Fuck the Huxtables!

As a kid, when you were asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, two professions were always mentioned more than any other; doctor and lawyer.  This makes total sense.  Both professions are very high paying, and were among the most admired professions in the world.  Both are very glamorous, if not very stressful, jobs.  Most of this glamour was created by Hollywood and TV Studios, who have released thousands of movies and countless hit television shows centering on these careers.  Being all over both the small and big screens made these two professions sexy.  The Cosby Show, one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, portrayed Bill Cosby as a doctor, and his wife, Phylicia Rashad, as a lawyer.  These professions were chosen for these individuals because they were both considered among the most successful white-collar professions in the country. 

This was back in the 1980’s and 1990’s, a far more innocent time.  The image of both professions has taken a turn for the worse in the last few years.  Lawyers, while never considered honest, are thought of as liars and cheats; who have no morals, and will do absolutely anything for a buck.  Doctors used to be thought of as some of the most honest people around.  Doctors, Priests and Policemen were the trinity of moral occupations.  I don’t need to get into what the common view of Priests is… or police officers for that matter.  Like the other two professions, doctors are now looked at quite differently.  Their image hasn’t fallen as much as that of the other jobs, but doctors can no longer do any wrong. 

Let’s start with lawyers.  Lawyers are thought of as the scum of the Earth.  No one trusts them because people assume all lawyers are ambulance chasing, greedy vultures who will sue their own mother if it involved a big paycheck.  While there are some honest lawyers out there, there are also a lot who fit this stereotype. 

The reason lawyers have this stereotype is because they have a hand in everything bad in this world:  Divorces, deaths, crime, injuries and lawsuits to name a few.  When a suspected murderer is put on trial, and the majority of the public believes that he is guilty, the man who defends him is thought of as not having any principles.  You may think “That’s not fair because someone has to defend him”.  While someone does have to defend him, defense attorneys are the ones who voluntarily take the case.  The defendant could just have easily gone with the public defender.  Truth is, the attorneys take the case to defend a high profile criminal because they want to make a name for themselves.  If a lawyer can get his client off of some serious charges, it looks great for him because it builds his reputation.  This is even more so if the person is guilty.  The truth is that the lawyer doesn’t care if his client is guilty.  If he is guilty, the lawyer looks like a genius; if the person is innocent, the lawyer is happy- not because he saved the person’s freedom, but because a “W” looks good on his resume.  Look at OJ’s lawyers.  After his trial, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran became household names.  Both of them became the biggest defense attorneys in the business and became extremely wealthy men due to all the clients they were getting.  

Bill Cosby might have chosen a different profession nowadays.

The way to become rich nowadays is not through hard work and dedication.  In today’s world the way to strike it rich is to either win the lottery or to sue someone.  It’s the American Way.  There are many thousands of lawsuits in America every year.  While many are justified, some are just plain ridiculous. 

Here are a few examples:

1.)            Carl Truman, of Los Angeles, California, won $74,000 plus medical

expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

2.)           Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately, the garage door opener malfunctioned and he became trapped in the garage for EIGHT DAYS, living off of Pepsi and a bag of Dog Food.  He sued the homeowner's insurance company, claiming undue mental anguish.  Amazingly, he was awarded $500,000.

3.)           Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware won $12,000 plus dental expenses from a nightclub because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. The reason she fell is that Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies’ room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge,

4.)           Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip on the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich.  Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned.  Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her…are you sitting down?,...$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.  Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit. -- just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

               

While these examples are all crazy, they have something else in common, too.  That is the fact that THEY ALL WON!  You can’t place 100% of the blame on the lawyers and greedy plaintiffs when we live in a society that encourages lawsuits like this by awarding money to people who, quite frankly, are so stupid they shouldn’t be allowed to eat with a fork.  Nevertheless, it’s the lawyers who convince these people to seek legal action.  The people agree, because, it’s free money, which is something everyone needs.  I am quite sure all of the people listed above were having financial difficulties at the time.  I don’t think Oprah or Bill Gates would have sued in the same situations, although Oprah and Bill Gates are also very smart individuals and would never put themselves in situations like those listed above.  Lawsuits like this are an embarrassment to the US Legal System, and are a main reason why lawyers have a reputation as blood suckers. 

