Just reading this column made my blood run cold and my nerves get all shaky.

Ugh. I hate having to go to doctors. I try to avoid the experience as much as possible. If I ever get a dread disease and then hear these wretched words from a doctor: "if only you had come in sooner it might have been possible to save you" I will know I have only myself to blame.

I guess.

What makes this column so readable is how concerned and even nervous most of those doctors were toward Emily. I found that to be endearing in the sense that a patient is still a new experience for them and an experience that most of them seem to be in awe of, almost. It's heartening.

Many experienced doctors have a sort of tired, even annoyed attitude if you give them any "trouble" (ie: you don't lie there like a passive non-entity who does not ask questions that are too complicated while they examine you like a machine).

I think this attitude is changing. But managed care also imposes restrictions on doctors in terms of how much time they can spend with a patient and I think that impacts on how hurried and distracted a doctor may come across, as well.

Oh please...

If I am ever told "if only you had come in sooner it might have been possible to save you", my response would be, "well, I didn't, so what are you going to do for me now?"

"Managed" care is a wonderfully oxymoronic phrase in which companies maximize profits by raking in the premiums from subscribers while denying them as many treatments as possible, as well as hiring as few physicians as possible to see the greatest number of patients.

If Americans want quality health care, then they must demand universal coverage without exceptions, as well as the free, unrestricted importation of qualified foreign doctors so that physician supply can actually meet physician demand without the artificial restrictions dictated by the AMA.

Thanks, JohnBrown, but I'm P.O.ed at your response to the person who spoke of his grandmother being treated like a thing by a group of doctors.

You hardly had much insight or compassion.

So, I truly hope if *you* ever get that much to be dreaded line, the doctors won't be too put off by *your* attitude.

I think that I, like Emily, would find it entertaining and a little amusing to be a "standard patient". Also, like Emily, I wouldn't be willing to be a "standard patient" for pelvic exams, gynecologic exams or pap smears. It's not that those are agonizing, as they are uncomfortable and I have no patience for it. I'd get fed up too quickly to be of much use.

Perhaps my only weakness would be that I just KNOW I'd want to toy with the poor dears and see if I could make them faint or turn funny colors. The more sincere the student, the greater the temptation.

"Also, like Emily, I wouldn't be willing to be a "standard patient" for pelvic exams, gynecologic exams or pap smears."

Nope, that is not a fun scenario to contemplate, but the real deal (ie: getting them in real life) is also an ordeal.

Jeez, I hope they pay the standardized patients who do this alot more than a paltry 15 bucks.

Maybe if doctors paid reluctant patients some money, getting these wretched exams wouldn't be so bad.

Forget things like mamographies, too. Unless someone starts offering me some jewelry (my weakness) it's just not going to happen.

Bleah. I hope I go quick, very quick. A brick to the head and lights out. Easier than a long, lingering sort of death....

Mara5525, oh please...

Who had more insight, SlateReader who was offended because the physicians were doing what they were trained to do and a white woman physician asked a perfectly reasonable question, or johnbrown001, who explained how the physicians' behaviors were completely in keeping with their training in modern medicine, and that such behaviors were not particular to SlateReader or his grandmother, but perfectly reasonable and to be expected within the context of a busy hospital?

And who is more compassionate, the man who simply feels your pain, or the man who actually treats your injury or illness?

Compassion and feeling may be fine for poetry, but I prefer my physicians to be rational women and men of science, knowledge, and experience.

It's hardly asking too much for a physician to be and excellent scientist and a compassionate listener. A cold arrogant-seeming scientist Type isn't going to get a very good history from his intimidated or pissed-off patients, and will then be hampered in making a diagnosis.

I have been exposed to a number of "new" doctors over the years at teching hospitals and find that for the most part they care and are trying to get things right. What I have also found recently is that several have an almost arrogant air about them. In fact, I complained about one just a few months ago. She clearly did not listen to me and she did not even take the time to read what I had typed on my medical history sheet. I have everything listed in chronological order with details and such, but she kept making mistakes with what she repeated to me. This really caused me to become concerned. When I complained the MD she was working with tried to make me feel OK, but it was clear he was not happy that I had complained. Personally, I think all doctors should have mandatory courses in the basic common courtesies that need to be presented to patients.

I agree that "older" doctors have that "I can not be bothered attitude. I think this comes from a wide range of things. Insurance rules and regulations, government rules and regulations and to a degree greed. It appears that nothing is ever enough. I have had the opportunity to review my medical records after orthopedic surgery and I found 72 errors in the records. It was astonishing. I think the person dictsting failed to turn off his dictaphone between patients and another patients records were transcribed with mine.

When I informed my surgeon about these errors he became somewhat angry. I was angry becasue the errors could come back and haunt me in the future.

In a world where everone and everything is hectic I believe that doctors need to remember the oath that they took. Be confident and clear and don't scare your patients or they will go elsewhere!

Thanks!

Thank you, Rena Strurgill, for your revealing story.

Just as I have no patience with self-pitying physicians or foolish, uninformed patients, the use of anger or arrogance to cover up mistakes or incompetence by physicians should never be a reason to back down or submit, but instead lead to stubborn indignation. It is your health, after all, and no one will be a better advocate for it than you.

Physicians may be harried and stressed, but that is never an excuse to lash out at a patient. Such ill manners and lack of professionalism may be the result of a superior mind focused on your health only and irritated with everything else that gets in the way, but I'm willing to bet that is the rare exception.

Don't back down! Mistakes can and do occur, more often than any hospital will admit! Call your physician on any discrepencies or concerns, and if she comes back at you, say loudly and clearly that it is your health and that you would rather catch any mistakes now as opposed to recouping the costs for their damage to your health in a courtroom.

I just saw this.

They're NOT supposed to say:

"Here is Mrs. ____ a 79-year-old black woman ...." In other words, talk about you in the third person in front of you.

THANK YOU.

It was the fact that they were treating my grandmother like a "thing," or as if were illiterate brown idiots that pissed me off -- not that they were asking about her history of treatment. It was condescending, callous, and there was definitely an element of racism.

When I've told (white) doctors how my grandmother and I were treated, they've apologized. No one should be treated like an object and without respect.