To the Editor:
President Obama is also guilty of profiling: “professional profiling.”
During his recent news conference he cited an example that physicians were making decisions for their patients based upon reimbursement rather than on appropriate and case-by-case treatment.
He suggested that physicians often opt to treat a case of a sore throat with a tonsillectomy, a course of treatment that would offer a more rewarding reimbursement, as opposed to recommending a less aggressive treatment. This is a gross exaggeration.
Any skilled physician would recommend the patient to a specialist, a surgeon or an ear, nose and throat specialist, and thus would not receive a penny for the tonsillectomy.
The president should get his facts straight before “profiling” a whole profession of dedicated healers who, for the most part, have only the patient’s well-being in mind.
Ellen Mittelman
Scarsdale, N.Y., July 26, 2009
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 