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Dr. Foley had his five health priorities all wrong

Randall Hogg New London

Publication: The Day

Published 10/06/2012 12:00 AM
Updated 10/05/2012 05:25 PM

I was fascinated to read your Sept. 15 cover story, "Ex-nurse takes state medical society reins," about Dr. Foley and his five key issues in health care. Unfortunately, they reinforce my feelings that if the state of health improves in Connecticut it will not be because of the physician community.

Please don't worry too much about cardiologists leaving the practice.

In the 1950s, the United States had 300 cardiologists. Now there are over 30,000. Is this caused by medical students hearing horror stories about shrinking reimbursements?

Financial incentives aside however, Dr. Foley's list of issues lacks mention of the rising epidemic of preventable cardiac disease, even among our children or any other points that show his concern for patients.

If there is any exodus of cardiologists, maybe it is due to the dismal outcome statistics of cardiac patients. There is no increase in life expectancy among cardiac patients following their expensive surgeries.

Indeed, Neil Armstrong might still be alive had not cardiac surgeons worked on him - the opinion of many physicians.

Dr. Foley could be a strong voice to the legislature in addressing the root causes of our health issues, lifestyle and diet. I'm not counting on it, though, based on his five priorities.

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