Deborah- doctors charge "exorbitant" fees so that they can cover the cost of their malpractice insurance, which is so high as a result of so many frivilous lawsuits, as well as legitimate and quasi-legitimate lawsuits demanding "exorbitant" amounts of money.
In fact, malpractice rates are so high, many doctors cannot afford to practice. There is now a shortage of obstetricians, as many doctors refuse to practice OB now (they just practice GYN rather than OBGYN), because the risk of lawsuit and the malpractice rates are just too high.
And because of all these lawsuits, health care providers are forced to spend less time at the bedside because we have to document, document, document, this and that and this and that, and fill out this form and that form, just to fullfill JCAHO requirements and make sure our asses are covered in the event of a lawsuit.
Why are you so angry at doctors?
FYI, most doctors I know work for hospitals, and make only about $100K a year, maybe 120K. This is after 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, and 3 years of 100-hour workweeks of grunt work as a resident.
Unless a doctor can come up with some new, high-tech procedure, they do not make huge amounts of money.
Surgeons, in addition to 8 years of school, go through a 7 year residency program, just to be a general surgeon. If they want to specialize in something (like bypass surgery), thats several additional years of training.
Talk about "delaying gratification".
And may I point out that doctors, do, in fact, save lives, and they do so every day. And they certainly do have effective treatments for many disease. I'm a nurse, okay, I see this shit first hand all the time.
I don't think you know the first thing about doctors and the practice of medicine.
