If I decided to jump on the band wagon with the “ commissioned” pipe crew, the spending of my lunch money would include more than just having it my way. Would I be going to the extreme if the added requirement involved internal exam of the selected block of briar? Photo imaging may prove rather expensive but I am sure one of my Drs motivated by the dollar sign could slip in under the radar of Medicare. Is this just a pipe dream or is my clutch slipping ?.
Medical Photo Imaging The Ebauchon
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It's an interesting request. Assuming that you could have the candidate block subjected to an MRI, X-Ray, or Ultrasound, exactly what would you be able to recognize?
You're kidding, right?? Are you really asking doctors to lie about this because you don't want to pay for it yourself? I am scared to ask how much you are willing to spend on this commission. Your post makes it seem like you don't plan to spend more than $200.
Yep, most reputable carvers are more than happy to send you the briar to analyze and approve before they start and will usually not only pay overnight shipping both ways, but any associated lab costs for density testing - I got the full report of the last service call from my carver's lathe rep as well, he was thrilled I took an interest.
I just don't think you are serious. If you are then I'll probably learn something.
I just don't think you are serious. If you are then I'll probably learn something.
I wonder if a scan would let the carver know if there was grit or a pebble the root had grown over. I imagine it would be frustrating to be carving a high-end piece intended to be smooth and discover a flaw in the briar that put the kibosh on that.
Maybe if they find a sandpit in the image the doctor can use lithotripsy to break it apart too? I'm sure there's a CPT code that they could add to the EOB they send to Medicare.
well no reason to believe it would be useful. The thing is it takes so much training to read these scans. And being a first or at least a first for the person doing it there is no reason to think they'd know what their looking at or why it looks that way. Also no reason to be shady about it. The thing is it wouldn't be worth it to go the shady route where if they're going to be willing to do it... They won't have any reason to hide what their doing.
Ask your MD to lie about billing — what sort of tomfoolery is this? I pay into Medicare and have no desire to support imaging a piece of wood 
A post like this one really brings out the humor-impaired.
I hear you. I'd like to think the OP is joking, hard to fathom somebody being that anal retentive and screwed up in the head.
If they are that far removed from reality, they deserve both our compassion and well-intentioned ridicule.
We are talking about pipe smokers you know...
As a physician, I have tried many (many) times to have my pipes run through a CT or MRI by my radiology colleges. It simply can't be done. The hospital and review boards won't allow it. I have even begged the administrators to let me do it "just once", but they are afraid of the legal downfall and social media stigma. I would love to do it, but it is a "pipe dream."
I think even if you can do it, the data you get out of it cannot be interpreted to mean anything. You don’t have any calibration
Take the block to the radiology department of your local hospital after hours, i.e night shift,and slip the x-ray tech $50.00 to take a few digital x-ray images and burn a CD of the images for you.
"is my clutch slipping?"
Yes and I think you stripped first and second as well as trashed the synchros.
Yes and I think you stripped first and second as well as trashed the synchros.