Too many people that are unqualified to be dr's get their credentials through money and favors.
If you're going into that field to get rich you might like to be a commodites trader or some such instead.
Allopathic medicine is by and large a scam and so are the insurance companies; it has nothing to do with getting healed, but they sure like repeat customers!

dj_bigbird: The "doctor" on the (super-tiny) Navy base where Mrs. dj_bigbird is stationed is actually a chiropractor. Not an MD.

Are you sure? That doesn't seem right. Are you sure it isn't a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a "DO"?

Our flight docs don't know shiat about flight medicine.
It's been years since I've had to perform a valsalva for one of them.
I do get the talking to if I state that I drink too much.

I thought it was common knowledge that military doctors are some of the worst in existance.

First time I saw a Navy doctor he told me I had diabetes. Found out later that I don't actually have it. Scared the hell out of me.

Well done Karl Rovemitter.

Yep. And folks want socialized medicine in the U.S. ?? If the armed forces can't oversee the doctors that treat our soldiers, how can they oversee doctors that will treat the rest of the population. I grew up being treated by Army doctors, and only after my dad retired and we shifted to private doctors did I receive what I would deem good healthcare.

They're not "illegal doctors", they're just undocumented physicians.

Doin' the jobs that other physicians won't do.

Amos Quito: They're not "illegal doctors", they're just undocumented physicians.

Doin' the jobs that other physicians won't do.

: )

There's three kinds of military doctors in the Army
1. The 'reassigned medic' who knows how to staunch a gaping wound but his other medical knowledge is from online correspondence courses.
2. The doctor who has lost their license in multiple states and the only way they can keep working is to work for the federal government where they're completely immune to malpractice.
3. Foreign nations on a work visa, usually from India or Pakistan, who don't speak English as a first language.

That's it. I can tell you my four year ordeal of agony where I got run over in basic training and denied proper medical care for four years of service... but I can summarize the competence of military doctors with a single incident.

I had been issued a cane because my knee was so messed up I could barely stand, and I should have been on crutches at that point. I had wrapped my cane in the camouflage wrap so it looked just like my uniform pants. The result was that if I was standing still, it was difficult to notice my cane. When I was walking to the doctor's office she noticed my cane, said "Oh can I see that?" I handed it to her... she then walked away with it to show another doctor, leaving me standing on one foot in the hallway. I had to slump against the wall, then sit on the ground, as she came back ten minutes later after showing it to another doctor as 'nifty.' She then asked why I was on the floor. This was the doctor who had given me the cane to begin with.

NewportBarGuy: Army doc completely FUBARd my knee. Navy doc totally fixed my ulnar nerve. Some are good, some really, really suck.

This. I have seen some amazing corpsmen in action, and I got my knee farked by some bad-ones. It all depends. Funny....it's almost like anecdotal evidence doesn't explain the larger situation...necessarily.

/green side better usually better than blue. Not judging, just what I've seen from experience.

Meh. There are screw-up doctors everywhere.

Arctic Phoenix: Meh. There are screw-up doctors everywhere.

This.

Dated a girl in the Air Force. When she got separated she had to go to a VA Hospital for some physical before her discharge. She left crying and I left in a rage over the incompetence shown over something as routine as a friggin physical.

Retards the lot of them. Retards with zero human empathy.

Amos Quito: They're not "illegal doctors", they're just undocumented physicians.

Doin' the jobs that other physicians won't do.

LOL That really made me chuckle. It even made the wife laugh. That's no small feat.

What color would you like in my favorites list, my good man?

A. Ferret Face?

rka: Retards the lot of them. Retards with zero human empathy.

It's hard to empathize with a shoe clerk.

Marcus Aurelius: Q: What do you call a guy getting raped over by his medical system along with all his family?

A: A patriotic American.

As a former military dependent, I agree with your statement fully.

When we were stationed overseas I injured my wrist playing sports at school. My mom took me to the clinic where some nimrod poked at it, flexed my fingers and wrist and proclaimed it was only bruised. After two weeks of swelling, pain when I lifted anything heavier than a feather, and losing the ability to write at school because I couldn't hold a frikking pen; we went back and they actually took an x-ray that showed a hairline fracture. I spent the next 3 months in a full cast with my hand facing upward so the torn ligaments in my wrist would heal properly and 6 months after that in physical therapy. The only good thing that came out of all that was I didn't have to write any essays in school.

Oh, and then there was the time they told me to take some antacids when I had appendicitis, and the time they almost killed my brother when they gave him codine even though is records and my mother said he was allergic, or the doctor that told my mother she was just being a hysterical new mother when my little sister was having unexplained seizures at 4 months old that left her mentally retarded.

I could go on but I need another beer.

dj_bigbird: BigLuca: dj_bigbird: The "doctor" on the (super-tiny) Navy base where Mrs. dj_bigbird is stationed is actually a chiropractor. Not an MD.

Are you sure? That doesn't seem right. Are you sure it isn't a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a "DO"?

dead serious. A chiropractor. And he prescribes meds and everything.

I'm not doubting you, but that does seem highly unlikely.

