Being a Bad Patient Can Save Your Life

[Becky]

I found this interesting in that it isn't just me (or any of you wonderful people) who self advocate and fire doctors.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/02...ate/index.html

[RobinP]

Becky, I too have fired rotten docs on several occasions and have long stopped being the model patient who thinks doctors know what they are doing.After my prolonged breast misdiagnosis from trusted experts, I finally had my eyes open to the fact that many doctors, even ones with seemingly good track records and credentials, are not cracked up to be what they ought and are practicing dangerously.

[Jackie07]

My first family doctor, son of a veteran family doctor in town(Father and Son had their own family clinic at that time), 'threatened' to give me a referral to a psychiatrist when I was complaining recurring headaches in 1989.

I chosed another family doctor who I was assigned to a couple of times when my family doctor was not available. The new one - possibly flattered by being chosen as a replacement - gave me all the referrals I asked for (though not without complaints - I was lucky to have a retired pathologist who was a volunteer at the library where I was working at the time to push me for further checking.) and eventually (another 8 months) got the mystery solved by a neurologist.

Yes, being a bad patient saved my life. Even the recurring breast cancer was sort of discovered by myself. I was so sick one week I had to be off for several days and then went to the weekend clinic. I found the lump before seeing this weekend doctor. But my mammogram and surgery were delayed and delayed. Finally, when they tried to delay my surgery again, I got on the phone with an oncologist friend (same hospital) and he helped me to push the surgery a week sooner.

The margin to my pectoralis muscle turned out to be just 0.5mm during the surgery. Had I not acted 'badly', I would have gotten myself a paralyzed right shoulder.

[ElaineM]

Let's remember one doctor cannot know everything about everything. Alot depends on their medical education, experiences with patients, conference participation, interaction with other doctors and the individual research each doctor does. Like the rest of us doctors will always be better in the areas they have personal interest in just because they will be drawn to those subjects more than other subjects.
By all means if you think a doctor is not your best advocate it is time to find another doctor who can do his or her best for you. Be proactive. Be assertive. Our health and our bodies are our responsibility. It is up to each one of us to do our parts and take care of ourselves to the best of our ability 24/7. It is up to us to ask questions and discuss our concerns with our docs. It is up to us to learn as much as we can about our health problems. Solving health problems should be a team effort between doctors and patients.

[bcindc]

I love this artice! Thanks for sharing. I've fired a lot of doctors and am so happy I did so. Some were too arrogrant to take the time to explain things to me. Some wouldn't pursue a treatment plan that was aggressive enough. Some just dropped the ball too much. As a result, I love my doctors, esp. my oncologist. I do sympathize with doctors who are usually running from 15-minute appt to 15-minute appt. There's just no way they can take care of us as well as we can take care of ourselves, making good use of their wisdom and knowledge.

[Jean]

Great Article Becky,
Especially for the newbies....first of all they are still reeling from the dx. of bc...let alone to question or dare to challenge a doctor.

It is vital to question and understand what your treatments are and if there are other choices.


Jean