- Joined
- Jul 5, 2016
- Messages
- 699
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Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but I couldn't find any other social support area on the forum. I needed a place a vent. Feel free to flame me. I'm ready for being accused of being a troll but I assure this is all true. I had a crummy day today as well. I am a physician now and joined the field because I liked the challenges. However, my family likes to think it was their idea. Yes, they did really push for it (made me skip two grades, made me spend my summers as a child studying in a basement to get ahead of the other kids so I had no social life, etc.) because they thought it was "easy money" and all physicians do is overcharge grossly for signed prescriptions. My parents would see a specialist and they'll leave with a big bill and think "wow, Dr. X made SO much money off of us in just 15 minutes!" But they don't realize the money goes to lab, radiology, medical equipment, the clinic, all in addition to physician charges. They have no idea how much liability and thinking is involved in a good quality evaluation. They've never heard of malpractice insurance. Heck, they didn't even know how much medical school costs or that there is this entity called...residency. So when they saw me go through this process, they actually had some regrets. But they held out hope that once my training ends, I'll "bring in the big bucks." My mother even refused to teach me how to cook because she felt it was beneath me and that she was sure I'd be a rich doctor and have a full time maid anyways. I'm graduating residency and after she heard how many patients I'd need to see a day to make a certain amount of money, she was gravely disappointed. She thought I'd make somewhere around 500k annually seeing 8 patients a day in clinic (3 clinic days a week).
I'm a psychiatrist. My mother has been undergoing stress and lately has a lot of physical complaints. She had knee pain, never tried ibuprofen and asked I find her a "good knee surgeon." Now she's reporting shortness of breath and wants me to find her a "good heart doctor" because she is sure it is her heart. She does not follow with a PCP. I told her if it is not an emergency, she needs to be seen by someone (like a PCP) who can evaluate for other potential causes. Then she replied that years ago a presumed cardiologist told her she needed a catheterization immediately but she refused because "he was a bad doctor." So therefore she feels now, she must see a cardiologist urgently. All I could really tell her is that if she feels she needs to, she can report to an ER but to seek a PCP urgently and discuss this.
In brief, I just wanted an anonymous place to share with others who may understand where I'm coming from. For one, although the choice for me to choose medicine was my own, I do have a lot of residual upset with my parents that they'd try to push me to the point of nearly disowning to go into a field they knew nothing about. Had I not been the type of person that would go for medicine for the right reasons, it could easily ruin someone's life. And two, I'm very annoyed with how my family utilizes healthcare and they think just because they have a physician in the family that they can be referred to the "best specialist" of their choice who will have all the answers for them.
I'm a psychiatrist. My mother has been undergoing stress and lately has a lot of physical complaints. She had knee pain, never tried ibuprofen and asked I find her a "good knee surgeon." Now she's reporting shortness of breath and wants me to find her a "good heart doctor" because she is sure it is her heart. She does not follow with a PCP. I told her if it is not an emergency, she needs to be seen by someone (like a PCP) who can evaluate for other potential causes. Then she replied that years ago a presumed cardiologist told her she needed a catheterization immediately but she refused because "he was a bad doctor." So therefore she feels now, she must see a cardiologist urgently. All I could really tell her is that if she feels she needs to, she can report to an ER but to seek a PCP urgently and discuss this.
In brief, I just wanted an anonymous place to share with others who may understand where I'm coming from. For one, although the choice for me to choose medicine was my own, I do have a lot of residual upset with my parents that they'd try to push me to the point of nearly disowning to go into a field they knew nothing about. Had I not been the type of person that would go for medicine for the right reasons, it could easily ruin someone's life. And two, I'm very annoyed with how my family utilizes healthcare and they think just because they have a physician in the family that they can be referred to the "best specialist" of their choice who will have all the answers for them.