After nearly 23 years in, I know lots of horror stories. And lived a lot of them. Suffice it to say that most Army docs are contractors who will give you whatever you want, if you ask the right way.

Jimmyboy: 11 stories down some asshat comments that private health care sucks but just look what happens when the government takes control. Really they can't primarily verify if a doctor actually has a license?
Every hospital I am on staff put me through the ringer with credentials, I almost had to give a testicular biopsy to prove myself. Yes I feel very comfortable with the government taking over heath care.

Good point.

prekrasno: Suffice it to say that most Army docs are contractors



...wat?

"This isn't a war, it's a moi-der!"

I've pointed to the military health care system and the VA for years whenever people talk about nationalizing health care and been called a loon. I have no idea why anybody would think government run hospitals would be any better than your local VA, ridiculous wait times and all.

The system needs fixing both in the public and private sectors, that much I can agree with.

Note for the right-wing morons in here biatching about GOVERNMENT COMMIENAZI HEALTHCARE: State medical boards aren't private, shiatheads.

My Nordic relatives are very happy with their socialized medicine and don't understand why we Americans put up with our system at all. I guess if you want something done right you gotta ask a Nordic person.

/or invade Norway

Breaking news: things run by the government usually take longer, and produce a far more inferior product at a greater cost. More at 11.

Real Women Drink Akvavit: My Nordic relatives are very happy with their socialized medicine and don't understand why we Americans put up with our system at all. I guess if you want something done right you gotta ask a Nordic person.

/or invade Norway

Are they good at treating arrow wounds in the knee?

taurusowner: [3.bp.blogspot.com image 200x150]

Breaking news: things run by the government usually take longer, and produce a far more inferior product at a greater cost. More at 11.

Breaking news: Medicare has lower overhead costs than any private insurer and uses the same farking doctors.

rmoody: Note for the right-wing morons in here biatching about GOVERNMENT COMMIENAZI HEALTHCARE: State medical boards aren't private, shiatheads.

Note for idiot left-winger in here crying FASCIST OPPRESSORS: The Constitution quite clearly allows for this at the state level but doesn't define such a power for the federal government.

Real Women Drink Akvavit: My Nordic relatives are very happy with their socialized medicine and don't understand why we Americans put up with our system at all. I guess if you want something done right you gotta ask a Nordic person.

I love my socialized medicine. It's included as part of my overall taxes, which are cheap (or will be when the new calendar year starts), I can see a doctor for anything for about a $5 USD co-pay, and my health insurance card has a little chip on it that lets the doctor access my complete medical records here - no filling out the same form over and over again, no repeat tests, and they'll know what meds I'm allergic to if I'm ever unconscious.

taurusowner: Real Women Drink Akvavit: My Nordic relatives are very happy with their socialized medicine and don't understand why we Americans put up with our system at all. I guess if you want something done right you gotta ask a Nordic person.

/or invade Norway

Are they good at treating arrow wounds in the knee?

Don't know about that, but I know they're awesome at open heart surgery and hip replacements.

/A few of my relatives are pretty old.

Congress called for the report in the aftermath of the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting in November 2009, for which an Army psychiatrist is charged with 13 murders.

Wow.

Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich: Real Women Drink Akvavit: My Nordic relatives are very happy with their socialized medicine and don't understand why we Americans put up with our system at all. I guess if you want something done right you gotta ask a Nordic person.

I love my socialized medicine. It's included as part of my overall taxes, which are cheap (or will be when the new calendar year starts), I can see a doctor for anything for about a $5 USD co-pay, and my health insurance card has a little chip on it that lets the doctor access my complete medical records here - no filling out the same form over and over again, no repeat tests, and they'll know what meds I'm allergic to if I'm ever unconscious.
Almost everyone I know OL or IRL with socialized medicine loves it. The only people who don't seem to be the ones who are upset because they had to wait to have a wart on their nose removed and had to wait as medical conditions take priority to cosmetic procedures.

Arctic Phoenix: Meh. There are screw-up doctors everywhere.

True, but your chances of encountering one in a military/VA hospital are around 80% whereas it's around 20% in an average hospital. As someone else said, working for the Fed is often the only way a chronic screw-up can keep practicing medicine after he's lost his license in more than one state (or simply can't get malpractice insurance anymore due to how many claims they've had to pay)

Q: What do you call a guy who finished last in medical school?

Doctor?

rmoody: taurusowner: [3.bp.blogspot.com image 200x150]

Breaking news: things run by the government usually take longer, and produce a far more inferior product at a greater cost. More at 11.

Breaking news: Medicare has lower overhead costs than any private insurer and uses the same farking doctors.

Breaking news: health care providers hate Medicare because that really translates into "demands the same services but is unwilling to pay for it."

Man On Fire: prekrasno: Suffice it to say that most Army docs are contractors



...wat?

The ones in hospitals on our bases are. Those in uniform generally get deployed.

Well, the purpose of the military is to inflict casualties. The doctors aren't sent out with an M4, so they have to make do.

I had good luck with an Army doctor. He was pretty cool, told me to address him by his name instead of his rank.