I need to know what you think of the following situation.
You walk into your doctor’s office, turn your insurance information into the clerk, take a seat in the waiting room and discover the following letter sitting on the couch-side table, authored by your very own doctor:
“Dear Patient: Section 1311 of the new health care legislation gives the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and her appointees the power to establish care guidelines that your doctor must abide by or face penalties and fines. In making doctors answerable in the federal bureaucracy this bill effectively makes them government employees and means that you and your doctor are no longer in charge of your health care decisions. This new law politicizes medicine and in my opinion destroys the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship that makes the American health care system the best in the world.”
The letter goes on to add:
“The current party in control of Congress pushed this bill through with legal bribes and Chicago style threats and is determined now to resist any ‘repeal and replace’ efforts. This doctor’s office is non-partisan-always has been, always will be. But the fact is that every Republican voted against this bad bill while the Democratic Party leadership and the White House completely dismissed the will of the people in ruthlessly pushing through this legislation. […]Please remember when you vote this November that unless the Democratic Party receives a strong negative message about this power grab our health care system will never be fixed and the doctor patient relationship will be ruined forever.”
I will evaluate the content of this letter in an upcoming post. But first some questions for you readers:
1. Was it ethical for this doctor to place copies of this letter in his waiting room?
2. Would you feel the same way if the letter stated strong support for the health care reform bill?
3. If you were seeing this doctor for the first time, would this letter have an impact on your relationship with him?
I’m very interested in your thoughts.
Thanks.
The source of the letter can be found at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487033697045754618405…
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