Why are Doctors such a$$ holes?

[MJ DeMarco]

My doctor is about 80lbs overweight and his stomach protrudes outward from his waist nearly a foot.

My stomach is flat, I have a 12-15% body fat, my refrigerator is packed with healthy food, I never eat fast food, I'm at the gym 4X a week, play softball 2X a week -- and yet somehow it seems, every time I see him I get a lecture about "high cholesterol" (I'm always just slightly above 200) and how maybe I should think about medication.

WTF for? So I can look like him?

Paradox of Practice ... anyone?

 

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[Vigilante]

I was at a party this past weekend, and this guy was introduced to me by the host as "Dr. John Smith."

How pretentious. I don't introduce myself as "Entrepreneur John Smith."

As a society, why are some people so impressed with doctors? Aside from the clinic, why would anyone ever add someone's profession to an introduction?

Like, let me introduce you to CEO Fred Thomas. Baker Sally Smith. Unemployed Jim Lathe. Superintendent Harry Smother.

Seriously. Why do doctors feel the need to be doctors when they are not at their clinic? Doctors don't impress me.

 

[Iwokeup]

Well, as a physician all that I can say is that:

* we are losing the ability to control HOW we practice medicine.
* too many "customer service" a$$holes in the business world, who have no idea about the practice of medicine, have driven medical practice into ridiculous metrics (door to doctor, "patient satisfaction") which turn us into glorified pill pushers.
* congruent with that is the entitled, over-informed ("I read on Google about X and so I know more than you") patient population who will complain to your corporate overlords if you do not do what they want, instead of what's actually best for them. By the way, the whole "I know my body," while it sounds nice is usually BS. Most (95%) have NO CLUE or understanding of what's happening to them and that's why there are doctors.
* Erosion of the field by mid level practitioners (mostly Nurse Practitioners) who are under trained, ignorant of their ignorance, but who claim that they are every bit the equal of the physican who spent at LEAST 7 years gettting to a decent practice level. There isn't any damn shortcut and most physicians know that there is so much that they DON"T know that they are (usually) humble in the face of the unknown.

Finally, there is all of the loss of control (financial, economic, bleeding of the bottom line by a huge number of folks who only see medicine as a gravy train). That has made me an a$$hole on more than one occasion.

end rant

 

[Mike39]

Nothing compared to Lawyers

 

[Vigilante]

LOL I agree. how about dr's who introduce themselves as doctors but they are not medical? I am a doctor but not the kind that can help you! LOL

That's EXACTLY what this was. When he was introduced as a DOCTOR, I told him that my arm had been hurting, and demonstrated it. The host then leaned over and whispered (I kid you NOT) : "he's a PHD." To which I then winked at him and said, "OK, Doc... I will make an appointment with your office next week then."

The host was mortified. I was entertained. The DOC was an a**hole with no sense of humor.

 

[Kak]

what is it about doctors that makes 99% of them douchebags??? are they born this way or do they get trained in the fine art of doucheyness? is it the fact that they think they are better then others? smarter? the power trip?

idk but I have seen and encountered many many doctors in my short life...and 99% or more have some kind of issue going on. and I cant take it anymore.

I have only ever found 1 doctor that I liked. and sadly he left his practice to go serve his country. lucky for the country and air force soldiers. not so much for me

I just want to say screw it and never go to another doctor ever again!

Hmm, I'd feel like being an a**hole too if I went to school until I was 30 only to have the entire industry that pays for my services swallowed by a defective government.

To get healthcare in this country now you either have to have cancer or be poor. We went from like 50 bucks a month for $500 deductibles to 170 per month and $5000 deductibles. Why? Because we are paying for the healthcare of a bunch of welfare recipients.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I think my favorite "doctor scapegoat" is fibromyalgia. IMO, fibromyalgia is "I don't know WTF is wrong with you" so lets say it's that.

