Stuffy nose season

It's stuffy nose season.

Every kid in town with a stuffy nose commith to the ER, gets 2 breathing treatments to no effect, and then gets admitted and placed on Q4 breathing treatments for same runny nose.

And, ironically, the mom's say something along the lines of: "Golly, I should have just stayed home."

Gee, ya think.

Yet, if it weren't for the progressive surge on America for the "good of society," and their happy lawyers, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we. Or would we?

Instead of treating the patient, doctors are forced to treat patients in a way that prevents lawsuits and assures payment rather than doing what's really in the best interest of the patient.

It's unfortunate.

Of course we don't want patients staying home when they really need to be seen (like the guy we had come in the other day with a hemoglobin of 2.2 because he though he just had a cold). Yet we don't want to encourage moms to bring their kids to the ER with a common cold either.

Does healthcare reform really solve this problem, or make it worse? Would tort reform solve the problem of happy lawyers? Should we spend more time educating people so they know when to come to the ER? Do we need more government involvement or less?

One thing we must keep in mind is the U.S. has the best healthcare system in the world, so we don't want to do anything to mess this up. If someone says our healthcare system is not the best, I will ignore them.

I say this because some among us, including some in Washington, claim our healthcare system is bad just so people come crawling to them for the solution they have in the wait. We must not fall for this gag.

Or is doctor education the solution? Or how about patient education? Personally, I think the solution shouldn't fall on the patients, as they should be ignorant of medicine. Like national defence, healthcare should be taken for granted. People should be able to enjoy their lives without having to worry about these things.

I'm not encouraging stupidity either. I'm just saying I think the solution to the healthcare crisis should be in the hands of the physicians and the scientists and researchers. It should not be in the hands of the Fed, and -- likewise -- the people shouldn't have to worry about it either.

Healthcare should be in the hands of healthcare people. Yet more education all the way around never hurts.

So it's stuffy nose season. Doctors in hospitals are going to go overboard in treating these patients because they have no choice. If you go to the doctor's office, you won't be poked and prodded. If you go to the ER, you will be poked and prodded because doctors have to cover their asses. (It's the CYA protocol).

Personally, I think something needs to be done to encourage patients to see their family doctors for minor things like stuffy noses, and stay out of the ER. Yet hospitals want you in the ER, so getting to the bottom of this stuffy mess is going to remain a conundrum.

Sodutions adyone?