Doctors are sometimes held to impossibly high standards. They’re only human, yet they’re not allowed to make mistakes.
Reader’s Digest ran an article earlier this year in which doctors revealed their human side – something patients rarely get to see. Here’s a sample of what they shared.
On intimidating the patient:
I was told in school to put a patient in a gown when he isn’t listening or cooperating. It casts him in a position of subservience. –Chiropractor, Atlanta
Ageism:
In most branches of medicine, we deal more commonly with old people. So we become much more enthusiastic when a young person comes along. We have more in common with and are more attracted to him or her. Doctors have a limited amount of time, so the younger and more attractive you are, the more likely you are to get more of our time. –Family physician, Washington, D.C.
On listening to patients:
I used to have my secretary page me after I had spent five minutes in the room with a difficult or overly chatty patient. Then I’d run out, saying, “Oh, I have an emergency.” –Oncologist, Santa Cruz, California
One reason we have antibiotic resistant bacteria:
Sometimes it’s easier for a doctor to write a prescription for a medicine than to explain why the patient doesn’t need it. –Cardiologist, Bangor, Maine
Why plastic surgery is so popular:
Twenty years ago, when I started my practice, my ear, nose, and throat procedures financially supported my facial plastic surgery practice. Today, my cosmetic practice is the only thing that allows me to continue to do ear, nose, and throat procedures, which barely cover my overhead. –Ear, nose, throat, and facial plastic surgeon, Dallas/Fort Worth
Something is fundamentally wrong here:
It saddens me that my lifelong enjoyment and enthusiasm for medicine has all but died. I have watched reimbursement shrink, while overhead has more than doubled. I’ve been forced to take on more patients. I work 12- to 14-hour days and come in on weekends. It’s still the most amazing job in the world, but I am exhausted all the time. –Vance Harris, MD, family physician, Redding, California
Patient modesty
I’d like to thank the blog Patient Modesty & Privacy Concerns, where I found a link to the Reader’s Digest article. Their post ”15 Secrets Your Patients Won’t Tell You” is a good summary of the issues patients have around the topics of modesty and privacy. The goal of this blog is to illuminate these concerns.
I’ve added this site to my blogroll, where you can find their most recent posts as they’re published.
Related posts:
The doctor/patient relationship: What have we lost?
Doctors in the trenches speak out – Part One
Contempt and compassion: The noncompliant patient
Should doctors work weekends?
The art and science of medicine
The physician as humanist
Physician as lone practitioner
Resources:
Image source: Birth Without Fear
Cynthia Dermody & Patricia Curtis, 41 Secrets Your Doctor Would Never Share, Reader’s Digest
After all the problems with the full body scans at airports the last few days, that list of 15 secrets on modesty fits airports more than hospitals.
I posted a link to an article on airport scanners the other day from a site that specializes in ethics (http://bit.ly/atlmGd). “Scanners have met with about as much enthusiasm as a toxic waste dump. … They show the outlines of genitalia but fail to reveal some bomb components.”
I should also say that it is disappointing and disgusting to learn doctors are taught to intimidate patients. What authoritarian B.S. So much for the concept of, “Do no harm,” or the idea of the healing profession.
Doctors might try that with me. But I guarantee you, they will not get away with it!!
That particular comment came from a chiropractor. I don’t know that they take the same oath. In my experience, they’re certainly less likely to tell people to take off their clothes.
It’s still disgusting.
I totally agree. I’m surprised someone would admit to this tactic, even anonamously.