Physician News

Rise of the YAWNS

The 1980s spawned the rise of the Yuppies-the young urban professionals. Now the global proliferation of wealth has created a new class for the 2000s.

The Yawns are the young and wealthy, but normal rich. These are not the ones written about in the book, The Millionaire Next Door, comprised of plumbers, dry cleaners, and others who slowly but steadily became millionaires.

No, these are the centimillionaires and billionaires who quickly amassed wealth during the last decade. This new class of rich prefers to dress down and wear docker jeans instead of flaunting their wealth.

They are the anti-Paris Hilton or Donald Trump and shy away from extravagant shows of wealth. They are comparatively dull.

The term YAWNS originated in Great Britain and was coined by the Sunday Telegraph, a London newspaper. They cited a study that showed that only half of today’s rich Brits said making more money was their top priority.

The other half believed their top priority was their family and charity and instead preferred to live in unassuming surroundings.

This July 14^th story in the Wall Street Journal complements a July 9^th article also in the WSJ titled…

The Culture Gap

The main point: the greatest investment you can possibly invest in is – surprise:  human capital.

The author, Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute, posited that differences in parenting and education are the best predictors of economic outcomes.

You’d believe otherwise when you listen to politicians arguing that economic inequality is due to lack of opportunity.

This argument has been the basis upon which the war on poverty has been waged and over which a trillion dollars has been spent since the advent of the “Great Society” of the 1960s.

I believe the problem is not lack of opportunity but rather lack of elementary self-discipline. Consider the many recent immigrants of Asian ancestry whose children reach middle and upper class status within a generation of being in the US.

Parents who engage their children in ˜concerted cultivation “ intensely overseeing their kids’ schoolwork and stuffing their after-school hours and weekends with organized enrichment activities achieve the greatest success, period!

This new kind of family life is often hectic and stressful, but it inculcates in children the intellectual, organizational and networking skills needed to thrive in today’s knowledge-based economy.

In other words, it makes unprecedented, heavy investment in developing (children’s) human capital.

Taking personal responsibility for your own destiny is the path to success. Attaining specialized knowledge and taking action on that acquired knowledge is the way.

Speaking of your way, how about this…

MDs Can Deter Frivolous Lawsuits

A new service has emerged where doctors can finally stop worrying about the tort lobby.

Medical Justice, launched in 2002 is a membership-based organization designed to complement tort reform and head off frivolous lawsuits.

The service started by a neurosurgeon and attorney has two important components. First, they look at the quality of the so-called expert-witness testimony.

WHY?

Sadly, many frivolous lawsuits are supported by questionable testimony from expert ‘hired guns.â€

Thankfully, Medical Justice deals with these dishonest expert witnesses by relying on precedent law that upholds the right of medical specialties to police their own members.

Many societies have panels to review, police, and discipline wayward “experts” Medical Justice utilizes these panels to help them weed out unscrupulous witnesses.

Medical Justice’s second tool is a patient-physician contract. This contract states that in a legitimate dispute, both sides will utilize only those experts who belong to such societies and who strictly follow their code of ethics.

By using contract law, Medical Justice members are sued at a rate of less than 2% versus the national average of doctors being sued at the rate of 8%-12%.

Physicians can now defend themselves and employ a contract-based legal technique that effectively mimics the British system of “loser pays”.

And now…

Quick Hits

Electronic health records do not improve the quality of health care as touted by policymakers.

A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found the promised panacea of electronic medical records did not help prevent costly medical mistakes.

So the government’s mandate on doctors to adopt electronic medical records as a means of improving healthcare is not borne out by the data presented in the study. Source: Reuters, July 9^th.

And…

Influx of Doctors Overwhelms Texas Board

New limits on malpractice lawsuits have overwhelmed the state medical board that screens doctors for medical licenses thus creating a backlog forcing applicants to wait months before they can begin practicing.

Many doctors who moved to Texas from other states said they were drawn by new lower malpractice insurance rates.

The new rates have caused Texas to become a popular state to practice medicine. The average malpractice insurance premiums in the state have fallen by 21.3% since 2003.

Dr. Punit Chadha, an oncologist from Chicago moved to Austin and is now paying one-fourth of what he paid in Illinois.

Just goes to show you that commerce and money goes where it is best treated.

The Free Market System When Allowed Works Most of the Time.

And finally…

Corruption in Health Care System?

Bribes, corruption, and ranked #130 worst medical care out of 191 industrialized countries by the 2000 World Health Organization report.

Which health care system? Russia.

The rapidly growing economic energy behemoth and neo-authoritarian country run by President Vladimir Putin has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world.

It seems that although all Russians have access to free healthcare treatment, it’s always best to have cash in hand.

When Karen Papiyants lost her leg in an auto accident, she was “strongly advised” to pay $4,500 into the St. Petersberg Hospital fund;

she did and still lost her leg.

Apparently extortion and bribery is the price for healthcare in Russia. In theory Russians are supposed to receive free basic medical care. But patients and “expert” say doctors routinely demand payment from patients. Source: AP

When I hear all the lamenting about how bad the US health care system is compared to all the others, I laugh.

Can you honestly say that if you or your loved ones needed surgery that you would make sure that you not only had it done here in the US but also would have vetted the MDs?

You know you would.

So for all the complaining about our health care medical system, it is, bar none, the best in the world.

Need proof? If we’re so bad, why is the world’s power elites, leaders, and celebrities coming to the US for medical care? Enough said.

Now this does not for one moment mean that I believe our system is not without fault. Believe me; I know you and I can find fault in the system.

It’s no different than saying our American system of democracy is the worst in the world, except for all the others.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I dislike passionately how physicians are treated by our government, our own medical societies; particularly the AMA, and third party “parasites”, sorry, I mean payers.

Until next time… continued success to all