2A - Bug List

Here I write 20 bugs in medicine that deeply bother me, divided into four main categories.

Research

1. Research takes too long to be translated into therapies;
2. Mice models are overrated;
3. Science does not have enough funding;
4. Most experiments a dedicated, intelligent scientist does, fail;
5. A minority of experimental cancer drugs make into clinics.

WHY:

1. It is the onus of the empirical method;
2. Scientists spend years being told that in order to publish, they need mice validation;
3. US government spends trillions of dollars in wars instead of targeting the two greatest american killers: cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
4. It is part of science. Even the most talented scientist is no match for Mother Nature.
5. For decades, we have been testing cancer drugs as single agents and on patients who failed all other therapies. People are changing this now but it still happens, unfortunately.

Clinics

1. Patients share tiny waiting rooms. It is both uncomfortable and dangerous;
2. Patients need to wait a long time to be seen by their physicians;
3. Patients admitted in the hospital have little to no privacy;
4. Every new clinic or hospital a patient goes to ask them to physically write down their entire medical history;
5. Patients are not offered proper nutrition and exercise regimens while admitted.

WHY:

1. Hospitals are packed and poorly designed;
2. Physicians spend a long time reading records, reviewing exams, and planning protocols before they can enter a patient's room;
3. This depends a lot, but most patients need to be constantly watched. It's understandable, but rather uncomfortable;
4. This is because the healthcare system is not designed for innovation. Electronic medical records are still in the works for most hospitals, which is shocking;
5. Medical schools spend little to no time teaching student doctors about nutrition and exercise, even with abundant data on their benefits.

Money

1. For profit health insurance companies have too much authority over patients' lives;
2. The cost of medicines, specially chemotherapy agents, are too high. How can one drug cost over one hundred thousand dollars?
3. ERs are crowded with patients who do not pay for their bills and take the spot from those who really need ER care;
4. Insurance companies take the time they want to analyze claims, which triggers hospital to charge patients directly when the bills are not paid;
5. Insurance companies scrutinize medical records to find any reason as to deny or avoid payment of costly bills.

WHY:

1. This how the current american healthcare system is set up;
2. Without federal intervention or support, pharma companies charge based on demand and offer;
3. Expensive healthcare - people go to ER without paying - hospitals find alternative ways to cover the cost - more expensive healthcare;
4. For-profit companies with high authority over medicine equals to patients and hospital fighting for survival;
5. Same as above.

General/Extra

1. Dental care is not covered in most health insurance plans;
2. The american government has failed to improve the healthcare system in the past years;
3. Health insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid do not cover so many precious therapies and treatments;
4. Patients are often woken up only to have their vitals taken;
5. Many healthcare providers should be taking care of themselves before they see patients.

WHY:

1. Someone must have thought that oral care disconnected to the rest of the body. I don't know why this is, but I bet that it was a profit-based decision;
2. Paul Ryan bragged for 8 years about this new, superior healthcare bill that he would help pass with the republicans. They failed. You tell me why.
3. With so new therapies constantly arising, it is very challenging to update these types of policies. This is why automation and innovation in medicine is so important;
4. Provider often need to take one's blood pressure, but the cost for it (waking up a patient) is usually not worth it. They still do it because protocol is protocol.
5. Some people should not be in medicine.

REFLECTIONS:

I have found this assignment quite interesting and thought provoking. It is rather easy to complain, but when forced to understand reasons and motives, you may find answers you had not thought of before.