Maybe with all that schooling Drs have forgotten one of the firsts rules of a Scientest: cause and effect

Drs are so busy writing scripts to cover up symptoms, that they are forgetting to go after the cause. It won't matter how many pills you pop if you don't correct what is causing the problem.

Drs are also too wraped up in their own efforts to take time to listen to the patient. With all the info available to the public today, patients are better educated and able to catalog their symptoms, but too often Drs dismiss the patient.

Just look at what is happening with Lymes Disease. It's a growing epidemic that is killing people over long term and Drs and the insurance industry are dismissing it like hyperchondriac-ism. A GOOD scientest/Dr will always keep an open mind and consider all the options.

AND Patients, be educated, question that diagnosis, and ask why, ask about alternatives, ask what the medication does to you, and if you don't like the answer ask more questions . And definitely seek that second or third opinion when needed. You should also ask questions about the Drs experience (ho many times has the Dr performed that operation) and if the Dr doesn't like it or takes ofense then DEFINITELY seek another opinion!

As a 2nd year medical student who has previously worked in the health care field, I find your comments disheartening, to say the least.

Does your physician actually NOT want to spend time with you? Does she really NOT want to treat you? If you believe the answer is yes, find a new physician. The fact is, private practice physicians are severely limited in their time with patients - and that is an insurance problem.

Ideally, we would want to spend as much time as possible so a patient's full history, physical and needs are met; but in the current system, it's not possible. A physician simply cannot afford to make 40k a year and pay down debts upward of 250k. I may as well work at McDonalds after getting my MD.

I'm in it for the people and the job satisfaction, but I also need a roof over my family's head and food to eat.

I do agree that second opinions can be valuable, and that EVERY person should shop around until they find a physician that suits their needs.

YOU think its disheartening??? How do you think patients feel when the are getting completely blown off by doctors who refuse to even let you finish a sentence? Ive had doctors TELL me they were only going to treat my symptoms and a year later I still had no diagnostic work done at all, even though my insurance company refused me anymore meds until I saw a specialist (which my doc wouldnt give me a referral for).

Well congratulations for wanting to join a profession that is quickly gaining the reputation for being in it only for the money. For the amount Drs get paid, they should be doing a hell of a lot better that they are. So let me give you a little history:

47 yrs ago, as a baby, my femur was broken

step one: the hospital mishandled me and I was allow to run a hight fever - result - cerebal palsy

follow that with years of reconstruction surgeries, casts to help stretch tendons, etc and I can tell you FIRST hand just how much the medical industry cares - and it's pecious little!

It seems to me as I now go into middle age with those related ailments, and as my husband and I struggle for treatment for Lymes Disease, that the medical profession doesn't care, has lost touch with the oath, doesn't listen to the patient.

I have fired many doctors for these breaches in ethics and had no qualms in doing so. I have yet to find a Dr that is willing to listen, with TWO eceptions, our Lymes specialist and our VETERINARIAN!

So take heart, maybe YOU can learn from my experiences and be a BETTER Dr. Cause over the years the message has been ramed home to me that if you want to stay healthy, avoid the medical industry like the plague!

I could list you a dozen incidents just within my own family of Dr's mistakes, mis diagnosis, severe lack of empathy, etc. Drs are paid big money to do their jobs. How about getting what you pay for. If your mechanic handled your car like most Drs handle their patients, we'd all be back to riding horses! I have a friend who is 45 yrs old with Lymes disease and if she lives another year it will be a miracle. She was told for 15 yrs there was nothing wrong with her by a dozen Drs who wouldn't listen to her. One Dr flat out told her she was a hyperchondriac and to go home, there was nothing wrong with her! Well it's too late now-

So if your entering the medical profession, don't expect us patients to bow down and kiss your feet 'cause you have a diploma hanging on the wall! You hold our lives in your hands, handle those lives like they were your very own!

I can't tell you the number of times I have been misdiagnosed by doctors. It's amazing that they go to school for so long and charge such an ungodly amount of money and yet most of the ones I've went to seemed to have no clue what they were doing.

To jab3405:

Well, I for one do believe that physicians really do want to spend time with their patients to truly help them. However, more and more, physicians are limited by insurance repayments which require them to see more and more patients daily which invariably reduces the amount of time a Dr can spend with a patient (this is especially true of family practice, internal medicine and pediactrics). Hopefully you will specialize in something where you can spend more time with patients, like anesthesiology.