Re: Responses to Medicaid & C-Leg
Zeffer
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: Responses to Medicaid & C-Leg
Creator:
Zeffer
Date:
4/7/2002
Text:
I don't think this is an issue of discriminating against patients who are
poor, but rather one of discriminating what materials one is able to use to
provide the best device under given circumstances. I don't think food stamps
should be used to buy liquor for example-discrimination. If the C-leg
happens to be the best leg for a given patient, but is unavailable because
of cost limitations, it is not the providers responsibility to deliver one
at a loss. It IS the providers responsibility to deliver the best service
and device available under those circumstantial restrictions. A bad fitting
cheap leg is just as good as a bad fitting expensive leg. This is not a
question of ethics for prosthetists but a matter of doing business. There
may be a question of ethics posed to the manufactures of expensive
components that demand more than a fair market price. With all the glitzy
advertisement promoting high hopes for the most expensive leg money can buy,
no wonder there are so many amputees with broken expectations and negative
feelings about what they paid for.
John Zeffer
-----Original Message-----
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of Karen Lynch Co/Beprosthetist
Sent: Monday, January 01, 1601 7:00 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Responses to Medicaid & C-Leg
I think it's unethical for a practitioner to discriminate
against a patient based on the fact that he or she is on
Medicaid. Furthermore, I think that by doing so you would be
putting your own financial interests (no increase in tax money
out of your pocket) above the medical interest of the patient-
which I believe is in direct violation of the Canon of Ethics.
If some of you out there have an issue with the expense of
the C-leg, then you should have issue with that for ALL third
party payors, not just for those who are unfortunate enough to
be on Medicaid. (Besides, you don't want YOUR health insurance
bill to go up any more than YOUR taxes - or do you just like to
pick on poor people?)
We should be working together to assure that every patient
gets the best treatment possible and that we get paid for
providing that treatment - not slamming a portion of our patient
population.
-Karen Lynch, CPO
poor, but rather one of discriminating what materials one is able to use to
provide the best device under given circumstances. I don't think food stamps
should be used to buy liquor for example-discrimination. If the C-leg
happens to be the best leg for a given patient, but is unavailable because
of cost limitations, it is not the providers responsibility to deliver one
at a loss. It IS the providers responsibility to deliver the best service
and device available under those circumstantial restrictions. A bad fitting
cheap leg is just as good as a bad fitting expensive leg. This is not a
question of ethics for prosthetists but a matter of doing business. There
may be a question of ethics posed to the manufactures of expensive
components that demand more than a fair market price. With all the glitzy
advertisement promoting high hopes for the most expensive leg money can buy,
no wonder there are so many amputees with broken expectations and negative
feelings about what they paid for.
John Zeffer
-----Original Message-----
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of Karen Lynch Co/Beprosthetist
Sent: Monday, January 01, 1601 7:00 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Responses to Medicaid & C-Leg
I think it's unethical for a practitioner to discriminate
against a patient based on the fact that he or she is on
Medicaid. Furthermore, I think that by doing so you would be
putting your own financial interests (no increase in tax money
out of your pocket) above the medical interest of the patient-
which I believe is in direct violation of the Canon of Ethics.
If some of you out there have an issue with the expense of
the C-leg, then you should have issue with that for ALL third
party payors, not just for those who are unfortunate enough to
be on Medicaid. (Besides, you don't want YOUR health insurance
bill to go up any more than YOUR taxes - or do you just like to
pick on poor people?)
We should be working together to assure that every patient
gets the best treatment possible and that we get paid for
providing that treatment - not slamming a portion of our patient
population.
-Karen Lynch, CPO
Citation
Zeffer, “Re: Responses to Medicaid & C-Leg,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 7, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/218915.
