Had to post this

Started by hellohelpwithfuture
Physicians and veterinarians: Turn your expertise into action! Explore CDC’s Epidemiology Elective Program and Epidemic Intelligence Service today.
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
H

hellohelpwithfuture

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
After being around some doctors for awhile, I feel the need to post this. I feel that I have seen too many physicians treat pts like they have some kind of superiority over them and they know all. I can't understand doctors that reject any kind of opinion a pt may have over a treatment or med. Please shed some light on this.

Please tell me that you understand that you may have picked to become a doctor and treat this pt, while this pt may have chosen to become a nursery school teacher and babysit your kid. You are both equal members of society that both know information about your own specialties.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
costanza-answering-machine.gif
 
I'm open to listening to patient's opinions on treatments and therapies other than the following:

1) Please perform an invasive diagnostic test that is not indicated but I read about it on the internet
2) Please give me azithromycin and steroids because I have a cough
3) I require high dose benzodiazepines for depression
4) I require narcotic analgesics for fibromyalgia and chronic back pain for which I am on disability
5) I suspect providing me with a turkey sandwich and ginger ale (NOT diet!) at this very moment in time takes precedence over resuscitating critically ill patients
6) My subluxed tooth, broken nose, abrasions on my right knuckles are the result of a mechanical fall I sustained while transporting an urn of hot soup to the soup kitchen. At 0230.
 
hellohelpwithfuture said:
After being around some doctors for awhile, I feel the need to post this. I feel that I have seen too many physicians treat pts like they have some kind of superiority over them and they know all. I can't understand doctors that reject any kind of opinion a pt may have over a treatment or med. Please shed some light on this.

Please tell me that you understand that you may have picked to become a doctor and treat this pt, while this pt may have chosen to become a nursery school teacher and babysit your kid.
Click to expand...


Yes I understand.

You are both equal members of society that both know information about your own specialties.
Click to expand...

Which is why I don't question nursery school teachers about how to handle children and they should't argue with me or tell me how to practice my specialty. Who is more arrogant? The physician who teaches the medically naive that what they've read or heard is wrong or the patient with no medical knowledge who presumes to know better because they "read it on the internet", "someone in my fibromyalgia support group told me", "I had a friend who's husband cousin had the same thing and..."?

We don't (usually) have believe we're "superior" but if you ask an expert their opinion and then continue to argue with them, its considered offensive.
 
Winged Scapula said:
Yes I understand.



Which is why I don't question nursery school teachers about how to handle children and they should't argue with me or tell me how to practice my specialty. Who is more arrogant? The physician who teaches the medically naive that what they've read or heard is wrong or the patient with no medical knowledge who presumes to know better because they "read it on the internet", "someone in my fibromyalgia support group told me", "I had a friend who's husband cousin had the same thing and..."?

We don't (usually) have believe we're "superior" but if you ask an expert their opinion and then continue to argue with them, its considered offensive.
Click to expand...

Ooh. That’s gonna leave a mark. Anyone got Santyl?
 
Winged Scapula said:
No burn intended.

He/she asked and I told them the honest truth.

I could’ve added a comment about darn millennials thinking that everybody’s opinion is of equal value. But I didn’t because I’m nice.
Click to expand...

It brings me more visceral satisfaction to think of it as a burn. So I'm going to go with that for now. I also just found out from a quick google search that...I'm a millennial...

I'm not handling this well right now. Any support would be much appreciated during this time of distress.
 
TypeADissection said:
It brings me more visceral satisfaction to think of it as a burn. So I'm going to go with that for now. I also just found out from a quick google search that...I'm a millennial...

I'm not handling this well right now. Any support would be much appreciated during this time of distress.
Click to expand...

Only millenials need hugs just because they found out they are millenials. 😀
 
TypeADissection said:
It brings me more visceral satisfaction to think of it as a burn. So I'm going to go with that for now. I also just found out from a quick google search that...I'm a millennial...

I'm not handling this well right now. Any support would be much appreciated during this time of distress.
Click to expand...
How can you be a millennial? Did you start medical school at like age 12? I thought millennial started to be born in 1990.

I feel old… The medical student I have with me this month was born in 1993.
 
Winged Scapula said:
How can you be a millennial? Did you start medical school at like age 12? I thought millennial started to be born in 1990.

