Customer Reviews

Medical Racket

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

GROSS'S "NO BARS HOLD" APPROACH TO EXPOSING THE CORRUPT HMOs and DISTRACTED PHYSICIANS HAS HAS INFLUENCED ME TO QUESTION MY NEURO-SURGEON'S RECOMMENDATION TO FUSE MY SPINE. INSTEAD, I SEARCHED THE JOHN HOPKIN'S WHITE PAGES, AS MR. GROSS HAD DONE FOR HIS DAUGHTER, AND FOUND A PHYSICIAN THAT PERFORMS AN ENABLING VS. DISABLING SURGERY.

THANKS MR. GROSS FOR WRITING THIS BOOK.

It blows the whistle on the medical profession. It even explained to me, for the first time, why I had a nasal voice as a child (for 10 years) after a tonsillectomy. I'm getting a copy for all of my relatives. I know I will be a better consumer and a bigger pain in the butt for doctors after reading this.

Any critic of HMOs needs to read this book. You will not find a better defender of your cause than Martin Gross, who also happens to be the most provocative political writer in America today. However, his remedy for the health care industry - a sort of political-community medical hybrid- only covers the last few pages of the book. This soultion, covered in little detail, should cover at least one third of the book. But because it doesn't, I feel cheated of a real solution to Mr. Gross's gripes. The real conclusion that I drew is that the solution to health care lies not with HMO destruction but with HMO reform.

I agree with the author on his assessment of the HMO system in this country. HMOs are the single most outrageous fraud in this century. However, other than that single merit which earned the single star in this rating, the book could be called a fraud in itself by its overzealous attack of the health care professionals. The author is guilty of gross irresponsibility as a writer--in this case, an investigative writer--when he presents only facts that support his consistent accusatory tone of doctors and hospitals. Consequently, a reader is left with the opinion that health care providers are nothing but fraudulent scoundrels. In this respect, the author has succeeded in drilling the point home. This accomplishes nothing other than breeding distrust bordering paranoia, which in turn could lead to advocacy of extreme punitive policies against a patient's best friend--his health care provider. Fraud does exist, but I seriously doubt that it is as pervasive as the author has portrayed. As a single-sided propaganda piece of work, this book is a success. But as an all-informing investigative report on the health care system of the country, it fails miserably.