Do you trust your doctor?

Also, I realised I was heniously sexist in my original question, please substitute all gender-specific words with their politically correct equivalents.

GPs' jobs are made more difficult by the fact that they rely on patients telling them what the matter is as well as examination. I find that whilst it is reasonably easy to say where a pain is, describing the nature of that pain ( a common and necessary doctor's question) is often very difficult indeed. I was once asked in Casualty "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain you have ever experienced, how would you rate the pain you have now". Not a question I was able to answer.

I also went to my previous doctor once with a muscle problem and was told, entirely erroneously (and this *I* knew, never mind a doctor telling me), that it might be a tumour. Here's an appointment to have it looked at in 10 MONTHS TIME. So I wasn't terribly pleased with that. I cancelled the appointment the next day.

I had no idea about this time limit. I always assumed appointments took as long as they took.

Doctors are people with good A levels and the dedication and ability to get through a lengthy qualifying/training period. This does not guarantee that they give a fuck about you (especially me), nor that they are paying much attention. I've dealt with a lot over the years (I am asthmatic, epileptic and suffering from depression) and most have struck me as pretty hopeless.

And, I should mention, one of my old friends is a doctor, a GP. Apart from a bizarre faith in rockist ideas, he is a very intelligent man who I am sure generally does his best for his patients.

"To provide 40 patients with any real help in the few hours between breakfast and lunch was physically impossible and the result was deception, whether he liked it or not. In the current year he had seen 12,000 patients--in plain language 12,000 patients had been duped."

I just read this story--its really great. Atul Gawande (sp?) is doing a similar thing in the New Yorker. I think the only thing worse than doctors are that subset--psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and their ilk.

Therefore I would not go to a doctor who did not also practice complementary therapies. This is one way to ensure that my doctor is open-minded, genuinely interested in health and healing and is going to be able to approach a problem from more than one angle.

Also my doctor is a lesbian but I didn't know that when I chose her. I chose her mostly because she had neat handwriting and always filled out forms thoroughly. I was a data-entry clerk at the time and she was one of the doctors who sent through lots of requests to the place I was working at.

Mother (pointing at picture on doctor's desk): is that your wife?

Dr: Yes.

Mother: It's a pretty old picture isn't it?

Dr: It is, but how did you know?

Mother: I could tell from her clothes.

Dr: She wears clothes like that now.

Is it within my doctor's (GP) bounds to tell me that I need to work on my social life? This was for a general check-up and it was my first time seeing him. Um, does it hurt bc it's true or it none of his business. I didn't bring anything up--he asked probing questions, such as was I married, had I ever been married, did I have kids, do I prefer men to women, etc.

uh wtf. I think that's definitely out of bounds.

Maybe he was trying to ask for a date. You should've told him he needs to work on his bedside manner.

it seriously does sound like he was hitting on you!

I think I have a sign on my head this past month that says, "Ask me rude questions, please."

I thought he might be hitting on me a little at first, but then I thought he was just concerned for my emotional well being. He also asked if I had a dog (I don't.)

Did you say anything else (imply that you lead a "lonely" life for example)? It seems a very odd thing to say, but then a doctor is looking after your physical and mental health, I guess .

To answer the question: Yes, very much so. There's a doctor behind the corner (from where I have the shop) but I don't trust her very much. She has misdiagnosed a couple of people/things. This is why we picked another, much better, doctor. He's about 20 minutes away but, damn, I think he's GREBT! I love how he explains everything without putting the patient down at all. His wife's a bit zany though. She takes the phone and does the bills and shit, so I have to get past her, but it's worth it.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a rude question. Maybe he's genuinely interested and concerned in your total wellbeing. Maybe he's getting (the wrong?) cues that you are down?

WTF? Wayyyyyy out of bounds!

I don't think I've ever gone for a general check-up. Maybe that routinely includes mental health these days?

http://www.theherald.co.uk/_images/db/52/47/mccanns.524726.full.jpg

Uh NONE OF HIS BUSINESS.

He probably just read some journal article about the relationship between demographic factors and general health, and thought he'd survey his own patients to see if the findings held up. I think there were a couple of "single people die younger" stories in the news in recent weeks.

I just got a physical/check-up and wasn't asked any of these questions.

He did look at my penis, though.

My post disappeared. The only reason I went was bc my mom encouraged me to go before switching jobs to make use of the health insurance. I don't think I was acting particularly sad, but rather was annoyed to be particiapting in the health-care assemblyline that is the Kaiser network. It's these kind of situations that tend to urge me to swear off health professionals.

Hmmm. Due to moving around a lot, I've had the opportunity to see several doctors for the first time over the past 5 years, including earlier this week. None of them asked anything like these questions. There are things on the standard health background forms about how many pregnancies you've had, so stuff like that should be in your file. The people who do the billing have a legitimate need to ask if you're married and covered by your spouse's insurance. Unless you were concerned about allergies, what does it matter if you have a dog? Seems weird to me, but you never have to go back to him.

