Because of a disease, I encountered a “narrow road meeting” with an American doctor. After recovering from the disease, I felt a lot of emotion.
Seeing a doctor in the United States is very different from domestically. When you see a doctor in China, you have to queue up early to register, and then wait to see the doctor. After seeing the doctor, the doctor will send you away as quickly as possible. When you return to the doctor with a pile of laboratory tests, nearly a day has passed. . Finally, the doctor will prescribe you a bunch of medicines that have no direct effect on the disease but are directly related to the pharmaceutical company. Anyway, it will not be bad if you eat it well. The patient has no choice but to endure it. These phenomena are absolutely unheard of in the United States. .
To see a doctor in the United States, you need to register and choose the doctor you want to find, and then call to make an appointment. If it’s an emergency, you can call 911 or go to the emergency room yourself, and the nurse will ask you to fill out a form with clear options on how to notify the patient after the patient’s test results. 1. Home phone 2. Cell phone 3. Mail 4. Letter. In short, the patient himself is the first person to know the condition. Without the permission of the patient, the doctor cannot disclose the condition of the patient to others, otherwise the license will be revoked. In China, family members of patients have the right to understand the condition and make major decisions on behalf of the patient. For example, if a patient suffers from a terminal illness, the family members will think that they are in the spirit of humanitarianism and work with the doctor to conceal the true condition of the patient. In the United States, the relationship between doctors and patients is more rational, allowing patients to know their condition first and decide their own treatment plans and plans.
Speaking of which, I have to mention the matter of “living will”.
A “living will” is a document that people sign when they are healthy or conscious, stating what kind of medical care they will or will not want at the end of an incurable injury or death. We can choose to leave peacefully without enduring first aid measures such as endotracheal intubation and cardiac electric shock, so that life can only rely on the life support system to maintain a qualityless vegetative state, and choose to die with dignity. “Living Wills” have been generally recognized in the United States and many European countries. I also signed a “living will” during the operation, hoping that I could choose to die with dignity before that day. I think this is a very meaningful thing.
”Living Will” is rarely recognized in China. There is an old Chinese saying: It is better to die than to live. Therefore, in the values of domestic people, living is the most important thing, no matter whether living has meaning or not, as long as it is alive. An economist once said that 70% of Chinese people’s lifetime medical expenses are spent in the last three months of life. In other words, it may take most of your life savings to maintain a meaningless existence for even a few days or months. No one cares about the meaning of this ineffective survival to the survivors, and no one cares about these ineffective costs, how many children can be treated with heart corrections, and how many blind and deaf people can be cured. Faced with these problems, most Chinese people choose to avoid them.
One of my beloved doctors recommended me an American medical drama Monday Morning. This is the story that happened at Chelsea Hospital in the United States. Every Monday morning, the hospital’s surgeons must meet first to summarize the achievements and mistakes of the week’s medical care. It tests the nerves of everyone, no matter who they are, they may be questioned and suspected on the stage. The entire TV series shows people the values of Americans through treatment cases one by one. How American doctors view disease and life.
”Monday Morning” shows the risks of the doctor’s profession very bluntly. A doctor may save a person’s life, or it may save a person’s life. But if there are flaws in the medical behavior, there will be many unpredictable factors in the medical consequences, and the result is prosecution.
Doctors account for nine of the top 10 highest-paid occupations in the United States. In the United States, doctors are also an enviable and respected profession. Although the United States has more lawsuits than any other country in the world, and the number of medical lawsuits in the United States is beyond imagination, American doctors can face patients with peace of mind. The first is that U.S. law protects both the patient and the doctor. People can accept the status quo in medicine and understand that there are risks everywhere, doctors need to bear, and patients need to bear. The second is that the United States has medical insurance to protect patients. There is also medical malpractice insurance, which protects the doctor.
”Monday Morning” conveys a positive energy to people. Let people see the justice, kindness, courage and fearless professionalism of American doctors. More importantly, it corrects our perception of life, kindness, and responsibility.
