Why do doctors try to discourage people from treating their own injuries at home?!
Question: Why do doctors try to discourage people from treating their own injuries at home.?
Is it a moneymaking scam.? I recently got into an accident while doing some dangerous tree-limb-removal work on my property. A branch snapped in the wrong direction and tore a big gash from my elbow up toward the shoulder.
At first, I was kind of freaked out, and I called an ambulance. But during the 20 minutes they took to arrive (I live in a somewhat rural area), I irrigated the wound with water and peroxide, used a combination of cautering agents and superglue to close the injury, and used some... uh, "medicine"... to deaden the intense pain.
When the paramedic arrived, they told me they needed to transport me to the hospital due to the severity of my injury. I told them to give me a tetanus shot and put in some stitches, and I'd be fine. At first they refused, but once it became clear I would not budge, the medic went ahead and sutured it up and gave me the shot, even as he scolded me for being stubborn. He also gave me some antibiotics, but I never took them.
Why did he want me to visit a hospital emergency room for an injury that I was able to care for myself at far less expense.? Are doctors and medics running a financial scam to make people use up their insurance coverage or something.?
Why don't more people treat their own injuries using the methods I outlined above.? Health Question & Answer
At first, I was kind of freaked out, and I called an ambulance. But during the 20 minutes they took to arrive (I live in a somewhat rural area), I irrigated the wound with water and peroxide, used a combination of cautering agents and superglue to close the injury, and used some... uh, "medicine"... to deaden the intense pain.
When the paramedic arrived, they told me they needed to transport me to the hospital due to the severity of my injury. I told them to give me a tetanus shot and put in some stitches, and I'd be fine. At first they refused, but once it became clear I would not budge, the medic went ahead and sutured it up and gave me the shot, even as he scolded me for being stubborn. He also gave me some antibiotics, but I never took them.
Why did he want me to visit a hospital emergency room for an injury that I was able to care for myself at far less expense.? Are doctors and medics running a financial scam to make people use up their insurance coverage or something.?
Why don't more people treat their own injuries using the methods I outlined above.? Health Question & Answer
Answers:
You called them, not the other way around, so they were doing what they were supposed to do. Paramedics aren't generally "take out medicine" they are supposed to bring you in and stabilize you so you can be treated.
Doctors CAN'T encourage you to do all that yourself because if they did- and something went wrong, guess whose a** is liable.? THEIRS. So it's CYA medicine- an unfortunate but necessary evil in this sue-happy society. It's not a scam (at least not for most) just being careful.Health Question & Answer
Doctors CAN'T encourage you to do all that yourself because if they did- and something went wrong, guess whose a** is liable.? THEIRS. So it's CYA medicine- an unfortunate but necessary evil in this sue-happy society. It's not a scam (at least not for most) just being careful.Health Question & Answer
Because not everyone is competent enough to properly treat themselves at home.Health Question & Answer