An article posted on January 12, 2010 in USA Today states that patients are willing to pay for “boutique” doctors. Primary care physicians are taking their practices from a traditional doctors office, to a more first class premiere service. The doctors are cutting their offices down from thousands of patients, to a couple hundred. Although the amount of patients the doctor sees is being cut down, the price to see these doctors sure is not. The cost to see one of these “boutique doctors” ranges anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 a year, sometimes even more. Some might question what these people are getting out of a doctor for that kind of money, and the answer to that is quality care. During a regular physical the doctor will usually spend no more then ten minutes in the room with you, as with this service you would receive up to an hour of the doctors time all to yourself. The time spent with the doctor is more attentive and also you receive access to the doctors during their after hours.
Some patients believe spending the extra money every year is well worth it because they leave their doctor visit with all their questions answered without being rushed through out their visit. Through out the country there are only 146 of these physicians, and therefore the need for them is rapidly growing. Although this may seem like a great way to receive the attention you want from your doctor, some are disagreeing with this process and saying it’s the wrong way to go about, and that it truly shows how out of order our healthcare system really is.
Aristotle would not agree with this new approach doctors are taking. One of the characteristics of the natural art of acquisition is limits, and this new way of healthcare succeeds the limits we essentially need. Sure we may all want a doctors attention for an hour or more, but we do not need that hour for them to treat our needs. Aristotle might also argue that since the art of acquisition is secondary to the art of management that the doctors are switching to this way of healthcare to make more of a profit off people.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-12-boutique-doctors_N.htm
I agree with you; Aristotle definitely would not agree with the changes going on in the medical field in that respect. If he was having a conversation with us today about this, he would probably bring up the living vs. living well idea we looked at in class. Living well, in my opinion, would be having an average doctor to go to when you aren't feeling well. With all of the other problems in the world, first class doctors' offices should be last on our to-do list. Especially with the new health care plan and its' controversy, I think that this idea is wrongly timed.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with this article. Because of all the controversy that's going on now I think that first class docters should be the least of our worries. I think if your sick you should go see regular doctor.
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this particular article because Aristotle would not have agreed to this because he believes that living well does not mean to have a first class doctor but it means to have a regular family doctor. he would say that all you need a doctor to see you it doesn't have to be a doctor that is in a first class as long as it is a doctor and he/she is curing you.
I agree, Aristotle would not agree with the practices of these "boutique doctors". They're motives certainly have changed from helping people, to making money. When an individual is showered with excessive money, more than they could possibly need, the individual should use that excess in assisting those in need, not spending it on "boutique doctors".
ReplyDeleteNatalie, of course Aristotle would not agree with the practices of the modern-world healthcare system, and the orientation it has for greed. More and more doctors open offices just like the ones you describe not for the benefit of people, but mostly for profit. We could then assume that, in Aristotle's ideology, doctors with such offices have developed a perversion for the concept of wealth, money and the art of acquisition (which by the way, is definately artificial, and not natural).
ReplyDelete