{"id":2690,"date":"2010-08-12T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2010-08-08T23:56:57","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T03:56:57","slug":"the-kitchen-shrink-by-dora-calott-wang-m-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/?p=2690","title":{"rendered":"The Kitchen Shrink by Dora Calott Wang, M.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Title:<\/strong> The Kitchen Shrink<\/em>
\nAuthor: <\/strong>Dora Calott Wang, M.D.
\nPublisher:<\/strong> Riverhead\u00c2\u00a0Books
\nSource:<\/strong> Caitlin at FSB Associates<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

My best friend\u00c2\u00a0is a psychiatrist who works with military veterans so I was interested in reading what Dr. Calott Wang thought of the current medical system in the US.\u00c2\u00a0 The Kitchen Shrink<\/em> is a memoir that reads like a string of stories to illustrate her points.<\/p>\n

One example is how the family doctor who was paid upfront and treated like a family friend (or a respected community member) is now relegated to a physician number in a managed health care system designed to not pay the doctor.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve seen her point firsthand.\u00c2\u00a0 Dr. Light delivered me when I was born and was at my oldest brother’s bar mitzvah.\u00c2\u00a0 If we hadn’t moved from California he probably would have been the family doctor until he retired or passed away.\u00c2\u00a0 Doctors I’ve had for several years (my family practitioner, ob\/gyn, gastroenterologist, and opthamologist) I know well enough to ask about their families but newer doctors I would have problems recognizing them outside their office.\u00c2\u00a0 And I doubt they would recognize me.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

My insurance benefit form shows me the original cost of the services provided, how much was discounted, how much insurance paid and what is left for me to pay.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s difficult to make sense of it at times.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, I had blood drawn in May and June at the same facility for the same tests and yet the second blood draw was $25 less.\u00c2\u00a0 Who comes up with these figures?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not difficult to imagine the paperwork hospitals and doctors need to fill out in order to get reimbursed for providing medical care.\u00c2\u00a0 Or to imagine doctors\/hospitals hiring people to take care of the paperwork and deal with the insurance companies.<\/p>\n

The flow of the book is good but I had to stop about two-thirds of the way through to give myself a break.\u00c2\u00a0 It was depressing.\u00c2\u00a0 I took two days off to read something lighter before returning to it.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the changes and consequences Dr. Calott Wang describes were only visible to her in hindsight.\u00c2\u00a0 I think her book is a good place to start a discussion on how the medical profession became the\u00c2\u00a0health care\u00c2\u00a0business.<\/p>\n

Author Bio
\n<\/span>Dora Calott Wang, M.D.,\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>is a psychiatrist with degrees from the Yale School of Medicine and the University of California, Berkeley. She was awarded a prestigious writer’s residency from the Lannan Foundation. Dr. Wang has been in private practice and served on hospital staffs, and is currently a medical school professor. She lives in New Mexico with her family.<\/p>\n

For more information please visit\u00c2\u00a0www.doracalottwang.com<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and follow the author on\u00c2\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: The Kitchen Shrink Author: Dora Calott Wang, M.D. Publisher: Riverhead\u00c2\u00a0Books Source: Caitlin at FSB Associates My best friend\u00c2\u00a0is a psychiatrist who works with military veterans so I was interested in reading what Dr. Calott Wang thought of the current medical system in the US.\u00c2\u00a0 The Kitchen Shrink is a memoir that reads like a… Continue reading The Kitchen Shrink by Dora Calott Wang, M.D.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[342,343],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-dora-calott-wang-m-d","tag-the-kitchen-shrink","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t