Do you ever have to stop reading an article just halfway into it for fear that you're going to begin weeping all over the keyboard (or the newsprint for you nanas and pop-pops)? It happens to us at least once a day, but this one we clicked away from in record time:
Dr. Donald Richey, a dermatologist in Chico, Calif., has two office telephone numbers: calls to the number for patients seeking an appointment for skin conditions like acne and psoriasis often go straight to voice mail, but a full-time staff member fields calls on the dedicated line for cosmetic patients seeking beauty treatments like Botox.
Dr. Richey has two waiting rooms. The medical patients’ waiting room is comfortable, but the lounge for cosmetic clients is luxurious, with soft music and flowers.
And he has two kinds of treatment rooms: clinical-looking for skin disease patients, soothing for cosmetic laser patients.
“Cosmetic patients have a much more private environment than general medical patients because they expect that,” said Dr. Richey, who estimated that he spent about 40 percent of his time treating cosmetic patients. “We are a little bit more sensitive to their needs.”
Like airlines that offer first-class and coach sections, dermatology is fast becoming a two-tier business in which higher-paying customers often receive greater pampering.
That's right: A growing trend in dermatology is to subjugate people with SKIN CANCER in favor of Botox recipients! And the doctors doing this apparently aren't at all ashamed of what disgusting voids they are!
Good morning and welcome back to your world.
Editor
“Cosmetic patients have a much more private environment than general medical patients because they expect that, We are a little bit more sensitive to their needs.”
God, what an ass.
“Cosmetic patients have a much more private environment than general medical patients because they expect that,” said Dr. Richey, “We are a little bit more sensitive to their needs.”
Good morning all. I am a nurse and I would like to translate this gobbly-gook that this MD is speaking for you.
TRANSLATION: I am a money grubbing asshole, and to maintain my wife, trophy girlfriend and penis enlarging ferrari, I need to kiss these rich, arrogant, and self centered wads of money's asses. You see those insurance companies that you pay so much for, well they cut deals and I cannot maximize my profits by entertaining those commoners with skin cancer, eczema, etc. Thank you I must hurry along now, this young starlet wants to give me a blow job for my great work"
And that boys and girls is the beauty of our current healthcare environment, enjoy!
My ob/gyn always rushed me out to take care of her patients that had more problems aka on more drugs aka fertility issues aka more money for her. So it's no surprise Dr.s act the same way as a car dealer when $ is involved. Which is all too bad considering the whole Hippocratic oath.
This really isn't surprising. At all. It doesn't make me sad, it fills me with rage. I'm moving to Germany.
Welcome back, Cord. Hope you're feeling great today!
The dermatologists have been involved in cosmetic surgery for quite some time. Used to work for one-Giant Prick
Luz, I'm telling you, I AM buying that island. Well, not by myself, but my friends and I are determined. With 30 people "tithing" every week (and our little heathen group is growing fast), we should have the capitol to buy land locally within a couple of years, we'll practice farming, and perhaps in a decade we can make some major investments and come up with the millions needed to buy our island.
Cancer doesn't pay the bills people. You really need some money for that new car and boat. Have some compassion, daddy needs a Benz.
Can I get in on that island? We'll have universal health care I'll start a metal band.
All of my dermatologists have been assholes. They hardly even look at me. I mean, isn't their job to LOOK at your skin??
Well say you had a business, wouldn't you be more likely to cater to those people who were willing to pay $500 in cash for 10 minutes of your time versus those who will pay you $20 now and maybe $75-100 in a couple of months (through insurance) for a 30 minute consult?
Private practice is a business. Doctors didn't make it that way, the government did.
"Well say you had a business, wouldn’t you be more likely to cater to those people who were willing to pay $500 in cash for 10 minutes of your time versus those who will pay you $20 now and maybe $75-100 in a couple of months (through insurance) for a 30 minute consult?"
Depends on what kind of business I had. Were I a shoe salesman, yes. Were I a dermatologist, no. And that assumes I hadn't walked off a pier for getting involved in business in the first place.
