Do doctors still make house calls where you live?

[monkeybanana]

Is that where the doctor has a big leather purse that carries the little hammer to test your knee reflexes?

 

[wangdaning]

I am sure most would if you were willing to pay for it. They can make more doing a conveyor belt through a hospital.

 

[teletina]

Yes.
I live in France.
We have an excellent healthcare/insurance system.
I can even get nurses to visit if I need dressings changed.
No charge!

I can confirm these, having older family in France, and they often use that help !

 

[drf64]

I've read that Conrad Murray is still available...

 

[BigDaddyLH]

This is the key point and one that is also a little disappointing. Medicine used to be practiced by doctors who could "troubleshoot" a patient based on the symptoms (much like the old mechanics did with your car), but now the name of the game are tests, because that is where the hospitals / clinics make their money. Same way with mechanics and their scanners incidentally.

I remember reading a medical journal back in 1982 that suggested that 90% of all cases that a doctor sees daily are psychosomatic and a good doctor should be able to determine that within 3 minutes of consultation. As my old doc used to tell my parents when I came in sick with a respiratory illness: "I can prescribe something and he will be fine in about a week. Or I could give him nothing and he will be fine in about a week". Now, there would be a battery of tests being conducted to tell you what they already knew by the consultation.

I miss the old days...both in doctors and mechanics actually.

There was a study comparing Nurse Practitioners (NPs) to family medicine doctors done in the US. I assume the hope was to conclude that the NPs cost the system less but the result was the opposite -- NPs cost more in total, although not a lot more. The main reason is that NPs ordered more tests, whether that was to CYA or because they had less training, I don't know.

 

[fjblair]

I was born in the early 60's and never heard of a doctor house call when I grew up.

 

[Milspec]

I was born in the early 60's and never heard of a doctor house call when I grew up.

It was regional probably, I was born in '69 and lived in a small rural town. There were 3 doctors, the oldest of the bunch still made house calls. It was always a simple visit, he determined if it looked serious enough to be taken to town. If not, he would just leave care instructions, maybe write a scrpt for an antibiotic, and then be out the door.

I will say that the house call doc became like another uncle and 30 years later they named the hospital after him.

 

[String Tree]

Not around these parts.

 

[thunderbyrd]

I suppose they would if you piled enough money on the porch.

 

[monkeybanana]

 

[teleman1]

I bet if you pay them $800 cash under the table, they will be right out. And that is just to take your temperature and have you say ahh!

 

[howardlo]

All through my childhood and school years doctors made house calls. Born in 1947.

My first son was born in 1968 in Florida. I had no health insurance so had to pay from the doctor, Hospital for the wife and son. I believe they were in the hospital for three days (if I remember correctly). The total cost for the whole thing was $600. That is including the doctor visits during the pregnancy.

The second son was a bit more expensive, $800.

I do have cousin who is a doctor in Homer, Alaska and he makes house calls. Not only that, he has a small plane that he flies to treat people living in remote areas and the native Alaskan people in remote areas. Been doing that for over 40 years.

 

[regularslinky]

I remember the doctor making house calls when I was a kid. Cadillac, little black bag, pack of Lucky Strikes in his breast pocket, just like on TV. Like most doctors back then, he was self-employed.

Now my doctor, like most, works for a giant health care conglomerate, doesn't make house calls, and has to carry a laptop from exam room to exam room so the giant health care conglomerate can track every minute of his day.

Healthcare in the US is a damned shame.

 

[That Cal Webway]

.

Just PhD's.

.

 

[ponycar]

One does. A renounded former Army SOG doc. Man's a saint.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I remember the doctor making house calls when I was a kid. Cadillac, little black bag, pack of Lucky Strikes in his breast pocket, just like on TV. Like most doctors back then, he was self-employed.

Now my doctor, like most, works for a giant health care conglomerate, doesn't make house calls, and has to carry a laptop from exam room to exam room so the giant health care conglomerate can track every minute of his day.

Healthcare in the US is a damned shame.

In Canada, family docs are still mainly self-employed. No Lucky Strikes, though.

 

[grandstick]

None of my doctors even answer phone calls. I have to fill out a form on a website, then wait for a response from their staff. If I need to see the doctor, it can take from several weeks to several months before they can accommodate. Otherwise, they tell me to call 911, or go to the emergency room.

This is from doctors from different practices, facilities, and disciplines.