When is it time that you are receiving too much healthcare?

Have you ever heard people debating about how much health care a patient should be allowed to receive?  This has been an ongoing debate for some time now.  There are some patients who people would claim that there may be an excessive amount of time spent on their medical treatment.

Granted some people are very seriously ill and may require more medical care than others.  However there comes a point in time where some of the medical care becomes questionable.

There will always be those patients who receive an endless amount of medical tests.  Now, the real question to ask is whether or not those medical tests are absolutely necessary. 

If tests are repeatedly being done on a patient without a definite answer from the tests.  Medically, it would make sense that you should keep doing tests to help determine what illness is causing problems for the patient.

Procedures are another main concern when it comes to patients being over serviced.  Surgery after surgery, or any small procedure can become very costly for both the medical facility and the patient. 

If a procedure is not absolutely necessary there should be a limit on whether or not to conduct another procedure on that patient.  The problem that arises when some patients are being over served is that that are other sick patients who are not getting the necessary time spent on their illness because all the medical staff is waiting on other patients who may be receiving care more often.

This is a problem because other patients need procedures and or appointments to consult their illnesses with a doctor.  However, doctors are becoming unavailable to them because they are so busy with the over treatment of the other patients. 

Some of the patients who have yet had a formal diagnosis from a doctor may be at a higher risk than the patients who are known to be very ill.  The patients who are lacking the necessary care may have symptoms of cancer or a disease but cannot get to a doctor fast enough to get it checked out. 

Doctors who are waiting longer than they should be on other ill patients could be causing more damage than they think.  If there are patients who are not living independently and have chosen to live at assisted livings, they may have a better advantage than those living at home independently. 

The reason is because these patients have other medical staffing that could at least provide a general idea of what may be going on with their bodies.  They will then need to schedule an appointment with a doctor to confirm a diagnosis.

Jason Geschwind