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On Quora, many questions sound silly at first, but then are often followed by decent answers. Here is one.


Q: Why don't most US doctors come to the UK where they can treat people without needing to ask if they can afford it?

A: I was treated in my local NHS hospital last year by an American doctor. I asked him what he was doing in the land of evil social medicine. He said that here he could be the doctor he trained to be, where he and the patient made the decisions about treatment and drugs, rather than a clerk in an insurance company. He had not spent years training in order to enrich shareholders and CEOs, but to heal people. The treatment he was doing for me was in three parts, over three weeks, because a big infection was involved. It would take longer and cost the NHS more, but it was the safest option for me, to avoid the risk of sepsis. Where he had worked in the US, he was usually instructed to take the quicker, one procedure route that was cheaper for the insurance company, but with more risk to the patient. He had spent some time as a teenager in the UK, to do with his father’s work, knew how things worked here, and preferred the lifestyle of valuing time and family over big bucks and stuff. He also enjoyed not having to see the look of anxiety come into a patient’s eyes and hear the question “How much is this going to cost, Doctor?” when they heard the diagnosis. Money is not an issue. The treatment, follow up, medication, scans, etc are done because he says so, and everyone pays a bit towards it so that I don’t get a bill when I need his hospital and his expertise. He likes it that way. Others would have different priorities, no doubt. And surgeons are not exactly paupers here. One of my friends has a large house, with a swimming pool, tennis court, putting green and a Porsche in the garage. Her husband is a retired eye surgeon.


About three years ago, a friend of mine had a baby, who was born prematurely by 12 weeks! The baby had to be kept in the ICU of a special hospital for four months until the doctor could finally confirm that the baby was out of the woods. Anyway, my friend somehow worked out that all the treatment the baby received amounted to £160,000 (!) which was borne by the NHS. If not for the NHS, he and his wife would probably have had to sell their small flat, etc., for the treatment, or would've had to give up on the baby... who knows? That baby is now a very healthy, good looking, smart little boy. My friend and his wife are very grateful to the NHS, and I am only too happy to pay my tax towards the NHS.

Ryo1 8 Oct 7
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Oh , why won 't the quorum be replaced with reddit ? It's much more interesting there. I understand that quora has its best sides, however...

I find interesting Qs&As on reddit, too.

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I have to say, Quora is the worst. Anything I Google that's specific, I get results from Quora, mostly asking the same question I searched. With no valid answer. BTW, American doctors don't come to UK for the same reason British doctors do try and practice in USA. $$$$ or in Brits' case ££££

To me, comparing Quora and Google is like comparing apples and oranges. I also don't like comparing one entire groupeof people with another entire group of people, like American doctors vs British doctors. It's a broad faulty generalisation. Anyway, you're entitled to your own opinion.

@Ryo1 Doctors are people. People like money. I wasn't comparing Google to Quora. Not at all. I said when I Google very specific questions, the results come up with my question on Quora. That's annoying, Google is annoying and Quora is beyond annoying, so they are similar in that respect.

People like money - sounds like a very American capitalist concept.
Here is something quite opposite to that:
"Lagom är bäst" (Swedish), literally "The right amount is best", is also translated as "Enough is as good as a feast", or as "There is virtue in moderation".

@Ryo1 American doctors make a lot of money. Why should they go to UK to make less? Why shouldn't a British doctor want to work in the USA to make more? No crime in that.

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