BTW, I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia about 10 years ago. The symptoms immediately disappeared by eating better and eliminating processed food.
I also was diagnosed with ERDs -- again, disappeared with proper diet.
I also was diagnosed with high-chol -- again, disappeared with proper diet.

And yet in each instant, I was offered medication as the fix.

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

My pet peeve is watching one of those gastric bypass programs where they show some 400 lb woman who's "tried everything" and now wants bypass surgery. Yet when they cut to her home life and you get a glipmse of her refrigerator/pantry, it's clear she hasn't tried everything. Little Debbie snack cakes, Entemans donuts, and gallons of ice cream tell me that you haven't tried everything and that you're full of shit -- you want the short-cut.

 

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[Iwokeup]

This is all part of the fact that we create our own reality. We make what we are. If we don't like it, it is our responsibility to change it.

I have many stories myself. The one that really stands out is the one where I had years of spells that would knock me on my a$$. I had these episodes about once a week on average over a 4-5 year period. Sometimes they were daily. Other times there may be a month between. These basically took me out of commission for a couple of hours at a time.

I felt like the doctors either did not want to find the issue or that they did not believe me. One doctor just started shoving medications my way. I was taking 3 prescriptions which did not eliminate the problem and made me feel worse in other ways.

As I have stated on this forum before, I fixed myself with a google search. As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

I sent a note to my doctor stating this fact. The response.... We have no medical evidence to support this....

I don't blame the doctors or the medical field though. We like to blame others for all the things that we are experiencing.

Thanks for this reply.

Honestly, medical science has put the average, everyday doctor in a bind. Patients expect us to know everything and to have a test/pill/procedure for them at every visit. This is a very old human reaction and honestly, I wish that we could bring back the compounded placebo pill for many folks. But alas, those days are long gone. If anyone's read the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Bryan, the descriptions of physician thought and patient interaction is suprisingly and accurately captured.

The truth is that there is a MASSIVE amount of information just waiting to be figured out. @SteveO : Did you actually have a reaction to aspartame? Was there a psychological component to your spells (stress, etc)? Who knows? What I do know is that the more we 'know' the less we know. Hell, it turns out that cholesterol isn't as bad as we all thought, that high fat low carbohydrate diets are likely to be just fine and perhaps even better than the Standard Recommended American Diety, and oh yeah, those anti-cholesterol medications that have made BILLIONS for Big Pharma are likely more harmful than helpful. Whoops!

Two wonderful example from medical and scientific history to illustrate that we could be wrong about today's pronouncements:

1. The Curies (Marie and Pierre) used to carry around bits of raw uranium ore in their lab coats. They both died of leukemia likely brought on by low level radiation and bone marrow damage.

2. Following from this, when xrays (formerly "Roentegen rays") were first discovered, sound medical treatment for infertility was to blast both the mother and father's gonads with high dose radiation to "burn out the bad seed" and allow "fresh healthy sperm and ova" to arise. Until Muller at the University of Texas in 1926 discovered the mutagenic effects of radiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Whoops!

So @MJ DeMarco , the doctors laughing or blowing off Fibromyalgia? Probably from some combination of ignorance, dismissiveness, and just plain old not wanting to deal with yet another "Fibro Patient." Unfortunately there's no clear cause known but I wouldn't be surprised at some combination of the crap we eat, self image, and mental state of mind. (Note that for a LOT of patients the number one "cure" is anti-depressants).

Awesome posts guys, even the angry ones. I appreciate them.

 

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[JEdwards]

Every doc I know is pretty nice, and I have probably 10 docs cell numbers on my phone I can call at anytime. Even my primary...

I have met two in my lifetime I could say, thought they were all that, but that is usually not the norm.

Lawyers on the other hand are mostly arrogant pricks. The best part is, most of them are broke.

 

[Kak]

I was at a party this past weekend, and this guy was introduced to me by the host as "Dr. John Smith."

