I am not a political person–I do not have a political bone in my body. I normally avoid any kind of politics in a circle of at least 3 feet in radius. However, this time I do want to get involved and ask you to vote YES on Prop 46 for the following reasons.
I see so many advertisements on TV that are paid by the doctors and their lobby against Prop 46 that by now I am not even watching the news. I stopped watching it because all I want to do is beat the TV up and that does no good. I also miss the ads supporting Prop 46! I know why we do not have them! The people who created Prop 46 are the suffering victims who cannot afford to pay for the ads! The sick have no millions of dollars to throw into TV ads.
You can pretty much measure how to vote on something that is good for you and the public at large by who is voting against it: if there are a lot of ads against it, chances are the Proposition is good for YOU!
The TV ads tell you the following lies:
1) Your insurance costs will go up – this is probably the biggest lie I have ever heard. Why would our insurance go up? We are not the ones who have to pay for the doctors’ mistakes! They do! The doctors’ malpractice insurance will go up and not our medical insurance! The patients’ insurance never increases as a result of the malpractice costs of the doctors! The huge lie is a major sign that they are in trouble and trouble they will be for sure!
For now I just want to reassure you: Your insurance costs will not go up!
Note also that we currently have a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits of $250,000 which is too small for attorneys to take on any of the cases. Why? Because it is out of the attorney’s pocket to get all the evidence of malpractice, the expert witnesses, the medical records, so forth. By the time they file for the lawsuit in court, they spent more than the $250,000 permitted max to be returned to both patient and attorney combined today. So today there is no doctor accountability and they know it! I met those lack of accountability processes way too many times in person!
This financial cap was set in 1975! Wouldn’t you also like to have the gas and food prices of 1975? Oh yes! I also want to buy my house and car at 1975 prices! What this part of Prop 46 is asking is simply to adjust the cap of malpractice with the inflation rates we had since 1975 so we can go ahead and file a lawsuit if the doctor committed a malpractice.
Let me be clear: if there is no malpractice, there is no need to fear the increased malpractice insurance. And this is also the crocks of the matter because higher malpractice payments will bring about safer medical practices! Doctors will be more careful! They will actually have to act in a professional manner and be accountable for their actions! Imagine that!
2) The ads tell you that your prescription data will be online such that all doctors will have access to it and that is a bad thing because it compromises your medical information’s safety. Wow! The person who came up with this lie should be congratulated! This probably beats every lie I have ever seen or heard and it does so without a blink.
First of all, our prescription information is already online! In fact, in California, it is so online that the same person cannot purchase 2 boxes of Sudafed anywhere in the state within 2 weeks! Hello!!! We even need to give our driver’s licenses for buying a box of Sudafed–and may I remind you that Sudafed is an over the counter medication! So what the heck are they talking about?
Do I want doctors to have access to my medical allergies and prescription drugs I am already taking in case I get into an accident? YES!! Do doctors know today what medications I take or am allergic to? NO!! Which is safer in your opinion? I go for the one where they know my medical records and my drug history. As for safety of the medical records… huh? The ones I can pay $29 for on many online record storage and get in a second about anyone? Really? The doctors may not know my medical history now but my neighbors may! So that part is not only a lie but stupid and clueless as well!
3) Drug testing of doctors is silent on these advertisements… I cannot help but wonder why? Hummmm?? Maybe there is something in that particular part that is so measurably necessary that they do not dare putting it up on TV? See doctors are people just like you and I. They are not saints; they drink, some use drugs, some work without license (I had the pleasure of meeting one of these just recently treating with a black box psychotropic medication someone very dear to me), etc. But there is another side.
I recall when I was employed in Silicon Valley by companies like Intel and similar, we all had to go through drug testing. In fact I had to go into a special location, in a special room (not a bathroom!) with open doors and give my sample to be sure they witnessed that I did not swap my urine with someone else’s that I may have brought with me. So those who are against this proposition are saying that I as a potential patient MUST go through drug testing to work for a company but those who handle my health do not? A very interesting argument but it does not hold water. Sorry. Go get tested!
