NY Times Questions: Are these doctors or shopkeepers?

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The Doctor Will See You for Exactly Seven Minutes

By PETER SALGO

Published: March 22, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/opinion/22salgo.html?th & emc=th

(see above link for full article)

 

Excerpts:

 

WHEN politicians speak of America's health care needs, they often miss an

important point: the doctor-patient relationship has become frayed. Patients

aren't unhappy just because health care costs too much (though they would

certainly like it to be more affordable). Rather, people sense a malaise within

the system that has eroded the respect they feel patients deserve.

 

I noticed that business jargon was becoming commonplace. " Patients " began to

disappear. They were replaced by " consumers. " They eventually became

" customers. "

 

This may seem a trivial matter, but it is not. You treat " patients " as if they

were members of your family. You talk to them. You comfort them. You take time

to explain to them what the future may hold in store. Sometimes, that future

will be bleak. But you assure them you will be there to help them face it.

 

You treat " customers " quite differently. Customers are in your place of

business to purchase health care. You complete the transaction such a

relationship suggests: health care for money. And then they aren't your

customers any more. Taken a step further, you can make the case that the less

time you spend with your customers, the better your bottom line will be. This

gets everyone's attention.

 

 

 

" Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest

of life by the power of the spirit. " - Aurobindo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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