Kittenpaw, so true. Every dermatologist I've been to looks at me for 1 minute writes a persciption and leaves. I have to stop them to find out what is going on with my skin.
Well, that depends Luz. Are you a heathen? Plus, a couple of our members are already in a metal band, so starting one isn't necessary. :)
Would it be wrong if I sent an email saying "Dr. Richey, you're a real asshole." ?
Oh, Dr. Richey must have forgotten about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Except now its not just Blacks being segregated. I LOVE AMERIKKKA!
So a shoe salesman gets to live a life under a different moral code? If Tamara Mellon offers a line that sells at Payless and not in her boutiques then she gets no scorn (not that Jimmy Choo ever would? I understand the emotional reaction - it seems wrong, but why exactly.
Ah, but is it a Satanic black metal band? Sure, I can be heathen-like.
One a side note, I had a few appointments with a dermatologist in Bloomfield Hills, ridiculously expensive, insurance didn't cover half of it, I show up one day and the receptionist tells me "Well this says you cancelled your appointment." NO, I didn't. She also wanted me on a couple medications I didn't need and had tried previously with awful side effects, not to mention that you don't even see the fucking doctor anymore, you get her assistents, and aahhh I'm sick of it. Rant over.
This is a new trend in medicine, in general. I do some pro bono or low-cost consulting work for non-profits and small local businesses, and recently I got snowed by some people who are just like this.
I took on this client because at our intial meeting they poured on the "We are all about hospice and dignity and end of life quality!" Seemingly they either changed their focus or just fucking lied to me because their literature now states they are all about concierge care, i.e. private medical services for rich people– providing limousine services from hospitals or plastic surgery centers then pampering the newly nipped and tucked during their recovery. I was especially sickened by their rhetoric that told these people they knew it had to be horrible for them given it was so difficult to find the quality care they deserved. Their money grubbing asses are so on my shit list. Anyway, after this happened I looked into it and found it described as a major new trend in medicine….because, you know, why practice medicine with integrity?
Hmmmm…"heathen-like" doesn't really sound like a committment. LOL
Well for those dermatologists who are graduating with $200-300K in student loans because this country has made medical school a business as well, are having to treat their practices as such. I do not agree that it's right, but it is not the care provider's fault entirely.
Luz, Bloomfield Hills Michigan?
yet with all the comfy waiting room sofas meg ryan still looks like rubber ducky. bet she didn't expect THAT.
All of this vitriol is hilarious (hypocritical you jacka$$es) comming from a web site and commentators that routinely bash celebrities for not looking like goddesess at all times of the day.
mae - yeah, all the way down on Maple & Woodward, which is a hell of a drive for me. She prescribed/sold me a lot of unneccasary things that weren't covered by my insurance and didn't work. I don't mean to sound like a crabby bitch, but I've been through hell & back with my skin & I'm sick of wrangling just to spend $80 of my own money on an appointment that turns out to be a waste of time.
@ Patrick Y
If you can actually find evidence that proves I have a "routine" of bashing celebrities for not looking like goddesses at all times, I'll not just take this post down, I'll take the site down.
In Chico??
Hmmmmm.
Cord, don't even joke about that.
I can only console myself with the thought that not all doctors sold themselves to the devil for a doctorate. There are people out there who care. I just wish the media would talk about them and that a person's good works got them more publicity than thier shameful counterparts(and even more shameful because they don't realize they don't realize when they finally stopped being human beings).
We (yes, us on this blog as well as our society) like/pay attention to/contribute to beauty/aesthetics/accumulation of wealth. There is a reason Dr 90210 a la his breathren exist as opposed to riveting shows on Drs Without Borders or Operation Smile - we don't care enough to tune in. Btw, isn't acne, for the most part, cosmetic? It just happens to be covered by insurance, which yields lower margins.
awwww!
heart melting pink box at number 26. it reminds me how lucky i am to find a blog with some soul.
(sorry you guys, i'm totally in love with a guy and it makes me all mushy about everything else too - even blogs!)
Nice DK reference. Jello would be proud.
I guess this blog is here to stay. Mugs of Krug all around. On me.
I think I will just get some Proactiv.
follow the money. it's almost always true