Here is a real winner of a cardiologist...

[JT1024]

Unfortunately, this blog is pretty popular. The more people that comment negatively towards the guest physician blogger, the better.

 

[Valentijn]

Looks like the "doctor" has responded to some comments, and is sounding a bit surprised by the response he got. Doing some half-assed apologizing along the lines "I'm sorry if you're offended, but you don't see what I see" blah blah blah.

At least he's getting the message that expressing that sort of prejudice publicly is not going to slide by without condemnation.

 

[SOC]

Doing some half-assed apologizing along the lines "I'm sorry if you're offended, but you don't see what I see" blah blah blah.

Yeah, and he doesn't see what we see -- doctors making rash assumptions about patients based on very little real data and lots of personal prejudice.

 

[Hip]

There definitely are people that get disability income, yet are quite capable of working but choose not to, so this doctor has a point.

I have an acquaintance who got disability income due to some mental symptoms, and continues to claim for it. Yet although this person said they were not capable of working, they were quite capable of starting a family, using their disability income as funding for this.

Not that I am against people not wanting to work. The employment rate in countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia is very high: around 70%, compared to an employment rate of around 60% or less for countries like Italy, Spain, Mexico, Greece, and Ireland.

 

[Misfit Toy]

What I think is interesting above even the CFS comment is that he doesn't think people on SSD should work. Um dude, do you not know that we can't survive on our measly disability? Some of us have to work part time and even SSD knows that. They know you can't live on what they give you. I talked to a woman who agreed when I called disability. So, that is another statement that really boils my blood. Yes, I know there are many people who live in section 8 with food stamps, but even they are broke. They have no wiggle room or $$ for anything else. They can't even think of buying an ice cream cone. So, all and all, he is top grade ass and not just stupid on the CFS, Fibro comment (if he did mention fibro) but just because he needs a DOSE OF THE REAL WORLD. $400,000 a year....what does he know?!

But yes, I too know people on SSD that work full time under the table and it pisses me off. Not right. They are living a good life and cheating the system. And, they are living in their Mother's house that was left to them in Queen's...so they have some money to boot.

 

[Hip]

But yes, I too know people on SSD that work part time under the table and it pisses me off. Not right. They are living a good life and cheating the system.

And these cheats cause a double problem for people who genuinely need and deserve a disability income:

(a) the cheats squander the disability funds that are available; and

(b) the cheats make it less likely that people with a genuine need will receive a disability income, because the welfare system or insurance companies that award disability incomes are wary about being cheated. This is very problematic for conditions such as ME/CFS where, because of the lack of biomarkers, the degree of disability is hard to observe and hard to measure. If we lived in a perfectly honest world, this would never happen.

Of course, there is also the other side of the coin to consider, with certain unscrupulous insurance companies like UNUM, who had a ruthless policy of withholding as many disability payouts as they possibly could. And not to mention UNUM's support of the Wessely School "it's all in your mind" view on ME/CFS, just in order to again avoid disability payouts for ME/CFS patients.

 

[JayS]

Looks like they've yanked the comment thread.