Fitness

Q: First of all thank you for writing your weekly column. As a physicians' wife I appreciate that you pose some very important dilemnas and you are so open to what others might suggest. On the issue of a patient who has advanced colon cancer I think that it is important for you to continue to address the issue of informing other family members whenever the patient is in your office. By presenting various senarios your best hope would be that the patient would come to see that by neglecting to inform her family she will be causing others future suffering. Hopefully with your prodding the patient will come around.
The other question i have for you involves my husband who needs a hip replacement. he consulted with two respected orthopedic surgeons and when he received pre op orders from both (one office forgot that he had cancelled with them)they asked for a chest x ray, urinanalysis and multiple blood studies (cholestral etc). Do any doctors realize that medicare does not pay for this X ray (which is $238. at RAS in Sac) unless it is done in a hospital; and Mercy San Juan wouldn't even guarantee that they could bill medicare. Medicare doesn't pay because they said "the chest x ray was unnecessary". When will doctors learn that they order way too many tests and rarely look at the results. I would greatly appreciate any response from you and KEEP YOUR COLUMN COMING.
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