Editorials & Other Articles

He had a sizable clientele of Medicare patients and likely kept many of them alive and viable compared to the 1950's when he started his practice.

He could not have practiced medicine on his terms in today's world. He would schedule patients 15 minutes apart but would often consult with them for 30 minutes or more. He'd ask them about what they ate, if they drank, if they smoked/if they quit smoking, if they exercised, if they had stress, if their marriages were going well, if they had any children, if they had pets, their lifestyle, etc. He believed he could only properly treat them if he had a better idea of each patient.

My father made house calls in the middle of the night, often accompanying his patients to the Emergency Room.

He would indulge the pharmaceutical representatives who visited but would not push their latest products arbitrarily on his patients. Instead, he'd keep the samples and give them out to patients who didn't want to purchase a prescription without first seeing if there were side effects.

And I know this is hard to believe, but there were several patients who were widows or just not doing well financially. Dad would bill them, but he told his bookkeeper to tear up the invoices. And his bookkeeper would yell at him and he'd continue.

There is no way in Hell that my father would be able to practice medicine his best way under the constraint of corporate overlords today. The latter has killed the practice of healing and medical treatment.