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| Medical Information: Happy Thanksgiving from the Medical Community |
| Nicholas V. Costrini, M.D., Ph.D. Medical Director Georgia Gastroenterology Group, PC |
| On behalf of the several hundred doctors and other healthcare workers in the community, I am proud to offer the very best holiday wishes to you all. The physicians of this and every other community in America certainly give thanks for the privilege of serving everyone in need by offering their time and talent to relieve the pain of injury , cure the multiple treatable diseases that strike without warning, and offer support when faced with incurable diseases.. On behalf of the medical community I wish to offer thanks for the trust and kindness that patients show for their physicians. The American public is a patient, realistic, and understanding group and physicians are appreciative of this and give thanks. Patients usually must wait for an appointment to be seen in the physicians office and then must wait for hours in the doctors office before seeing a nurse, physicians assistant or the doctor himself. Most patients have come to realize that physicians are not sleeping late or spending until noon on the golf course. Physicians spend twenty percent more time each day working and see that many more patients each day than they did only fifteen years ago. The demands on the physician today are simply greater than in the past. To those patients who receive their care exactly as they expect and to those who are critical of the real shortcomings of our healthcare system, I offer you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving. As you take a moment to give thanks for the blessings you have in your life and perhaps say a prayer for those less blessed than yourselves, it is a good time to perhaps give thanks regarding one aspect of your healthcare system, namely that every ethical and honorable member of the medical community truly believes that adequate healthcare is a right and not a privilege in this country. While politicians, economists, and insurance company executives debate the issue and spin the data for some specific gain, doctors treat patients nearly equally regardless of ability to pay. If you go into the emergency rooms of our three major hospitals you can find a list of the Doctors on Call. Physicians on the list include nearly every one of the three hundred MDs and DOs in the community. On a rotating basis, the family physicians, surgeons, gynecologists, kidney specialists, and every other type of specialist accept patients for care who enter the ER without a physician, without insurance or financial means to pay for health care. Doctors accept these patients and also staff the free clinics of Savannah and regularly provide free medical care in their offices because they have never found reason to debate the issue that your right to life includes the right to health protection and medical care. Physicians incorporate this philosophy into their daily practices just as they must also incorporate the harsh realities of private practice that include the costs of running an office, the costs and stresses of Americas malpractice environment, and the massive amount time consuming paperwork heaped on the practitioners of today. Such things are all part of modern American medicine. It is in vogue to question what are our rights and what are our privileges in a free society. I recently read an editorial (offered in a neighboring rural newspaper) entitled, Remember: voting is a privilege; not a right. I thought it was a joke. The column was about voter apathy and said nothing to explain the title. In 2004, I would have thought it clear and obvious that the right to vote is exactly that in our free and democratic society. If we cannot agree that voting is a right, it is no wonder that the right to health care is unclear in the minds of many. Fortunately physicians are not as foggy on rights as are some editors. As physicians give thanks for the privilege of caring for all Americans because they believe it is the right thing to do, American can give thanks that for all the troubles with our healthcare system, the doctors and healthcare workers practice medicine as best they can to serve your needs and rights. Happy Thanksgiving, Yall.
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