I feel old… The medical student I have with me this month was born in 1993.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not, I've read early 1980s to mid-1990s. I've been blaming millennials for everything this whole time.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Man, this thread has gone way better than I expected it to so far.

BUT IT'S MY BODY. But I have a high pain tolerance. But I don't think it's just a virus. It ain't my heart. I need / don't need a CT.

I'm not always right. But I don't go to the dealership telling them how to fix what happened to my car. I especially love the folks who show up in my ED telling me how to do my job.
 
witzelsucht said:
I'm open to listening to patient's opinions on treatments and therapies other than the following:

1) Please perform an invasive diagnostic test that is not indicated but I read about it on the internet
2) Please give me azithromycin and steroids because I have a cough
3) I require high dose benzodiazepines for depression
4) I require narcotic analgesics for fibromyalgia and chronic back pain for which I am on disability
5) I suspect providing me with a turkey sandwich and ginger ale (NOT diet!) at this very moment in time takes precedence over resuscitating critically ill patients
6) My subluxed tooth, broken nose, abrasions on my right knuckles are the result of a mechanical fall I sustained while transporting an urn of hot soup to the soup kitchen. At 0230.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on those statements.
What I was talking about was things like:
  • when a doctor brings up a negative google review that the pt wrote in front of the pt during their appointment
  • when a doctor believes that they know all there is about insurance and believes that they don't have to listen to the insurance company' coverage/protocol even if this doctor is in-network with that company. With this I don't want to deal with it attitude.
  • not allowing the pts to speak during their appointment and when the pts get to speak letting it blow over and continue to state that this doctor is the best there is and nothing any other doctor did before any pt saw him did anything right and I know everything attitude
#hadto
 
Last edited:
hellohelpwithfuture said:
I agree with you on those statements.
What I was talking about was things like:
  • when a doctor brings up a negative google review that the pt wrote in front of the pt during their appointment
  • when a doctor believes that they know all there is about insurance and believes that they don't have to listen to the insurance company' coverage/protocol even if this doctor is in-network with that company. With this I don't want to deal with it attitude.
  • not allowing the pts to speak during their appointment and when the pts get to speak letting it blow over and continue to state that this doctor is the best there is and nothing any other doctor did before any pt saw him did anything right and I know everything attitude
#hadto
Click to expand...

Clearly, you're using this public forum to deal with a personal issue.....

And you are entirely crazy if you think that a physician shouldn't bring up something you publicly wrote about them. If you decide to go and put something negative about me online for the whole world to see, you'd better believe I'm going to bring it up. Just because you did it online doesn't make it "not the real world." You're talking about my livelihood - something I've worked harder for than 99.9% of the US society understands. Thankfully, my speciality doesn't lend itself to people choosing their doctor, but if you pull that crap on a doc who works in a clinic that patients pick, you could literally be taking food out of their kids mouths, threatening their retirement savings, etc. Why in the world would you think that you can go online and say something negative about a specific person and you think they are obligated to ignore it/act like it didn't happen? What sort of crazy high school drama is this?

You're wrong here. Move along.

(edited for typo)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
To play devils advocate, having a huge information imbalance with financial incentives can be a bit hairy. I’m not a mechanic, but when the dealership tells me my late model car that’s running great needs 2k in repairs/maintainence, I may question it as they have a financial reason to perform borderline or Unindicated repairs. I will likely get a second or third opinion. Likewise were I a layperson who felt “fine” I might question the surgeon who recommends an operation.

Personally, I get that and have no problems with people seeking additional opinions, and have found that much more often the situation is the opposite, where people are pushing for unindicated care. Like anything else though, it can be done in a respectful or disrespectful manner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dares Dareson
Applying to fellowship as an attending
Replies
2
Views
2K
operaman
O
Doc mu
My attending had a mini breakdown during coffee break today
Replies
8
Views
4K
90sportsfan
9
Doc mu
Not progressing as I had expected in elective ortho, any tips?
Replies
9
Views
2K
LucidSplash
LucidSplash
Bassurgery
Planning to apply for CT Surgery fellowship
Replies
3
Views
5K
SociableJimmy
SociableJimmy
A
Post graduate research fellowships
Replies
0
Views
862
afozengaron
A