Why are so many doctors arrogant bastards?

It's because the money has gone to their heads, in most cases. They've lost sight of the true purpose of being doctors, to help people, and instead wallow in above-the-people views of life.

 

It isn't the money in many cases. It's the system that's made them bitter/uninterested.

 

Working for too many hours in a week will do that to you along with insurance.

There are good people and bad people in every profession. You probably just don't catch a lot of the good ones during good times. And why don't you talk to your own doctor? Seems to me that if you want to discuss your own medical condition that's what you would want to do. Why should random doctors you call up call you back? The secretaries probably don't even tell the physician you called.

 

Or maybe they never cared about people in the first place. There are, unfortunately, physicians out there like this.

 

Yes, and if you have ever watched the movie, Salt Lake City Punk, you know that the best way to rip the system is to rip the system from the inside.

 

OP, were you paying these docs for the time on the phone? Were you already a patient of theirs or just cold-calling? The situation in Canada when you were on vacation seems a bit harsh, but many doctors are really stretching to cover their costs these days because the reimbursement structure for most insurance, Medicare and Medicaid does not pay docs for the time they spend counseling patients. They basically only get paid for procedures. If they spend an hour talking to a patient, they get paid the same as if they spend 15 minutes. I think for most docs, they wish they could spend more time talking to patients, but that doesn't pay.

 

My guess would be that they do not have time when you called.....it's all a time issue in medicine..... I suppose the people waiting in pain in the emergency department waiting room must think all the doctors are complete A-holes too.....or maybe they realize it's the system that's screwing everybody....

 

I hope you don't mean you plan on giving medical advice over the phone, without an examination or medical record. That, my friend, is malpractice. You got put on hold, so what? Grow a pair and move on.

 

Not to mention the many ungrateful patients who take advantage of the system. Not directed at you OP.

 

Are Dutch doctors any different?

 

So you're going to be one of those doctors who interrupts clinic visits to take random phone calls? You're going to be a specialist who takes anyone who walks in the door even if they haven't bothered to get a referral from their Primary Care doctor? You're going to dole out medical advice free of charge? You're going to give medical advice over the phone to patients that you do not have an established relationship with?

I don't know your situation, and I don't know how accurately you've related your story here, but based on what you posted, I'd blow you off too.

 

Yeah, well, they may be REAL DOCTORS but they're also going to be REAL BROKE unless they have some paying patients too. Volunteerism is great, but it's just that, not required in order to maintain one's medical license. Would you say the same thing about a tennis instructor who refused to discuss your backhand over the phone?

 

Make an appointment. Time spent giving free medical advice over the phone is time lost for one of their patients.

 

Where I'm from you don't need 30 years of education to schedule an appointment. If that's what you wanted why didn't you just tell the secretary or whoever it was you talked to?

Oh boy, not only do you paint the entire medical profession in broad strokes, you write off the entire country of Canada based on this experience? Is this mystery medical condition you wanted to speak to thes docs about psychiatric by any chance?

 

So your interaction with one person has changed your perception of the ethics of an entire country? and you're admitting it?

 

going into a diary

 

When you are 250K in debt and have two lawsuits pending review, holla back.

 

What if the patient was a whiny little pissant, would that justify them being blown off?



Jus' sayin'...

 

Sorry about your experiences here.

You should consider vacationing in Turkey. I got badly scraped up in a motorcycle accident there and got "ER" treatment, saw a surgeon (who picked me up from the hospital on his day off to take me to his office), got scripts filled for antibiotics and analgesics--all for about $100.

 

In exchange for what sexual favor?

 

I had to #$&! your mom! Just kidding.

 

Yes attitdes of one doctor is a reflection of all the others..[/quote]


Wow, I'm glad I know other Dutch people or I would be forced to assume that they all make sweeping generalizations about other countries!

 

No you are not. BTW, she has the itch.

 

Now that explains a lot.

 

I had an allergic rxn in Turkey, was covered in hives from head to toe. So we drove to the doctor's house, where he gave me a shot of antihistamine in the arm and wrote me a rx for more. Then he refused to accept any payment, since it only took him 5 minutes to treat me and he knew my dad. The only downside was the Turks believe that the best (and only) way to administer medication is IM. So my pharmacy prescription included syringes and glass vials. I tried to ask if they had the pink Benadryl pills because uh thats what everyone in America uses - and they insisted that this was the best way to do it. Luckily, my cousin's wife was a nursing student. Unlucky for me, she not only believed in IM administration, she also believed that a shot in the arm is good, but a shot in the butt is better. I loooooooooove America....

 

You'd probably ask an architect to send you some sketches when you're planning on building a house, or call up a lawyer to ask what he thinks you should do, all for free, of course.

 

They'll also be in REAL TROUBLE at this rate.

 

Yeah, but you gotta love Turkey too. Was your doctor smoking during your visit?

 

hey, I've been really busy lately. I was wondering if you could read a few books for me and give me some written summaries about them.


Don't you guys have the Internet?

 

So, is this disease contagious?

 

blame socialized medicine.

 

Being that you are from a small town, I was thinking you were trying to keep it on the down low, hence the international consultation. For example, some people will not like their fellow small town people to know they had CRABS, so they might leave town for treatment.

 

That's still malpractice, dude. A patient comes in for an appointment with some symptoms and complaints, so the physician does (ideally) a thorough history and physical examination, runs some tests or imaging studies, and comes up with some potential diagnoses. Each step is documented in a medical record. This is still the case even when the patient comes in with a diagnosis in hand from another physician, and you sure as hell don't just take the patient's word for it. You're asking these doctors to give you the patient (read: plantiff) expert-level information about some condition you think you have knowing full well you intend to act upon it, without any of the aforementioned standards of care being enforced and with tremendous personal, professional, and financial risk to the doctor with no benefit whatsoever. Well I guess they do earn your respect . This after you've probably made a stink with the desk staff about being put on hold (heaven forbid). Alas, I feel I've just wasted the better part of 5 minutes arguing with this idiot troll. Maybe one day he'll join us in the real world and realize nobody owes him a thing.

 

Um sorry tiger, "asking them to tell you if it's worth flying there" or "if they perform a procedure" is medical advice, and I still wouldn't talk to you. If you wanted an appointment, you should have made one. Otherwise, you ought to realize by now that patient's don't decide what procedures they need, doctors do.

I hope everyone has now picked up that this isn't a premed, this is a random patient who found this forum on google and is taking the chance to complain about doctors.

 

plus eleven billion. OP: learn how the real world functions, then get your panties in a twist if it's really worth it.

 

I think its a little much to decide that these docs are all schmucks just because they couldn't talk to you when you decided to call them. I've worked in a busy clinic and many times the doc didn't even stop to eat from the first patient at 7:30 am to the last patient at 4:00 (on a good day 4, lol). They only time they left the outpatient clinic was to round on their inpatients. I can imagine if someone called them with a question during one of these frequent marathons they would be blown off too. There are always two sides of a story, and while it may be very frustrating on your end, that doesn't mean that they are heartless bastards, but might instead just be very busy people. If they are the type of docs that people fly in to see then I assume they are the types who are booked solid and therefore have very little downtime. Maybe you could have posed your question to a nurse and ask her to check on it for you at the doctors convienence and get back to you with an answer. Many docs have month long waitlists for appointments so it makes sense that you might have to wait a few days for an answer to your question instead of having them come to the phone for you in the near future.