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“Of course, we are very critical of this development,” says Margot Ham of the Vienna patient advocate. In any case, a case like the one described in a breast exam is ethically questionable. Unfortunately, patients with such experience would seldom resort to patient advocacy. The problem of the decline in compulsory medical insurance doctors has been known for years. “Most of the complaints are due to the sometimes long wait times for exams or operations,” says Ham.
Lower Austrian patient advocate Gerald Bachinger wants to take a different look. The lawyer explains that the Covid test is basically a resource issue, because not everyone who wants a test urgently needs it. “The big question is how to create a fair system, for that we would have to consider an ethically correct model for the Covid test. In any case, it is not fair if the diagnosis or therapy depends on the ability of the patient. “
Bachinger advocates a kind of pre-screening by Internet e-health assistants that could help patients. He cites the local startup “symptoma.at” as an example.
There is no choice with elective physicians
Bachinger considers the case described during the breast exam to be “unethical” and “probably not legally allowed.” “If there is a suspicion of cancer, it is unacceptable not to investigate it immediately.” The underlying problem has grown in recent years: that there are far more private doctors than mandatory health insurance doctors. “Now we have a resource problem with basic services,” says Bachinger, turning it into a health policy problem. “Because the idea of the doctor of choice is to give the patient the option of going to the closest legal health insurance doctor or going to the doctor of their choice and paying. Now, to a large extent, we have the problem that patients simply have no choice but to go to the doctor of their choice, ”says the expert. And there are already low-income people who “keep food out of their mouths” just so they can be treated by a specialist.
“The basic provider has to do its homework here. Because in view of the development to date, it should be clear that the situation will get worse in the years to come, ”says Bachinger, also with regard to many upcoming retirements. Almost a third of the doctors are over 55 years old.
