The Pillar Procedure

[roc@different_puter]

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I live in a different world.

Nachty, are you the by-product of a CPAP séance?

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[chunkyfrog]

Jason:
Back to your original topic; you need to be sure that other doctors agree that the procedure would help you--
not just the 'cutter' planning to do the surgery.
I have heard of the pillars helping a few select patients, but this may not be common--just guessing.
More than likely, you will still need to wear a mask. Sorry; that's probably not what you wanted to hear.
About your avatar; if that is how you really look, I may need to change my avatar to a cougar!

[DoriC]

Arch, I worked in the healthcare field for 25years in private practice as well as in hospital settings. I don't recognize any of those scenarios you describe and have never witnessed or been part of anything so unprofessional and almost bordering on despicable. We still have the best health care and the most highly trained and qualified physicians in the world. I have seen personally the countless hours doctors spend performing charity work, write off fees for those who cannot pay,wake during the night to rush to the ER, and spend many hours just consoling patients and families when the news is not good. The doctors I worked with didn't have time to go on expense paid trips or fancy lunches, and it's been my experience that most doctors won't even see a pharm rep but sometimes a receptionist will allow them to drop off some samples and other little goodies. Our personal doctor won't even dispense a new drug until it's been on the market for a year or more except in rare instances. This discussion is beginning to wear me out so I'll stop now, but I'm hoping that most people here have a different view of the medical profession in this country. Parts of the system stink and not every doctor is perfect but they have my admiration and gratitude for the hard work they do for all of us.

[archangle]

You need to work with the doctors, but understand where their profits lie. I'm not saying that many of them are intentionally unethical. People tend to believes in what they sell.

If the surgeon recommends a UPPP, for instance, realize that he's a UPPP doctor because he believes in them. He makes his money doing UPPP. If he didn't believe in it, he'd be doing something else. Figure out whether it's the right thing for you.

If you go to the local Chevy dealer and find an honest, God fearing salesman and ask him whether Chevy is better than Ford, what do you think his honest answer will be? If you do the same thing at the Ford dealer, what is his honest answer going to be? After he reads all the sales literature on his car, works with all the other salesmen, etc., don't you think he's going to tend to believe in his own product? Do you think he's going to have an unbiased opinion?

Yes, I hope the doctor is on a higher level than the car dealer, but the same forces are at work.

[NachtWürger]

This reminds me of the old story about the guy who fell asleep at the bar. His friends took some limburger cheese and smeared it on his mustache.

After some time the guy woke up wide eyed and sniffed loudly. He jumped down from his bar stool and stood in the middle of the saloon and sniffed loudly again. Then he quickly ran outside into the middle of the street and sniffed loudly a third time.

Then he ran back into the bar wide eyed and declared loudly, "The whole world stinks!"