Breathing Easier: The Lifesaving Journey with Lung Specialist Dr. Mark J. Pamer

What Are The Most Challenging And Rewarding Aspects Of Being A Pulmonologist?

Imagine feeling a breath of fresh air for the first time after years of suffocating coughs and relentless shortness of breath. That's the reality Dr. Mark J. Pamer, a dedicated lung specialist from Port St. Lucie, crafts for his patients every day, and we're thrilled to have him share these transformative moments on our podcast. Joined by our spirited co-host and producer, Garfield, we uncover the inspirational tales of individuals reclaiming their lives from the clutches of respiratory ailments. Dr. Pamer's anecdotes range from enabling wheelchair-bound patients to stand up and mow their lawns again, to curing persistent coughs that have ostracized individuals from the simplest of social activities. His passion for medicine and devotion to his patients' well-being is nothing short of heartwarming.

Yet, it's not all deep breaths and clear skies in the field of pulmonology. In a candid revelation of the occupation's emotional toll, Dr. Pamer opens up about the challenges he faces, from the heartache of patient suffering to the frustrating tangles of electronic medical records and insurance bureaucracies. But it's in these very struggles that Dr. Pamer's resolve is most apparent, especially when dealing with the stark realities of severe lung disease and the delicate nature of end-of-life care conversations. Our dialogue with Dr. Pamer not only shines a light on the rewarding outcomes that drive his mission but also provides a raw look at the perseverance required to navigate the complex world of modern healthcare.

To learn more about Dr. Pamer, go to:
https://www.markpamerdo.com/

Dr. Mark J. Pamer DO
573 NW Lake Whitney Place, Suite 105
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34986
[phone]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Dr Mark J Pamer podcast, a doctor
who uses his heart to treat yourlungs.
Here's your host, Dr Mark JPamer.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Join us as we sit down with one of the Port St
Lucie's top lung doctors todiscuss the high and low in the
field of lung health.
And Lou in the field of lunghealth.
Welcome back everyone.
Garfield-born co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with Dr Mark Pamer.
Dr Pamer, how are you doingtoday?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm great Garfield.
We're ready to educate somepeople over here.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Okay, so, dr Pamer, what is the most challenging and
rewarding aspect of being alung doctor?

Speaker 3 (00:43):
and rewarding aspect of being a lung doctor man,
let's do rewarding.
The most rewarding part of myjob, which I see several times a
week, is helping someone.
I mean I'm channeling fromabove the almighty a lot of
education.
I mean, it's not me, you know.

(01:04):
Taking that education, figuringout what a person's got and
getting rid of those symptomsthat have been debilitating for
a person so that they can rejoinfunctional life, that's awesome
and that's what gets me out ofbed in the morning For somebody
whose life has beendysfunctional or ruined by
shortness of breath.
They can't leave the house,they can't even get to their

(01:25):
mailbox, and now they can.
Or they're walking around andthey're unlimited.
Or people come into my officeand they're in a wheelchair or a
scooter.
They can't walk.
And then they come in andthey're in a walker after that,
after what we've been doing, orthey walk in without a walker,
they're wheelchair bound, andthen you know we get them on the
right medicines.
The next thing I know they'remowing their lawn.
That's something they couldn'teven conceive of before.

(01:47):
That is awesome.
I saw a woman this week whowouldn't leave her house.
She couldn't go to the movies,she wouldn't go to restaurants
because her cough was so bad andshe had a very particular type
of cough and she'd failedeverything.
She'd been to multiple doctorsand I knew exactly what she had.
You just had to get the righthistory and I put her on right

(02:10):
medicine and she took it for oneweek and her cough was gone,
never came back and she cried tome this week about how it had
changed her life and got a bighug.
And it's amazing to have thatexperience, because it's just
amazing to have helped somebody.
She can go to the movies now orgo to dinner things you and I

(02:31):
would absolutely take forgranted, never think twice about
it and here it's now for her.
It's so special.
So I love that.
People who have been told theyhave asthma and their life is so
debilitated by it and now theydon't.
Or it's perfectly controlled orthey were misdiagnosed.

(02:53):
They were told they had asthmabut they really had vocal cord
dysfunction and again it wasjust an extra one or two
questions and listening to whatthey said and getting them to
the right speech therapist.
And now they don't, now they'reperfectly controlled and
they're're out there and they'renot coughing, they're not short
of breath, and I just love thatthe ability to help people live

(03:13):
their lives functionally andthat is so rewarding and it
keeps me going.
I absolutely love it.
In converse, the difficult partof the job, there's a human
element to it of seeing peoplesuffer, which is hard, and
there's the frustrating elementof it of the electronic medical

(03:34):
record and the way that it takesfrom the human relationship and
in the insurance company,especially these Medicare
Advantage plans, which arefrustrating.
But on the human side, thereare people whose lung disease is
so terrible that they're shortof breath no matter what, and
they're so miserable and there'sso little to do for them, or

(03:57):
their symptoms are so advancedand you've tried everything and
they're still suffering andyou've just done everything and
the fact is there's no lung leftand no matter what they do,
they're going to be really shortof breath.
And then you know, then it's a,it's one of those hospice
discussions and you just, youjust wish you could wave a magic
wand and make it all go away.

(04:19):
But that that's not reality andthat that's frustrating.
It's frustrating that um andthis is true for all physicians
at this point we all arecomplaining about the same thing
that when we used to go to thedoctor, the doctor sat there and
we spoke to him or her and theyjiggled some notes and it was
an efficient process and outthey went and we were out of

(04:40):
there in 15, 20 minutes.
But those days are long gone.
Now we're sitting there typingstuff in the computer and
clicking boxes and boxes andboxes and the people designing
these systems, they have noclinical experience.
These systems are designed forbilling, so the companies can
grab 4% of our revenue and theydon't really care about the

(05:02):
software and it just takes awayfrom the patient experience.
And it takes so long to seepeople now that it's become
laborious and we're seeing fewerpeople and I think the
frustration factor is higher foreach person being seen.
People are burning out.
My colleagues are burning out.
I'm burned out on theelectronic medical record,
although I love seeing people.

(05:25):
That part is really frustrating.
That's not just for me as apulmonologist, that's for all
physicians at this point.
And then, finally, this growthof the Medicare Advantage plan,
which people are signing up forthinking it's the cheaper option
, and sometimes it is thecheaper option immediately, but
it may not be the cheaper optionoverall, because all of the
health care costs are passed onto them Now they end up with

(05:47):
higher co-pays and more costsfor everything.
Everything's more expensive,the benefits are fewer and now
they can't afford a number ofthings that they could have
gotten previously.
And so here they may haveterrible lung disease and they
can't even afford the therapythat they need now because of
the insurance company, or theinsurance company is just

(06:09):
automatically denying things andwe're jumping through hoops and
hoops and hoops to get peopletechnology that they need, and
these advantage plans are justdenying it.
And it's so frustrating becauseyou know what the person needs
and yet a foreign entity isdenying it for the sake of
denying it.

(06:29):
That's the frustrating part thehuman part of watching people
suffer and the technical part ofbeing denied the ability to
help people who are suffering.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Dr Payne, I can hear from your voice that you really
care.
You know we thank God fordoctors like you, and the
community of Port St Lucie ishappy to have you.
Listen, you have a wonderfulrest of the day.
We'll see you in the nextepisode.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Thanks for listening to the Dr Mark J Paymer podcast.
To learn more about the doctorwho uses his heart to treat your
lungs, go to markpamerdocom orcall 772-785-5864.
Once again, that's 772-785-5864.