If I were to write Prop 46, I would also have added mandatory annual re-testing of medical knowledge because once a doctor threw his/her cap in the air after graduation, new science and discoveries can no longer penetrate their heads for some reason. It has to be forced into those heads by testing every year! Unfortunately this is not part of any proposition this year! I hope it will be on one next time!
In conclusion: if you want good for the people and for yourself and you are not a medical doctor, vote YES of Prop 46 California! If you are a medical doctor, you are excused to vote or not vote. 🙂 We will not hold a grudge against you not wanting to stand up for quality!
VOTE YES ON PROP 46 CALIFORNIA!
Feel free to ask questions!
Angela
Clueless Doctors & Scientists 
I respect and honor docs, I know that for the most part, they care. But as in all people, all professions, there’s a segment of the careless and sloppy. I have a good friend who is a specialized surgeon and we all get together for a bbq and cocktails. Throughout the years, when on call, he still shows, chats it and eats but has never once grabbed a cocktail. * That’s what he signed on for and that’s a Dr. in my book and further, he should be paid well. To ask him to submit to a drug test is insulting but, its also insulting to me but I have to do it and all I do is push papers for a living. We have to change….This time it was my daughter, next time it could be yours.
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I agree Rick. It is always insulting to submit to a drug test. I was submitted to a drug test when I got employed by Intel and that was not even a public job! The test itself was horrific–a tent with no doors, guard standing in front and you are handed a cup. Door cannot be closed. All privacy if forfeited but if I had to do that for a job at Intel, the computer processor manufacturer, then heck why not a doctor who treats people? I have many very good doctor friends–no idea if they drink or not but that is not the point. Prop 46 is only 1 part testing and 3 other important parts for the public! Everyone talks about drug testing of doctors because those darn TV commercials against this proposition is attacking it. But the real meat of Prop 46 in not in drug testing. It is in public safety, doctor accountability for reduction of malpractice, and the sharing of prescription information; most of which by the way is already done… try to buy two boxes of Sudafed within 2 weeks of each purchase! You need to show your ID to buy a box of Sudafed for sinus infection and the database is so connected that no matter where you go you cannot buy another! That is already done only doctors were not required to use the database. Now they will be. These three points weigh much more than the drug testing.. blah.. who cares?!
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Prop 46 will make the Dr. slow down and spend more time on the patient. Prop 46 will hold the Dr.. accountable when they’re careless. Prop 46 will require doctors.to be drug/alcohol tested, ensuring our safety. The days of the 5 minute appointment, tossing out a plethora of prescriptions without proper diagnosis is coming to an end!! The days of marginalizing our loved ones is .coming to an END. Finally, this white coat, God like complex and arrogance is coming to an END! I look forward to this becoming a law! * I am a parent who lost his healthy 24 year old daughter, a new mother of just 4 months to a local doctor who carelessly gave her 2 medication that put her to sleep killing her and the opposition wants me to be accepting? Not so much! This health and safety initiative reaches into each of our homes, providing that very necessary added layer of security for our families. For those thinking this is about the attorney’s…..Keep in mind that this is the only door open to you when you seek justice and want to hold a Dr. accountable. The only door!! ~ unless it falls under MICRA. Regardless, as soon as Dr’s learn of our loved one’s death, they call legal, circling the wagons while we’re still in shock, bawling uncontrollably. We can expect more and we are going to get it……….Yes on 46!
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Exactly Rick! It is time they slowed down and started thinking. I am very sorry about your daughter and sorry also that there is nothing you can do until this proposition passes and by then you may be outside of the time allowed for a suit. I actually wish the proposition went a step further in requesting retesting each year for the license and not just paying $35 or whatever the annual membership is now to renew the license! Doctors are not keeping up with the science and are not paying attention to what they are doing because they know they don’t have to; under the law today there is nothing we can do. This will change with Prop 46. I wish people understood that it is not their insurance cost that will go up but the liability and malpractice insurance cost of the doctors! I vote YES of Prop 46!
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