A main reason why lawsuits like this even happen is because a lawyer is in need of money.  People think all lawyers are rich.  Most of them are, but some have to resort to underhanded tactics like frivolous lawsuits to get rich.  This is because there are SO MANY lawyers today.  Back in our parents’ day, there were not as many.  Since law became a sexy profession over the past 20 years, everyone wants to be a lawyer.  Law School enrollments have risen drastically since the 1970’s.  With so many of their kind out there, some lawyers have to scratch and claw for clients.  I am sure there are those lawyers who chase ambulances just because they are greedy and enjoy making a mockery of the system, but many who partake in these unjust lawsuits are just trying to survive. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not defending them.  I am just saying that it’s a shame that we live in the kind of society that promotes this kind of behavior.  While lawyers are not the cause of all the wrongdoings in the world, they certainly play a part in it.  They are like the cherry on the sundae that is the evil in the world:  They top it all off, provide a different flavor and intensify its effect. 

As far as doctors go, they are, in some cases, more corrupt than lawyers.  You would think a doctor would be looking out for your best interest, but, in many cases, all they are looking out for is their pocketbook.  When you go to the doctor with an ailment of some kind, oftentimes they don’t prescribe what’s best for you.  Instead they prescribe a drug from whatever pharmaceutical company is giving them the biggest kickback.  Every year, drug companies send thousands of doctors on vacation as a reward for prescribing their drugs.  They send them to Hawaii, The Caribbean, all over the world.  The doctors don’t have to pay for anything.  All they have to do is write prescriptions for any number of drugs made by their preferred pharmaceutical company.  Many times the drug doesn’t even work, which causes you to go back to the doctor, which is more money in their pocket. 

Doctors and drug companies have teamed up to make American paranoid.  They have made many billions of dollars selling us on drugs we don’t need.  It seems every few weeks a new disease is in the spotlight in the media.  This new disease, or course, will have a medication.  How do the drug companies get people to use their product?  Simple, by listing the symptoms of the disease right in the ad.  Have you ever listened to one of these commercials?  The symptoms listed are so broad that over half of the people who see it will think they have the disease.  That gets the public to go to their doctors, concerned.  The doctor turns around and prescribes the advertised medicine to his patient and everybody supposedly wins.  The drug company sells their product, the doctor gets money for the visit, and a kickback for prescribing the medication, and the patient is happy because they think their newly discovered illness will be cured.

The big winner is the pharmaceutical company.  They receive a tremendous profit margin on the sale of the drug.  Also, if they get enough doctors to prescribe the drug, the disease it treats will become well-known and more and more people will be going to their doctor to see if they need said drug.  Look at all the sicknesses and conditions that didn’t even exist 20 years ago.  Conditions like ADD, Fibro-Mialgia, depression, anxiety and countless others are household terms now.  Half of Americans are on at least one prescription drug!  That stat is ridiculous.  Some prescription drugs are necessary, like diabetic and blood pressure medications.  The need for some of the others is questionable. 

Anti-depressants are the biggest meal ticket for pharmaceutical companies.  Big companies like Pfizer make multi-billions on just this one type of drug every year.  I mean, I can see why.  Depression is such an easy thing for a doctor to sell to a patient.  Everyone gets depressed.  Life itself is depressing.  Think about it, you are born to suffer.  Sure, we all have good moments occasionally but everyone is meant to suffer.  You get sick, your loved ones die, something bad happens to you, you suffer a letdown in life; its all depressing stuff.  At the end of your life you will die, which will cause others to get depressed.  People get depressed and automatically assume they suffer from depression.  It’s hard not to, when you see ads on television who list symptoms that match what your feeling.  Of course, your doctor agrees with you and writes you a prescription.  I mean, that’s more money in his pocket.  Of course, he can’t just prescribe it for you and then send you on your way.  He has to set up a follow-up appointment a month later, you know, to make sure the medication is working.  If it is, he’ll set up another follow-up a few months later.  If it isn’t, he prescribes you a different drug you don’t need and gets to see you the next week.  I can see why doctors play along, I mean one doctors appointment costs around $100, just to walk in the door.  If they actually have to do anything to you it will cost much more.  Even if a doctor gets 5 patients to see him every month, that’s $500 extra income monthly for them. 

