Hospitals in Maine - some introductory overview

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by Last1Standing

What's the best place in Maine for a shoulder or hip replacement? How does it compare to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center?

So that takes *a lot* of digging to really give a proper answer, and I don't have the info in my head, so this is just some preliminary info after brief review. If you or a loved one need such surgery, I'd suggest researching thoroughly on your own. That's what I have done when I needed surgery, is I did a deep dive into the medical literature to understand what was the best procedure and then I did all I could to learn the backgrounds of individual surgeons who might be local options to perform that best procedure. That takes a lot of work, even in the internet age.

Both EMMC and MMC have a joint replacement center, which indicates it's a focus of the institution. They both have orthopedic surgeons who were trained in respected institutions, and a team that's big enough to have orthopedists who specialize in treating specific joints.

On hip replacement surgery specifically, they both offer traditional as well as newer minimally invasive surgical approaches - the latter provide faster recovery due to less trauma being done by the surgeon; that's of course appealing but long term outcomes are also important and the comparison there is less clear. MMC has a bigger team, and the rating info I have been able to find from several sources is higher for them on hip replacement. They also provide more info on their own website, and I think transparency is always helpful and a good sign. I'd give MMC the nod on hip replacement as a group over EMMC and about equal to Dartmouth Hitchcock.

[Kracer]

"Certainly not every practitioner in medicine is ultimately competent and 100% ethical. That's the same as every field though - there are always some bad choices among practitioners.'


Well the government tells us they are all equal, you mean they vary in competence and experience??????


So when your insurance limits your choices, not a problem, any doc you see will have passed the boards and so will provide equivalent care.


run bambi run!

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by Kracer

"Certainly not every practitioner in medicine is ultimately competent and 100% ethical. That's the same as every field though - there are always some bad choices among practitioners.'

I gave up going to physicians for chronic conditions. Unless the CDC has a specific drug for it, they cannot treat you. And it won't b a cure, it will be something that you take for life, and that will get more and more expensive every month.

If you have a crises condition, then doctors are great. They have antibiotics and drugs that will treat that. If you break a bone then they are great. If you have a fall or an auto accident, they are wonderful.

MDI Hospital is great for crises conditions since they have an influx of crises problems with the population in the summer.

But for all my chronic conditions, their treatments either never worked, or they denied I even had the problem.

[1+1=5]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Every time my wife goes to the doctor, she only gets to see a nurse practitioner, who can’t make any decisions for treatment and then sends her to an expensive specialist in Bangor who wants to immediately put her on some expensive medication by big Pharma.

The concerted effort to get the entire population on expensive meds with horrible side effects is deplorable.

I don’t go to the doctor unless I am running a fever. I have GERD in remission from stopping gluten, chronic Lyme, chronic pelvic pain, hemorrhoids, and fibromyalgia. I have learned to treat all of these myself without any big pharma with horrible lifestyle side effects. The doctors had no treatment that worked for any of them.

Medicine today is not interested in healing you; they want to keep you sick along with expensive meds that get more expensive everyday. Sick people are big business. Getting well is not good business.

We don't want to keep people sick. We would LOVE to see more people take care of themselves. More people today (not the ones on this forum, from the looks of it, though), would rather take 3 pills every day than walk for 30 minutes a day.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by 1+1=5

We don't want to keep people sick. We would LOVE to see more people take care of themselves. More people today (not the ones on this forum, from the looks of it, though), would rather take 3 pills every day than walk for 30 minutes a day.

My vet suggests to me that my dog needs more exercise. No doctor I ever had in 70 years of life ever suggested anything but more pills. None have ever asked me about my diet or made any suggestions; and when I said I was a vegan, didn’t seem to understand that mean’t I couldn’t drink milk. No doctor for my wife or me has ever suggested exercise.

And I have GERD, chronic pelvic pain, hemorrhoids, fibromyalgia, and chronic Lyme.

I was given protonix for GERD. It never worked I was told to take more. I became a Vegan so that I wouldn’t be consuming food that caused an acid reaction. When I told my doctor, he said that wasn’t true. I stopped eating gluten, and I could eat fish again without a problem.

I was told to take 10 sitz baths a day for my hemorrhoids. I took vitamin B-6 and regular b and it fixed that.

I was told that I didn’t have chronic pelvic pain, and that I would need to be on antibiotics for prostatitis the rest of my life(that was 30 years ago). I supplemented with saw palmetto, zinc, nettle root, and cranberry juice, and I’ve not had any prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain since. I told the doctor and he laughed at me.

