I find this discussion an interesting, and appropriate comment on the state of medicine in our society. The problem is, it doesn't touch on an under-looked but highly valuable asked of the medical community, namely, nurses. The entire focus of nursing is on how an illness affects a patient. It is nurses, not doctors, who are charged with assuring that patient education is done and who make follow up calls and visits with patients. Just a thought....

Well, for one, nurses (except for nurse practitioners and anesthesia nurses) don't make medical diagnoses (at least not formally). Another reason is because--and I hate to sound like a misogynist--nursing has historically been and still is a profession dominated by women. I am a registered nurse (and a guy) who works in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit. Though I disagree how it is, I often see how a male physician will act and respond considerably different to me as opposed to a woman nurse. Not all physicians are not like this--a good majority aren' like this--but it should not an issue at all. Another reason is the entry level education for a registered nurse: an associate degree which can be obtained at a technical/vocational college. Medical doctors and nurse practitioners require intense post-undergraduate work and residency. There are other reasons, for sure, but these are a few that come to my mind.

How do the doctors treat you differently than female nurses?

Nurses are a very valuable aspect of a medical practice, but in many family practice offices, you simply don't find them. Usually, they have medical assistants instead. Regardless of whether a nurse is there or not, I feel it is the treating practitioner's responsibility to follow up with a patient. I'm a physician assistant in a small town family practice, and I'm on the phone with patient's every day regarding how this medication affected them or if that symptom is responding. Treatment is a very important part of my practice.