The Decline of Medicine: A System in Crisis
Medicine was once an art—an intimate exchange between doctor and patient, built on trust, expertise, and time. Today, it has been strip-mined, commercialized, and reduced to a cold, corporate transaction. The system, once designed to heal, now operates with all the efficiency and warmth of a fast-food drive-thru. Dermatology, in particular, has devolved into a franchise model, where a single group of physicians owns a hundred clinics, but none of them actually see patients. Instead, they staff their assembly lines with low-level providers fresh out of residency, retired doctors clocking in for a few seconds of face time, and a conveyor belt of rushed encounters. It’s medicine at the speed of a Duane Reade pharmacy—quick, impersonal, and utterly disconnected from the principles that once defined the field.
And why wouldn’t it be? If a dermatologist accepts insurance, they’re reimbursed at rates so laughably low they might as well be working for free—five cents on the dollar. The result? Patients wait months, sometimes forever, only to be told their case doesn’t fit within the framework of a broken system. When the bill finally lands in their lap, outrage erupts—not at the insurers who gamed the process, but at the doctors who are merely trying to navigate a rigged game. The entire system is designed to fail, and it does so spectacularly, every single day.
But in the middle of this charade, there exists an outlier. A rare exception. A physician who refuses to compromise.
Dr. Gary Jayne Rothfeld, board-certified for four decades, an elite athlete, a world-class swimmer, and a pioneer in cosmetic dermatology, still believes in medicine the way it was meant to be practiced. He doesn’t outsource his expertise. He doesn’t pass patients off to someone with a pamphlet and a prescription pad. He sees every patient himself, spends a full hour in consultation, and delivers care with the kind of precision and personal attention that has all but vanished from modern medicine.
His practice is not a revolving door of rushed appointments and delegated care. Every morning, Dr. Rothfeld personally reviews each patient’s history, carefully curating individualized treatment plans before they even step into his office. Unlike corporate dermatology mills that squeeze in dozens of patients per hour, he dedicates substantial time to ensuring that every diagnosis is accurate and every treatment is tailored for long-term results. His approach is not just about treating symptoms—it’s about crafting a strategy for optimal skin health, beauty, and well-being.
He believes that real dermatology cannot be performed in two-minute increments. Every case is unique, and every patient deserves his undivided attention. Whether it’s a complex medical dermatology issue or a cutting-edge cosmetic procedure, his hands are the only ones at work—no PAs, no nurses making decisions on his behalf. Just four decades of experience, scientific knowledge, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
This isn’t some assembly-line dermatology clinic, where the visit is over before the patient even realizes the doctor has entered the room. This isn’t a rotating cast of faces who breeze in, mumble a few words, and disappear before you can ask a question. This is real medicine—care that extends beyond the superficial, beyond the transactional. The kind of care that values patients not as numbers, but as human beings.
Of course, in today’s world, that kind of dedication is practically heretical. The idea that a doctor should actually spend time with a patient, listen to their concerns, and apply decades of knowledge? Madness. We live in an era where shortcuts are celebrated, where the bare minimum is the standard, where the medical profession has been hijacked by bureaucrats, middlemen, and corporate overlords who wouldn’t know a stethoscope from a spatula.
The truth is, medicine has lost its soul. It has traded wisdom for efficiency, depth for speed, and care for profit. And yet, there are still those who refuse to play by the new rules, who remember what this profession once was, and who fight every day to uphold its true purpose. Dr. Rothfeld is one of them. He’s not just a dermatologist—he’s a warrior against the mediocrity that has infected modern healthcare. And for those who refuse to settle for the assembly-line version of medicine, he’s exactly the doctor they’ve been searching for.
The question is, how many are willing to break free from the machine and demand the care they actually deserve?
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| DR GARY JAYNE ROTHFELD |