I was told at first that I did not have fibro, and later that I should take some pill that has worse side effects than fibro. I take guifennssin and don’t consume any salicylates, and my fibro is in remission. I told the doctor and he said I was lying.

I took doxy for Lyme and when I still had the symptoms he wanted me to be on doxy for a year or more, but at first denied that I even had the symptoms. I went on the Buhner herb protocol along with serropeptase, and vitamins, and after about 6 months I went into remission.

If i have a broken arm or a fever, American medicine knows what to do. If I have any chronic situation, they want to put me on pills for the rest of my life that have bad side effects or don’t work, or simply deny that I have a problem and that it's all in my head.

Its been my personal experience. I would rather die than go to a doctor for anything other than a high fever or a broken bone.

[mainegrl2011]

I've had my doctors talk to me about exercise, ask about exercise per week, how much water I drink, etc. One doctor suggested I go to a free class with a dietician. There are doctors out there that don't think it's all about pills. Maybe you have to look to find them. It pays to shop around, maybe even drive a distance. I knew a man with skin cancer. He didn't live in Maine or Maryland, but he traveled about 400 miles to see doctors in Maryland. I realize that is not an option for everyone or even a desire.

I've heard excellent comments about the doctors in Trenton beside the now Harley Davidson place. The excellent comments are from people who see doctors there.

I'm sorry if some of you have lots of health ailments, but I think there is such a thing as sharing too much info online.

Get to know some local paramedics and/or EMTs. They know about doctors.

[1+1=5]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

My vet suggests to me that my dog needs more exercise. No doctor I ever had in 70 years of life ever suggested anything but more pills. None have ever asked me about my diet or made any suggestions; and when I said I was a vegan, didn’t seem to understand that mean’t I couldn’t drink milk. No doctor for my wife or me has ever suggested exercise.

And I have GERD, chronic pelvic pain, hemorrhoids, fibromyalgia, and chronic Lyme.

I was given protonix for GERD. It never worked I was told to take more. I became a Vegan so that I wouldn’t be consuming food that caused an acid reaction. When I told my doctor, he said that wasn’t true. I stopped eating gluten, and I could eat fish again without a problem.

I was told to take 10 sitz baths a day for my hemorrhoids. I took vitamin B-6 and regular b and it fixed that.

I was told that I didn’t have chronic pelvic pain, and that I would need to be on antibiotics for prostatitis the rest of my life(that was 30 years ago). I supplemented with saw palmetto, zinc, nettle root, and cranberry juice, and I’ve not had any prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain since. I told the doctor and he laughed at me.

I was told at first that I did not have fibro, and later that I should take some pill that has worse side effects than fibro. I take guifennssin and don’t consume any salicylates, and my fibro is in remission. I told the doctor and he said I was lying.

I took doxy for Lyme and when I still had the symptoms he wanted me to be on doxy for a year or more, but at first denied that I even had the symptoms. I went on the Buhner herb protocol along with serropeptase, and vitamins, and after about 6 months I went into remission.

If i have a broken arm or a fever, American medicine knows what to do. If I have any chronic situation, they want to put me on pills for the rest of my life that have bad side effects or don’t work, or simply deny that I have a problem and that it's all in my head.

Its been my personal experience. I would rather die than go to a doctor for anything other than a high fever or a broken bone.

Wow.

I am truly sorry for your experience. I respect and admire proactive patients that are willing to try what works for them (as long as it doesn't hurt them, and it actually sounds like you have a lot of good sense). I preach to my patients until I'm blue in the face about exercise, balance exercise, B vitamins, sunlight. It takes longer at the visit and I spend time at night doing charts, when it'd be quicker to throw a pill and run, but I have to sleep at night with a clear conscience. I do work in endocrinology, so lifestyle changes are especially important, but it sounds like you've run into the typical pill pushers that we all try to avoid. I'm sorry for that.

[OutdoorLover]

Healthy lifestyle - avoiding smoking and alcohol, eating lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains, avoiding sugar, processed carbs and processed meats, getting regular sensible exercise, etc can pay huge health dividends and has no negative side effects. For many people though, they still need other "tools in the toolbox" to address the full spectrum of issues that genetics and/or life may throw at them, even if they're doing the right things on healthy lifestyle.

I've encountered doctors I wasn't happy with, and I addressed that to my satisfaction by in effect "firing" the current doctor and getting another one that I can communicate well with, get on the same page with, and have full confidence in. My current doctor is happy to discuss healthy lifestyle practices and even expressed willingness to get me a "lifestyle coach" that could help me achieve my goals and would be reimbursable by Blue Cross.