Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
> In fact, I went to a chiropractor once myself when I fell
> playing basketball. I just wanted to see if I cracked a rib
> seriously enough to warrant attention, but didn't want to go
> through all the mountain of paperwork and hassles of my PPO,
> so I just walked into a chiropractor's office, told him I
> wanted an Xray, slipped him a few bucks and got it done. I'm
> all for deregulation. :)
>
> The main problem that I see with Chiropractic and much of more mainstream
> medicine is that the cost/benefit ratio is skewed
way in the direction of cost. Things like rib and skull x-rays give very little in the way of useful information that actually effects an individual's treatment. They tend to be used by medicos to justify the exorbitant cost of an office or ER visit.
"We need these films to diagnose you." translates MOST of the time to: " You don't need a damn thing from me but to convince you that your trip to ( ER, Chiro office, etc) wasn't an utter waste of time and money, I'll get some useless x-rays. That way I cover my ass in the event that a gadzillion to one shot occurs and I can point to my heroic efforts to determine the cause of your mysterious malady when/if your ambulance chasing attorney has me on the stand.
In many situations 80 + % of all radiology procedures serve no useful purpose. I say that even though that's how I earn my living. Your tax dollars at work!
Dennis Roberts
droberts@a-o.com