The three paradoxes of private medicine

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7465.579

BMJ 2004;329:579 (4 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7465.579

reviews

PERSONAL VIEW

The three paradoxes of private medicine

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Like many people in Britain I have inherited—and havesubsequently nourished—a profound dislike of private medicine.However, it now appears that the reality is much more complicatedand disturbing.

We had been told that my daughter would have to wait at leasttwo years to see the consultant as an outpatient, and we feltthat this was totally unacceptable. So we made one simple phonecall to the private hospital, and she was seen in two weeks.

This much was accomplished without trauma. When we made theappointment it felt like any other—perhaps to see thegeneral practitioner or a school teacher. But the experiencebegan to be qualitatively different when we got there. It beganwith a feeling of relief that the uncertainty and waiting wereover. Then, three things happened that gave me pause for thought.

Instead of the joy of clinical resolution, you are left with. . . [Full text of this article]

Marcus J Longley, associate director

Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd mlongley@glam.ac.uk

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

The three paradoxes of private medicine: Hypocrisy, shock, and embarrassment were trivialised: John A Bailey
BMJ 2004 329: 919. [Extract] [Full Text]

The three paradoxes of private medicine: Private medicine stinks: James N Hardy
BMJ 2004 329: 919. [Extract] [Full Text]

The three paradoxes of private medicine: The golden dustman cometh: James F R Love
BMJ 2004 329: 919. [Extract] [Full Text]

Why Britons should be grateful for the NHS: Jane Smith
BMJ 2004 329: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Uneasy in a foreign land: Dr Steven M Rudolphy
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2004 [Full text]
The paradoxical patient: Rohit Makhija
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Hypocrisy, Shock and Embarrassment: John A Bailey
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Bad Health Care Stinks: Maneesh Gupta
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Hypocrisy: Simon Rose
bmj.com, 5 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Re: Hypocrisy, Shock and Embarrassment: Francis C. Rutter
bmj.com, 8 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Paradox: Paul M Bailey
bmj.com, 5 Sep 2004 [Full text]
The tree paradoxes of private medicine: Stuart Sanders
bmj.com, 6 Sep 2004 [Full text]
the real paradoxes: Roy L Bishop
bmj.com, 7 Sep 2004 [Full text]
healthcare funding fundamentalism: Stephen F Hayes
bmj.com, 7 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Service Mentality: Colin A. Mackenzie
bmj.com, 8 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Re: the real paradoxes: Allison Green
bmj.com, 8 Sep 2004 [Full text]
The laddie doth protest too much,methinks.: N. George Macdonald
bmj.com, 9 Sep 2004 [Full text]
The Golden Dustman: James F R Love
bmj.com, 11 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Re: Hypocrisy, Shock and Embarrassment , both sides: YL Yip
bmj.com, 11 Sep 2004 [Full text]
NHS doctors work for money too, don`t they ?: Eigenmann Franz
bmj.com, 13 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Privateering?: Dominic L McDermott
bmj.com, 14 Sep 2004 [Full text]
rapidly responding circles: Dominic McDermott
bmj.com, 14 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Perverse conclusions in a scientific journal: Michael J Goodman
bmj.com, 14 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Re: rapidly responding circles: Stephen F Hayes
bmj.com, 14 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Private medicine and public medicine have delusional-like relationship of infidelity?: Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, et al.
bmj.com, 14 Sep 2004 [Full text]
The Three Paradoxes of Private Medicine: J Gedis Grudzinskas
bmj.com, 16 Sep 2004 [Full text]
private medicine stinks: James N Hardy
bmj.com, 23 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Re: private medicine stinks: susanne mccabe
bmj.com, 27 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Longley's neglected responsibilities: Michael G Bamber
bmj.com, 27 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Utter rubbish: Aidan Gleeson
bmj.com, 16 Oct 2004 [Full text]
a question: Andrew Montgomery
bmj.com, 16 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Sick of UK healthcare: Jenny L Robertson
bmj.com, 16 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Guilt as defence mechanism?: Adrian S. Blaj
bmj.com, 17 Oct 2004 [Full text]
The key issue: Marcus J Longley
bmj.com, 18 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Re: Sick of UK healthcare: Sumit K Basu, et al.
bmj.com, 19 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Re: Re: Sick of UK healthcare: Jenny L Robertson
bmj.com, 25 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Irrational loathing of the private sector: Simon A Rogers
bmj.com, 29 Nov 2008 [Full text]
I have always wondered about what might have been: oscar,m jolobe
bmj.com, 30 Nov 2008 [Full text]
without co-existence of private medicine, the NHS might, perhaps, have never come into being: oscar,m jolobe
bmj.com, 1 Dec 2008 [Full text]