I am always amazed how even bright, professional people can be so ignorant about how to get good medical care. I was talking to a woman in her seventies, who said her husband was not feeling well. I knew he had had heart surgery several years ago and asked what his cardiologist was saying. They live in a state that has bad medical care, as I know from personal experience, and it seems that his one cardiologist was leaving and there was not a new one to replace him. I asked what medication her husband was taking and wrote down the list of seven different ones. In checking with my doctor son and the Internet, I found the man was taking medicine for heart problems and several other things. No one had checked to see if there was any bad interactions between any of the medicines and I suspect none of the man's doctors had asked what other medications he was taking. This is unfortunately a common problem in the U.S. today. Even if the records are on a computer, many doctors will not take the time to check patients' records. Also, now that we have so many hospitals using hospitalists, the problems are even greater.
I used the word, hospitalist, in talking to the woman and she had no idea what I was talking about. Not knowing this word can be a real problem for family members, as well as parents of children, because they seem to be taking over the hospitals, since so many doctors don't want to bother to see their patients in hospitals. I have had bad exerperience with hospitalists for family members and even though the doctors may have had adequate medical training, many seem to just be interested in their short working hours and large paychecks! So it is always wise to get get a second opinion and to check with a good pharmacist about drug interactions for both children and adults.
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