" this is somewhere in the Proverbs. I think the best way to fight this invasion on our privacy and bodies is to get educated in the health field and by pass these do gooders. I believe that if you listen to the still small voice within you will be able to handle medical situations better. I have done this all my life and it works. I used to trust doctors, when they were in the medical field because that was their real calling. I don't believe there are too many of thses types around now.

-- Gay Boling (wilber@montanasky.net), February 15, 2000.

Yes, I emailed stopbigbrother. Then I printed three copies of the worldnetdaily article about Shalala pulling the plug and prepared a cover letter to my representative and my two senators, two of whom are big-government, Bubba boot-licking, CFR democrats. But unless people start speaking up, this nation and our liberties are going to be gone. And it's very late in the game now.......It's almost over.....

-- Y2kObserver (Y2kObserver@nowhere.com), February 15, 2000.

Those of us in government are aware that this is a done deal. Our histories are already accessible. If they were a little hard to put together at one time, the WIA took care of that. It's de facto, Brothers.

What do we do? WATCH. Be on government like the proverbial white on rice. Remember, as the government's access to information expands, so do open records provisions. Ask for copies of your records. Demand full disclosure. Monitor the behaviors of individuals within each agency you deal with: this is your responsibility and your option. We don't seem to have much hope of changing the situation. We damn sure better make this stuff work for us instead of against us. Government is nothing more than a FEW individuals who have names, faces and accountability. Most of us are faithful workers who try our best to act in your interests: the few bad ones make your lives-and ours- difficult, to say the least. Learn to use your p.c.'s. Go to your state auditors' sites and read the reports. Learn how to make requests under your state's Open Records provisions. Go to the fed sites and read the register notices. Go to your watchdog sites and pick up on what makes them bark.Use e-mail to let your elected officials know what you think and to communicate with each other.

IT'S UP TO US TO TURN THIS AROUND.

Sorry about preaching, but the US is a trusting country and easy prey. Been too many places, have too many friends from other cultures not to know that a lot of people regard us as naive. Hope that ends soon.

Hack

-- another government hack (keepwatching_2000@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.

I know there are many practices in medicine that are abhorent. There are a few of us that have internal standards that have some integrity. When insurance companies send a request for "the complete medical records on X" with a signed release that looks like it would choke a horse, I politely call up the company, indicate that under no circumstances is that necesssary, and that a pointed letter that covers only the essentials will do. The insurance companies have always accepted this. One must clear it with a patient completely before it goes out. Most of us never make an "expedient diagnosis". Call them as I see them, back them up with careful history taking, explain it carefuly to the patient, and go from there. Stay open to questions, anticipate problems, collaboration all the way. Pretty soon others note your conscientiousness and your waiting room is full. There is simply nothing like communication and caring. Integrity counts for a lot these days. Charlie

-- Charlie (cstewart@ime.net), February 15, 2000.

"I used to trust doctors, now I boycott them because they're tools of the government." Is that an accurate paraphrase?

Jeez, folks, do you think we like this? Do you think I enjoy having my decisions monitored by some GED-equipped government clerk, my patient's best interests undermined by some HMO paper pusher? I'm on your side! Being on your side is my job! Your welfare is the whole point of what I do!

Do you know why HMO's exist? Because of (government) rules regarding the deductibility of health care premiums. If it weren't for the government having created the problem, Bill and his buddies would have no opportunity to save us from those evil money grubbing HMO's - because they wouldn't be around in the first place.

Please quit trying to blame me for idiotic policies that the politicians force down my throat, and

-- doctorjohn (bigbrother@really.stinks), February 15, 2000.

doctorjohn: If you want to see folks like us, keep our file private, let us pay cash on the spot, and let us get our rx's under a fake name, or slightly misspelled name. Also, it's decent folks like us that are NOT going after you for malpractice suits, because we earn a living for ourselves and don't need to suck another person's blood for our income.

We know our privacy is going fast and we refuse to give up the last shred of it. We are also the kind of folks that are doing all we can to keep out of your office in the first place by healthy habits, diet and exercise.

-- (formerly@nowhere.zzz), February 15, 2000.

This is a little bit like trying to catch the calf, after its been out of the gate for years! Medical records haven't been private for many years, and are disclosed to more people than you might ever think. We are fortunate to have great medical doctors, and they are as disturbed over this phenomen as are the rest of us. Its your insurance company and the third party medical records collectors who data base this stuff, and pass it around.

