J&J ordered to Pay $572M by Oklahoma judge, implying J&J is a "pusher" of drugs...

[BehindBlueI's]

Government officials: Prescription drugs cost too much money!

Also government officials: Sue drug companies for making and marketing prescription drugs!

The whole situation is 9 kinds of fucked up. We're so concerned about people abusing pain killers that people who actually suffer terribly have a hard time getting medication they need to function.

No, sue drug makers for intentionally marketing and encouraging the use of drugs in a way they knew would lead to higher addiction rates. Not even close to "make and market prescription drugs". I know .gov is always the bad guy and the company is always the good guy in the conservative world but go take a look at previous law suits and settlements to see what the angels at the poor drug companies were doing. Intentionally recommending dose amounts and schedules that would cause a small window of withdrawal each day, for example. They intentionally made it harder to get off the drugs, and everyone else is paying for their decision to do so via the fucking mess the opiode crisis has made. They should be held accountable and pay for some of the mess they made.

[DocGKR]

"Any tips for finding such?"

Ask the nurses--they always know.

[Jim Watson]

Heaven help the hurting patient, because the doctors will be afraid to.

[Nephrology]

Any tips for finding such? Playing "shop a doctor" until I find one who says things that make sense to my non-medically-trained self doesn't seem right.

Generally speaking, physicians associated with academic medical centers (e.g. University of [State] School of Medicine, or Fancy U Medical School") will employ physicians at lower salaries than comparable positions at community hospitals because they ostensibly want to be in an environment of learning/teaching, and these jobs are often fairly competitive.

Generally, physician who seek these jobs are highly motivated, well qualified and enjoy what they do; qualities that I personally value in an MD. This group would include, for example, most physicians at famous hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Mass General, etc etc. For certain highly specialized/resource intensive medical services (e.g. transplant surgery) they're usually the only game in town.

That said, if you're an otherwise healthy person with no real medical problems and are just lookin for a PCP for health surveillance, find someone you like that is reasonably priced and covered by your insurance. Academic hospitals can be great and are where I hope to spend my career, but come with their own price (often expensive, bureaucratic, etc etc) so fancy definitely does NOT always mean better. For example, if you're at patient at a big hospital's outpatient general internal medicine clinic, there are high odds that you will a see a midlevel and not an MD.

If you're a generally healthy person, the most important decisions that will be made about your health are already in your own hands. Don't smoke, eat well, exercise regularly, stay up to date on vaccinations and make sure you are getting age appropriate, evidence based medical surveillance. I would worry more about that than whether or not your MD went to Harvard or Yale.

[hufnagel]

On the flip side, probably avoid anything related to the military.
I have a special place in my heart full of hatred for the "doctors" at Walter Reed.

[Nephrology]

On the flip side, probably avoid anything related to the military.
I have a special place in my heart full of hatred for the "doctors" at Walter Reed.

I know a resident at Walter Reed. He's a good guy who works very hard.

At the end of the day there are good docs and bad docs at every institution, it's just a question of what kind of behavior the institution rewards and, equally, what it doesn't punish.

[hufnagel]

I know a resident at Walter Reed. He's a good guy who works very hard.

At the end of the day there are good docs and bad docs at every institution, it's just a question of what kind of behavior the institution rewards and, equally, what it doesn't punish.

I'm going to guess he's not old enough to have worked in the oncology department during the mid to late 1980s.

[Nephrology]

I'm going to guess he's not old enough to have worked in the oncology department during the mid to late 1980s.

Definitely not, but the stories he tells me don't suggest it has somehow improved since...

[DocGKR]

"On the flip side, probably avoid anything related to the military."

Some of the finest care I have ever witnessed was provided by military surgeons at Navy Hospitals in the 1980-90's, while some of the worst I've seen has been from VA's post 9/11.

[Borderland]

On the flip side, probably avoid anything related to the military.
I have a special place in my heart full of hatred for the "doctors" at Walter Reed.

Don't forget the military dentists.