New Treatment Offer

An unsolicited e-mail arrived with information about an exciting new treatment. The treatment was reported to be an innovative, safe, effective therapy. It improves the elasticity of the skin and is used for skin irregularities and skin tightening. It acts as a complementary treatment to liposuction, helping to eliminate residual fatty deposits. Benefits for Whom? In addition to all that, the treatment offered a list of “Benefits.” I immediately thought, wow, what kind of benefits for patients will this treatment have? The list included: substantial revenue return, daily demand, free referrals, FDA approval and free referrals. Hmm, no benefits for patients there. I wonder what this company thinks of doctors. They must think our idea of benefits is “substantial revenue return” and “free referrals.” My idea of benefits is seeing our patients get well. If there are doctors whose main idea of a benefit is “substantial revenue return,” well, maybe they would need “free referrals” pretty badly. How We Are Regarded and Why I’ve come to believe that as a whole, we are deeply committed to our patients. Oh, I didn’t always think that. Like our former Senator from North Carolina, I used to think that there were a lot of bad apples in our profession. Regularly patients would tell me about bad experiences they had with other doctors. But then I thought, there weren’t any bad apples in my medical school class. All of us were hardworking and committed. I also realized that while I might see patients who had a bad experience with another doctor, it would be very unlikely for me to see a patient who had a fully excellent experience in another doctor’s office. How many times have you heard a patient say, “Doc, I was seeing Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith is an outstanding doctor. Took great care of me. Solved all my skin problems. I decided to switch and see you anyway.” We’re not likely to hear that very often. Who we really are In meeting and speaking with other doctors from across the country, in cities large and small, I’ve been uniformly impressed with our devotion to providing excellent medical care, our commitment to maintaining our skills and advancing our specialty, and our willingness to go out of our way to help patients (sometimes at the expense of ourselves or our families). The way the deck is dealt, though, we’re much more likely to see each other’s treatment failures than to see our successes. We need to keep in mind that all of us — dermatologists, other doctors, and other health care providers — share a common commitment to our patients’ well-being. Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD Chief Medical Editor

An unsolicited e-mail arrived with information about an exciting new treatment. The treatment was reported to be an innovative, safe, effective therapy. It improves the elasticity of the skin and is used for skin irregularities and skin tightening. It acts as a complementary treatment to liposuction, helping to eliminate residual fatty deposits. Benefits for Whom? In addition to all that, the treatment offered a list of “Benefits.” I immediately thought, wow, what kind of benefits for patients will this treatment have? The list included: substantial revenue return, daily demand, free referrals, FDA approval and free referrals. Hmm, no benefits for patients there. I wonder what this company thinks of doctors. They must think our idea of benefits is “substantial revenue return” and “free referrals.” My idea of benefits is seeing our patients get well. If there are doctors whose main idea of a benefit is “substantial revenue return,” well, maybe they would need “free referrals” pretty badly. How We Are Regarded and Why I’ve come to believe that as a whole, we are deeply committed to our patients. Oh, I didn’t always think that. Like our former Senator from North Carolina, I used to think that there were a lot of bad apples in our profession. Regularly patients would tell me about bad experiences they had with other doctors. But then I thought, there weren’t any bad apples in my medical school class. All of us were hardworking and committed. I also realized that while I might see patients who had a bad experience with another doctor, it would be very unlikely for me to see a patient who had a fully excellent experience in another doctor’s office. How many times have you heard a patient say, “Doc, I was seeing Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith is an outstanding doctor. Took great care of me. Solved all my skin problems. I decided to switch and see you anyway.” We’re not likely to hear that very often. Who we really are In meeting and speaking with other doctors from across the country, in cities large and small, I’ve been uniformly impressed with our devotion to providing excellent medical care, our commitment to maintaining our skills and advancing our specialty, and our willingness to go out of our way to help patients (sometimes at the expense of ourselves or our families). The way the deck is dealt, though, we’re much more likely to see each other’s treatment failures than to see our successes. We need to keep in mind that all of us — dermatologists, other doctors, and other health care providers — share a common commitment to our patients’ well-being. Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD Chief Medical Editor