Several of the doctors in our area, have become pretty darn good patient advocates, resisted the threats of the HMO's to cut corners on health treatment, and really go to great lengths to provide quality medical care, inspite of HMO's and insurance companies!

The insurance companies, HMO's and data bases are the ones we really need to be keeping an eye on. Hope its not too late!

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 15, 2000.

This is why I try to stay in good health:

Limits to Medicine : Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health, by Ivan Illich. Publ. 1976; o.p. but used copies are available from ABE Books.

The politics of health care nowadays seems to be driven by profit not patient care, and doctors are just as much victims of this as anyone else. But Illich shows that there's a deeper fundamental problem in our culture -- responsibility of the individual for his own health has been pre-empted by a medical profession trained in a mechanistic view of the human condition. And predisposed to ignore, and oppose if necessary, the introduction and practice of alternative views. (In recent years this rigidity has gradually been easing somewhat.)

As an experiment, after you have looked through these links, ask your doctor for his opinion, if any, of health risks posed by mercury dental amalgams.

Mer cury Dental Amalgams - Analyzing the Debate

amalgam fillings -Twelve Points on Mercury Toxicity

Facts About Mercury & Dental Amalgam (incl. a technical bibliography)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 15, 2000.

Sent it, but doubt it will do much good...some of the government people just seem to ignore the rights and feelings of individuals!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 16, 2000.

many thanks for all the good comments, especially from those who actually took the time to respond to the petition at www.stopbigbrother.org. i stronly recommend that the MDs who responed here should make their feelings known there, if they haven't already. the deadline is tomorrow.

it is true that Shalala might not care how you feel. but i have had excellent response in the past from all 3 of my elected Indiana reps, and i think they will really listen. remember also, that this is election season. your reps always care more at this time.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), February 16, 2000.

Please take a moment to consider some facts before slamming your doc for these things. My husband is an emergency physician in a small rural hospital. He has very little say in who accesses med records. Much of the complaints people have about doctors are for things controlled by insurance companies and government. I'm sure there are bad docs, but I'm also sure that there are good ones who care about their patients. I've seen my husband call around for the best price on meds for someone who couldn't afford them. The best way to be healthy is to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF! Don't expect your doctor to do and know everything! Read about your problem. Read about any meds you are on. Ask questions! Ask why something is done! Ask what med you are being given and why and what the results should be. There is NO stupid question!! So many people will take no responsibility for their own care. These are usually the same people so quick to sue for everything they can if their doc is human one day and makes a mistake. Healthcare is not a solo. Everyone must play their own part. A song is usually much more interesting if you hear more than just the drum section!

I'll put my soap-box back in the closet now. Thanks.

-- grannyclampett (notress@pass.ing), February 16, 2000.

jocelyn, thanks for this heads up. Whether or not they listen, it felt good to go to that website and register my protest. If we don't at least do that much, we have only ourselves to blame for whatever befalls us.

Good doctors who've posted here and who may be lurking here, thank you also for protecting our rights as your private patients and as citizens of the United States, whose Constitution guarantees us rights which the government is fast eliminating. May God bless you for your decency.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), February 16, 2000.

thank you grannyclampett and others who have pointed out that doctors can be victimized too. yet the fact remains that they KNOW my records might become available to any tom, dick, and harry, whereas the patient does NOT know it. so i believe a truly conscientious practitioner, hospital, clinic, etc would DISCLOSE the facts by prominently placing a sign in their waiting room that outlines the facts and the risks the patient is taking. i have yet to see any such posting anywhere. in addition, i have never had ANY health provider tell me, either in writing or verbally, that my privacy could be at risk. it is possible that it is in the little tiny fine print in the documents you have to sign in hospitals, but if it's there, that is a totally inadequate place to put it.

so, the onus is on the doctor or other provider, in my opinion, to disclose the potential risk to me. yet this has not happened to me personally, and so yes, i feel very betrayed right now by my former doctors. by not disclosing information to me, they proved that they were part of the problem. i plan on doing a local survey of doctor's offices to see if ANY of them out there have a sign on their wall about this.

in the meantime, i really don't want to hear any whining about this from health care practitioners unless they can truthfully say that they disclose the problem to their patients at every visit, by at least having a large readable sign on the wall.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), February 16, 2000.

We worked in a prestigious University hospital where future Drs are being trained. Accompanying the Drs on rounds were RNs being paid by insurance companies to sniff out any and every possibility for immediate discharge. Yes, the $$ issue is projecting its stranglehold into every corner.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 16, 2000.