In response . . .

. . . to President Obama's view of what motivates physicians:

The other day I was called to do the anesthesia for an emergency: bleeding tonsils. The young man was 4 days postop tonsillectomy. His mother called the surgeon's office stating that, "Nate," had some blood oozing from his throat. The physician instructed them to come to the office. Upon examination of Nate's throat, the physician saw profound bleeding and an urgency to take the patient to the operating room. He had his office call us in the OR to get ready. Rather than calling an ambulance, the surgeon drove the patient to the hospital himself. Blood started coming up from Nate's throat more quickly. Nate found himself having to hunch over so that he could breath and not swallow the blood. Although he had an emesis basin to catch the blood, the blood could not be contained, leaving the car resembling a violent crime scene. Upon arrival to the hospital, the surgeon placed the patient in a wheelchair, and wheeled the patient up to the OR himself. The patient entered the OR in the blink of an eye, a quick history performed, an IV expediently placed, and within minutes, the patient was asleep. Shortly thereafter, the bleeding was controlled- after the patient had lost a total of about 2 pints of blood.

I work with surgeons daily. I don't generally like them- they can be arrogant, abrasive, lacking personality, sometimes abusive to us. But I have not met a surgeon yet, who would perform surgery JUST to make a buck. But I have met many surgeons who would put their patient's health before the fear of driving a bleeding patient in his/her own car at the risk of being sued for malpractice.