How pretentious. I don't introduce myself as "Entrepreneur John Smith."

As a society, why are some people so impressed with doctors? Aside from the clinic, why would anyone ever add someone's profession to an introduction?

Like, let me introduce you to CEO Fred Thomas. Baker Sally Smith. Unemployed Jim Lathe. Superintendent Harry Smother.

Seriously. Why do doctors feel the need to be doctors when they are not at their clinic? Doctors don't impress me.

Wow I love this! This guy I got paired with in a golf game once introduced himself as Dr. Spec. I called him Mr. Spec the whole time. Douche.

Next time someone does that I'm going to call myself CEO KAK

 

[Tommy92l]

My dad is a doctor and says... the exact same thing. He says he cannot stand them.

The funny thing is, when most docs are out at the highest of high class restaurants driving around their Lexus' with plates that let you know they're a doc, he hangs out with the blue collar crowd and drives a Harley.

He told me about how one time YEARS ago, there was a cancer doctor who was right in front of his patient (Who was dying, might i add), and the guy had the nerve to freakin' complain about a scratch on his Mercedes! Like, dude! You got that money from the guy dying in front of you! Have some class ! Unreal.

 

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[Iwokeup]

@CarrieW,

A lot to unpack in these comments, but I would like to address two of them:

1. Ah yes the old "Well, you picked the job so suck it up" line. Haven't heard that one a million times.

I want you to please consider that most of us (people going into medicine) are shielded from the gritty realities of actual practice until it is far too late to get out or choose another track. As well, that sort of response doesn't actually address the truth of what I am saying. There are serious systemic issues in American health care that have nothing to do with the physicians but everything to do with government and the corporatization of health care in this country (weak, industry beholden FDA, hospital reimbursements, etc). Doctors aren't in control and haven't been for a long time.... Hence my work to leave the Slow Lane.

2. What your husband's doctor does is awesome but a lot of Dems and corporate interests are actively working on making this kind of cash driven, market approach to medicine illegal.

 

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[Iwokeup]

I absolutely hate doctors, they have been responsible for so much undue sorrow in my life.

The misdiagnosis rate has been judged by some studies to be near 40%. Therein lies the problem of relinquishing control in your health just like in your finances. Is it really worth putting one of your most valuable assets in the hands of a "professional" who went through the admirable "rigors" of rote learning?

So who would you put yourself into the hands of then? Not being snarky, but just asking.

Also keep in mind that human beings as biological systems are not rigorous and do not always "follow the rules." Diagnosis is complex and the more information that you have plus extensive training and experience, the lower the likelihood of error. But it's not and won't ever be zero, man.

 

[SteveO]

What's really broken is the stuff we feed ourselves and call it food. That's another book.

This is all part of the fact that we create our own reality. We make what we are. If we don't like it, it is our responsibility to change it.

I have many stories myself. The one that really stands out is the one where I had years of spells that would knock me on my a$$. I had these episodes about once a week on average over a 4-5 year period. Sometimes they were daily. Other times there may be a month between. These basically took me out of commission for a couple of hours at a time.

I felt like the doctors either did not want to find the issue or that they did not believe me. One doctor just started shoving medications my way. I was taking 3 prescriptions which did not eliminate the problem and made me feel worse in other ways.

As I have stated on this forum before, I fixed myself with a google search. As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

I sent a note to my doctor stating this fact. The response.... We have no medical evidence to support this....

I don't blame the doctors or the medical field though. We like to blame others for all the things that we are experiencing.

 

[CarrieW]

what is it about doctors that makes 99% of them douchebags??? are they born this way or do they get trained in the fine art of doucheyness? is it the fact that they think they are better then others? smarter? the power trip?

idk but I have seen and encountered many many doctors in my short life...and 99% or more have some kind of issue going on. and I cant take it anymore.

