'"Complicated Patient" is the new scarlet letter..."

Dr. Wes a href=”http://drwes.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-letter-to-patients-regarding.html”has an open letter /ato patients regarding health reform:br /br /blockquoteDear Mr. and Ms. Patient,br /br /It has come to my attention that in order for you to enjoy success as patients in the new era of health care reform, you must start working now to prevent illnesses that might befall you. Do not, under any circumstances, eat or drink too much. Fast food might as well be considered illegal. Exercise three, four, five times a day, even if it means take time off from work. It goes without saying that you should not smoke. The government has data that demonstrates how you have become fat, lazy, and a huge burden on our health care system. Your non-compliance threatens the very fiber of our economy….br /br /Also, do not be a surgical case that has any risk of failure. After all, “Complicated Patient” is the new scarlet letter as we work to cut even more costs. Fortunately, thanks to the new multitudes of guidelines for care that we must follow, I will be carefully interviewing you to assure that you fit into one of several pre-determined renumeration bins called “bundles.” Please don’t confuse me with more than one major disease since there is currently no way to handle this circumstance. I would suggest you pick the disease that bothers you most./blockquotebr /br /As a “Complicated Patient,” who already does all of the above to take care of herself, I don’t look forward to our new socialist overlords of health care.