Doctors love to give tests and do blood work, because it’s expensive!  Some doctors only get blood work done or run tests when they are truly needed.  Others have them performed like it’s a mandatory part of the appointment.  I used to have a doctor that wanted me to get blood work every single time I saw him.  I think I gave him 3 gallons of blood in two years.

When doctors order tests done it freaks some people out.  The people  think they have something serious, when, in fact, most of the time its nothing. Doctors know this, and use it to their advantage.  They con people into thinking they need something they don’t.  The doctor tells you the test is done as a precaution.  What they don’t tell you is that this “Precaution” is costing your insurance company a thousand dollars.  That’s if your insurance company even covers it.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  The doctor is sure to leave this part out.

 I hate how doctors try to scare you.  They plant seeds o doubt in your head about your health, trying to bait you into believing them, so they can prescribe you drugs and then set up appointments every month.  Lots of people fall for this, I did, too.  I went to the emergency room a few years back for what turned out to be heat stroke.  I went to the doctor, and she ran all these tests on me.  After which she told me I had an enlarged heart, and needed prompt medical care. I became a hypochondriac just like that.  Over the next year and a half I constantly thought every little imperfection I had was some major illness.  I was going to the doctors once a month, which I am quite sure my doctor liked.  My insurance company wasn’t too happy, though.  My doctor’s appointments were always for minor things.  Much of the time I did not even need to go, except for the fact I was a hypochondriac.  With all the money I spent on co-pays, I wasted a few hundred dollars.  I am just now getting back to normal.

Other than the patient getting taken for a ride here, the health insurance companies are the ones that take the biggest bath.  They are the ones who pay for the doctor visits and all the medications. The insurance companies raise their rates to make up for all the money they are paying out to providers and pharmaceutical companies.  Heaven forbid they take a loss on anything.  So, as always, it’s the consumer that ultimately takes the hit on this.

What is going on here with doctors and pharmaceutical companies is no different than a politician taking a bribe.  Politicians get money from lobbyists to influence the way they vote on certain issues.  Similarly, doctors are paid by drug companies to influence the way they prescribe medication.  Whether a drug actually works or not is completely secondary to how much the doctor is getting paid to subscribe it.  This is common practice nowadays and it needs to stop.  Drug companies and insurance companies are getting entirely too rich.  This is all because of the willingness of the doctors to sell their morality for a few extra dollars.  Apparently, making 100K a year isn’t enough for some doctors.  They want that extra few thousand and that free Hawaiian vacation.  They sell their patients out; betray their trust, all for a few bucks.  So much for the Medical Oath all doctors must take.  It is supposed to be that doctors will never refuse anyone treatment because of inability to pay.  Now, the first thing they ask you when you go to the doctors is who your insurance company is.  They ask you this even before they ask what is wrong with you. 

It is our fault the medical industry is like this.  We have allowed them to get way too powerful.  It was not that long ago that people only needed health insurance for the most expensive procedures.  For simple doctor’s appointments, everyone would always just pay out of pocket.  There was no need for a deductable because the appointment was only $20 to begin with.  Health insurance rates were very low.  Doctors would care about their patients.  They would know everything about their medical history without even looking.  How we went from that to the current system which revolves solely around money, rather than healthcare, I don’t know, but it is a shame.  I do know that this nightmarish system is in desperate need of an overhaul.  It will be a long process, but even the longest journey starts with a single step.