I have only ever found 1 doctor that I liked. and sadly he left his practice to go serve his country. lucky for the country and air force soldiers. not so much for me

I just want to say screw it and never go to another doctor ever again!

 

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[Yussef]

I was at a party this past weekend, and this guy was introduced to me by the host as "Dr. John Smith."

How pretentious. I don't introduce myself as "Entrepreneur John Smith."

As a society, why are some people so impressed with doctors? Aside from the clinic, why would anyone ever add someone's profession to an introduction?

Like, let me introduce you to CEO Fred Thomas. Baker Sally Smith. Unemployed Jim Lathe. Superintendent Harry Smother.

Seriously. Why do doctors feel the need to be doctors when they are not at their clinic? Doctors don't impress me.

I deal with this on a regular basis in my line of work and it is the same for most (insert word) professors with PHds. We kind of set ourselves up to be taken advantage of by the heroes we create. I feel the same way about all of the hype around the royal family Monarchy.

Please explain to me why we glorify a family that has received hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds yet they do basically nothing for the public but spread cheer and good will? The news media calls it a fashion faux pas (however you spell it) that Kate Middleton might wear the same pair of shoes more than once (ghastly) yet Britain and it's people are not in the best of financial shape right now.

People line the streets for a diamond jubilee? News organizations lambast about boats in the river thames and over how well Harry dances yet the people keep getting poorer. America suffers from 8.5% unemployment yet we swoon over William's latest 10 million dollar inheritance. We do it to ourselves and have done so throughout history... "Let them eat cake"

 

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[JEdwards]

That sucks! The only problem I have with my doctor is his surly office staff. F'n hate them. My doctor is a complete treat though - love that guy. Wish I could have you see him.

I think there is a business in exactly that. Open a business that goes in and trains the staff on the customer service side and teach them how to relate more to the patient. Call back reports on time.

Do a 4 hour seminar for the whole staff all at once.

Once took my wife 2 days.. as in 48 hours to get a referral when she broke her finger. After no less than 20 phone calls. That doc's staff should of been shot.

Probably companies that do this already.. but I want to think I invented the idea. So don't steal it.

 

[JAJT]

I had terrible doctors and terrible dentists my entire life.

Then when I married my wife I adopted her various healthcare practitioners. Both were skinny Indian guys and both have been the best doctor and dentist I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The dentist knows how to jam a needle in my jaw without me feeling it (which is some voodoo magic I will never understand) and my doctor has been able to set my mind at ease on a few issues with knowledge off the top of his head.

Call it a stereotype but I've totally bought into the "Indian Doctors Kick a$$" stereotype 100%.

 

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[Iwokeup]

Not sure of the ettiquette, but thanks to @Vigilante and @cautiouscapy for the rep.

 

[Iwokeup]

the second point you make I cant comment too because it gets too political. and I am generally all for business (look at the board I am on) but in my opinion healthcare should not be about profits. its horrible and it isn't getting any better any time soon and again the system is not the same as the people in it. I have had a few very pleasant wonderful caring doctors working in the same system. and then well there are the douchebags.

This, I believe, is the root of everything that's wrong or right about healthcare today.

Actually, I think that healthcare should be profit driven, but for physicians and not corporate systems. Nor should the corporate practice of medicine be allowed. But it is and is destroying medicine.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

As soon as I stopped taking aspartame (diet sodas), the problem went away and never came back.

http://www.the-open-mind.com/the-effect-of-aspartame-on-your-brain/

 

[throttleforward]

I gave myself what I suspect was an aspartame overdose after consuming an entire mio package in about an hour, after a day of drinking diet drinks. Had classic pre-seizure symptoms (disorientation, sudden copper taste in mouth, inability to speak in completes sentence, and impending feeling of doom) even though I've never had a seizure (I was an EMT so I'm familiar with the warning signs, and my symptoms matched what a lot of my patients with first time seizures said they experienced). ER visit and neurologist follow up showed nothing. For a while I stopped having artificial sweeteners and caffeine completely - now I only consume both in moderation.