He wanted to know if I had a dog so that he could be assured I had something warm and fuzzy in my life. Yea, when I went for my ob/gyn last week, which, btw, that doctor asked less personal sexual questions that this one, two nurses pre-interviewed me, and one was like How many pregnancies you have? And I was like, um, zero? I think Kaiser is good if you get sick, but no good if you're just trying to stay in good health and deal with some reasonably personable professionals.

My doctor died about 2 weeks. Skin cancer. He was such a cool old dude. :(

I would never go to a doctor who had died. It would be like going to an accountant who had declared bankruptcy.

:/

laffs

what is the best way to deal with a doctor who prescribes inappropriate medications to a person with a long history of pharmaceutical abuse?

Wow. I dunno, but might research in the morning and would be open to hearing answers to this as well.

i don't know if you want to go this far yet but this might help you if you're talking about a new york doctor: http://www.health.state.ny.us/professionals/doctors/conduct/

still fucking pissed off about the doctor who didn't even bother to give my girlfriend (er, now ex) the appropriate tests when she finally plucked up the courage to see someone about her crippling depression. fuuuuuuuck.

I'm 21 and think my days of still going to the pediatrician I've been going to all my life are over. Which is hard, since I can place trust in him, we know who each other are, etc. Especially once when I got really sick after a trip and I went to the walk in clinic across the street from my house, where they told me I had hepatitis, and had to keep going back and back for blood work and all sorts of shit, then went back to him, where he pretty much dispelled any possibility of it being hepatitis within minutes.

mookie, is this a family member of yours? if your pharmacist is any good at all you should be able to talk to him or her about your concerns and s/he can contact the doctor to make sure the prescription is appropriate for the patient (this is essentially a pharmacist's job).

oh that sounds better. i read it as if it was being done intentionally. or willfully.

i got that implication as well, but i think that'd be the best first step. if he's indeed corrupt and is knowingly facilitating an abuser (sadly there are doctors who will write prescriptions for controlled substances in exchange for money) then the pharmacist should sense this and refuse to fill the prescription, and himself take the necessary steps to make sure the physician is dealt with. if you're sure he's being willfully corrupt and can't get this to work out for whatever reason, you'll probably want to contact the licensing board or follow harbl's link

thanks dudes. i doubt that the doctor is being willfully negligent (though i don't know for sure), but he doesn't seem to be on top of the possibilities for abuse. and from a total layman's point of view, the prescription most recently in question seems like a poor choice (i am unaware of any diagnosis of anxiety).

talking with a pharmacist would be good, but it's easy enough to go to different pharmacies if you're able to get the prescription.

UK question. My dad's partner is in chronic poor health and has got to the point where she has had such bad experiences with her doctor that she will put it off as long as possible as it stresses her out so much. She and my dad insist that there is absolutely no way for them to change doctor. When I told them I couldn't believe that, I was accused of treating them like idiots. Unfortunately that happened before I could get a coherent explanation of why it's impossible to change doctors. Part of it seems to be that another local doctor is currently refusing to take more patients, and this is a small town with only a couple of surgeries. They claim that no surgeries in a larger town will take them as they're not in the catchment area, so to speak.

Those things may both be true, but I think there must be a procedure to follow whereby, if you've lost all trust in your doctor, you can be taken by another doctor further away (who is not on 'no more patients' lockdown) despite not being in the usual catchment area. It may not be quick or easy, but to me, as their health worsens, it seems worth it. I've googled, but didn't find much detail other than a breezy NHS assurance that it is all easy, which clearly it has not been for them.

Your local health authority does have the power to force a doctor who's not taking patients to take you (I've had to do that before when there were literally zero practices accepting new patients) but I'm not sure if that would be possible when you do have a doctor already.

Unfortunately in my experience even if they do change doctors they aren't likely to get a better one. I'm pretty sure at this point that doctors who are remotely competent work in hospitals and those who aren't up to it or just don't give a shit become GPs. It's not only because it's hard to get an appointment that people go to A&E when it's not an "emergency". My wife would probably be dead now if we hadn't gone to A&E instead of sticking with useless GPs fobbing her off.

Thanks Colonel. Yeah, I know there's no guarantee that a switch would be an improvement. I'm sure they have investigated and it would probably be very hard to switch. It's hard to listen them talk about putting off the doctor till after Christmas in order to get referred to a specialist, when the overall health situation means I'm semi-expecting the 'she's been hospitalised' call at any time. I know this is just the reality now for a lot of people.

Xp

I agree - I think your parents are wrong or probably have just been told the wrong info by someone in apparent authority. Have you tried calling other local GPs on their behalf (or without telling them?). I think you have to call yr local CCG if there's a problem when you want to change.

https://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/CCGListing.aspx

(Apols if explaining something you've tried already)

Thanks Chuck, this is brilliant info. I've just moved back to the UK from Canada so am feeling lost on how the system works these days and couldn't remember the name for CCGs. I'll definitely call but it will have to be without telling them :/ They will probably turn out to be right, but I don't feel like just leaving things as they are.