Thursday, October 10, 2013

Non-MD Medical Providers Performing Abortions in California

We are getting there!  As you, my readers know, The Blog has been a champion of non-physician medical care, knowing full well that properly trained, skilled nurse practitioners and physician assistants are highly qualified to provide such service.

Gov. Jerry Brown of California has signed into law a bill that will permit nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants to perform all forms of abortion, including surgical abortions.  Those opposed to abortions are maintaining that the new law will "reduce the medical standards for abortion," thereby "reducing safety."(1)

Ridiculous.  This bill will put the procedure within reach of women who often live in settings where physician-provided abortions are difficult to access, and provide them with skilled practitioners.

You do not have to be a physician to perform an abortion.  You do not have to be a physician to perform many forms of surgery.  You do not have to be a physician to perform many emergency medical procedures. You do not have to be a physician to provided excellent general (or even specialized medical care).

An interesting article in the recent edition of The New England Journal of Medicine (2) concluded that he best surgery is carried out by the physicians with the greatest "skills," not necessarily those with the best training.  "Our study showed wide variation in technical skill among fully trained, practicing surgeons." (2)

Academic training is one thing.  Developing the necessary skills is something else.  And, you know, there are many skilled non-MD practitioners who may be far more skilled than those with MD degrees.  Trust your experienced, skilled non-MD medical provider - your physician often does, the city government does (EMTs, etc.), the armed services do (front-line medics) - and so should you.

1. New York Times, Oct. 10.
2. The New England Journal of Medicine, Oct. 10.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am a pediatric cardiology NP.

I agree that NPs can do anything a doctor can do. Not only that, but we can do it BETTER tahn you can.

That includes the field of pediatric cardiology. I work with a group of 3 midlevels and 7 pediatric cardiologists and I am more skilled than any of the cardiologists at auscultating murmurs, interpreting echos, and doing cath procedures.

In fact, most of the time my pediatric cardiologists ask ME for advise rather than me asking them for anything. I know how to manage all the arrytmias and structural variants of heart defects/valve issues better than the "doctors" do.

Pediatric cardiology NPs are just as good at invasive cath procedures as cardiologists are, and we should be allowed to perform them solo without interference from a cardiologist. My guess is that you are a hypocrite and never would allow such a thing to occur, am I correct?

I do NOT need supervision. Myself and the other NPs in our group work COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT, we evaluate new patients, we order our own tests, we schedule the surgeries with zero input from the cardiologists.

In fact, a local hospital bought out the group, and I am in talks with them to fire all the cardiologists and replace them with NPs because we are cheaper and better than teh cardiologists.

Dr Steeg you have made a lot of money over the years by doing a job that could have been done a lot better and a lot cheaper by using NPs instead.

There is absolutely no reason for pediatric cardiologists to exist. Pediatric cardiology NPs are just as good and we dont cost nearly as much as you guys do.

NPs are just as good as subspecialist MDs are at their field. We should be getting rid of MDs with their bloated incomes and replacing them with NPs instead.

We dont need you MDs anymore!