 

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[CryptO]

Its true, they always look SO unhealthy

 

[JEdwards]

Well hopefully your test results are ok..



Guys.. add this section to the seminar. Why you should make a call to patients when they are sitting at home worried about the test results.. Even if you do not have the results back yet, just to put them at ease.

 

[JEdwards]

Interesting comment on lawyers being broke, how do you figure JE?

Without getting into personal contacts I know.. It says here the median Salary of a lawyer is 92k.. So if I am reading this right half of the lawyers in the U.S. make less than 92k a year..

Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth?

The median Salary of a family doctor is $175,379...

Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth?


Now I don't think making 92k a year is living in the poor house, but when you account for most lawyers acting as if.. I think that is all it is.. acting as if..

 

[Deleted21961]

How people, who get paid when you are sick, are going to make you healthy?
Wouldn't it be more sound if you paid them as long as you are healthy?
But it's not primary issue. They just don't know shit about humans.

Shamans as healers are kings.

 

[Gsuz]

 

[MJ DeMarco]

* we are losing the ability to control HOW we practice medicine.
* too many "customer service" a$$holes in the business world, who have no idea about the practice of medicine, have driven medical practice into ridiculous metrics (door to doctor, "patient satisfaction") which turn us into glorified pill pushers.
* congruent with that is the entitled, over-informed ("I read on Google about X and so I know more than you") patient population who will complain to your corporate overlords if you do not do what they want, instead of what's actually best for them. By the way, the whole "I know my body," while it sounds nice is usually BS. Most (95%) have NO CLUE or understanding of what's happening to them and that's why there are doctors.
* Erosion of the field by mid level practitioners (mostly Nurse Practitioners) who are under trained, ignorant of their ignorance, but who claim that they are every bit the equal of the physican who spent at LEAST 7 years gettting to a decent practice level. There isn't any damn shortcut and most physicians know that there is so much that they DON"T know that they are (usually) humble in the face of the unknown.
Finally, there is all of the loss of control (financial, economic, bleeding of the bottom line by a huge number of folks who only see medicine as a gravy train). That has made me an a$$hole on more than one occasion.

Rep+ for the inside perspective.

 

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[CarrieW]

Rep+ for the inside perspective.

it is nice to hear from someone inside the industry.

there is a local doctor that my husband sees who was so fed up with what was going on he changed it. we pay him cash and the doctor is great. (it would cost far too much $ for me to switch to him right now or I would)

I believe this is the new way the industry should head...

he doesn't take any insurances. and he doesn't carry malpractice insurance. he makes you sign a release and waiver upfront he mostly prescribes older generic drugs (because the % changes in effectiveness of new formulations are not worth the increase % in $) has contracts with all the local hospital and labs to get his patients tests and labs at a discount.(and I mean slightly more than my copays with insurance!) he has 2 office people. they see the same amount of patients as most offices would with a staff of 20+. and they handle it better then I have seen any office operate ever in my life.

for someone like my husband who is without insurance, generally healthy and only needs an antibiotic every once in awhile or some yearly blood work or even meds to quit smoking(which is how we found him) it saves insane amounts of money.(and heartache) for me because I have insurance they don't take(that I have to pay for) and need so many tests and things it just isn't feasible to switch... the second I hit the accelerator in the fast lane though I am out of all these "systems"

when we called, my ex-doctor first of all couldn't even tell me (nor could the staff) how much it was going to cost for the visit until he came in and actually had the visit so they could determine what the dr needed to do(regardless that we just wanted a rx) they couldn't tell us what "tier" the visit would be rated. the min was $100 up to 300. and he had to have all the cash at the time of the visit... he was going to want blood work and all kinds of other things too ontop of that and a return visit before he could prescribe anything...

this guy we paid $50. my husband had a complete physical, conferred about any and every concern, and he left with his meds.