🤝 Cultural 🤝 Do you think doctors are gods?

[Shambles]

No. Some of em are barely people

 

[LoginNotSecure]

@LoginNotSecure
Not sure about "Gods" more like Harold Shipman

I’ve a framed picture of him on my desk at home.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

Yes, many doctors think they're gods.

They definitely act like it for some reason. Many went into just for money and hate working with people.

They don’t actually think they are gods though. Being educated, They are extremely aware of how primitive medicine still is and are aware that they aren’t advancing Medicine like scientists and are merely technicians performing known procedures and protocols. They still have tons of incurable diseases and deaths - they are very aware of their limits.

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

Ugh, no.

I have come to the realization they are just normal people. Many are woefully unintelligent and unknowledgable.

So much this!!!!

Doctors themselves think they're gods, but they aren't.
My GP has misdiagnosed me twice & thrown me on all kinds of meds that I didn't even need (oral antifungals, prednisone).

I've met so many doctors who have no idea wtf they're doing & have to google everything. And then they tell you not to do your own googling. lol Like what?

It makes me wonder what the fuck they even went to school for. I'm a highschool drop out & I have to help nurses pronounce the name of my meds.. Like cmon.

They're making good money too for not knowing wtf they're doing & for pushing meds on people.

Not all doctors are bad... I want to reiterate that clearly. But there ARE many awful, ignorant & uneducated ones. It just blows my mind that they went to school for that long & then can be completely stupid about pharmacology, medicine, all sorts of issues.

Some also hate being corrected or told they're wrong, they'll get very defensive & act like their schooling makes them so much more knowledgeable than you (and they may be in certain things, but it's impossible for some one to know everything).

My 2nd biggest gripe with them is the fact that they're basically the gatekeepers of whatever meds you need or want. You gotta land a doctor whose willing to let you try things & trust you. And some times you'll land a doctor who's totally against any kind of controlled substance & will yank you off everything.

I think the healthcare system in general needs extreme reform & fixing. I have actual personal experience with way more drugs than they most likely have or ever will, yet they'll insist they know what's best (For example, my suboxone doctor refuses to switch me to just regular buprenorphine, even though we've talked & she's admitted she knows the naloxone shit is a scam, but her only other excuse was to say "Subutex is worth more on the street".... yeah, and? I don't give a shit about that, I just want my buprenorphine without all the artificial sweeteners & colors & carcinogenic bullshit they put in all the generic suboxone. And I've been with her for almost 10 years, so what's the actual problem with letting me have a cleaner version of my med?).

 

[Illyria99]

They definitely act like it for some reason. Many went into just for money and hate working with people.

They don’t actually think they are gods though. Being educated, They are extremely aware of how primitive medicine still is and are aware that they aren’t advancing Medicine like scientists and are merely technicians performing known procedures and protocols. They still have tons of incurable diseases and deaths - they are very aware of their limits.

I'm VERY lucky to have a doctor who listens to me. And I quickly learned he won't take my shit lol. Once, I was in a bad mood and questioned something he said. His response, "One more word, and you can find another doctor. I don't have time for your nonsense."

He definitely won my respect!

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

I'm VERY lucky to have a doctor who listens to me. And I quickly learned he won't take my shit lol. Once, I was in a bad mood and questioned something he said. His response, "One more word, and you can find another doctor. I don't have time for your nonsense."

He definitely won my respect!

I mean, how to do speak to your doctor that he would need to say something like that? lol

He listens to you but then tells you he doesn't have time for nonsense? lol

I'm just curious. When I go to the doctor, I just nod with everything they say, even if I disagree. I don't think I've ever behaved in a manner toward my doctor where they felt the need to say something like yours said to you. That's kinda wild. lol

Maybe it's cause I was raised in south, I dunno, but I'm always very polite, quiet & respectful, regardless of if I agree with the doctor or find them to be assholes.
If a doctor doesn't listen to me or tries to yank away meds that I've been on for years for no reason, I'll just go find another doctor myself. lol

Some of my doctors are alright. And it took awhile to build trust with them. I think being polite & giving whatever they have to say a chance is the best way to approach your doctors if you want any kind of chance of them giving you controlled substances, especially if you genuinely need them (i.e. - benzos, stimulants, opioids). And if you have any grievances, you just let them know in a calm manner. But there have been times where I've flipped out on my addiction doctor. But she knows I have BPD & all of that lol so she handled it pretty well & was not mad at me or anything.

 

[4DQSAR]

I'm presuming this refers to medical doctors specifically. I've known some truly amazing doctors, many able doctors and a few who I felt less than impressed by. Lest we forget, doctors are people and subject to the same joys and woes that are visited upon us all.

But you know the sad thing to me? I've known three medical doctors who took their own lives.

The reasons are manifold but it often is because they cannot share with anyone their own worries and problems.

I feel very lucky to have an exceptional GP and exceptional consultant at the pain clinic. After an extremely serious accident I was lucky to recieve 52 hours of person centred councelling by a senior consultant psychiatrist. So while a couple of bad doctor have almost killed me, there are some pretty amazing people out there.

You know, if you don't like or don't trust your own doctor - change doctor. I've done so.



I give you Dr. Phil Hammond (medical doctor and formally half of the comedy duo 'Struck Off and Die'. Lovely bloke.

BTW shout out to pharmacists. They WILL spot interactions even if 'the computer is down' and you may not know it, but it's quite possible that at some point, a pharmacist saved your life.

 

[Illyria99]

I mean, how to do speak to your doctor that he would need to say something like that? lol

He listens to you but then tells you he doesn't have time for nonsense? lol

I'm just curious. When I go to the doctor, I just nod with everything they say, even if I disagree. I don't think I've ever behaved in a manner toward my doctor where they felt the need to say something like yours said to you. That's kinda wild. lol

My doctor is from Iran and doesn't like women contradicting him. Generally I don't mouth off to him, but he'd given me an incorrect diagnosis and I questioned him about it. That's why he got pissed. Basically, he puts up with me because I have GREAT insurance and I put up with him because he gives me 120 Tramadol a month. It's a symbiotic relationship lol.

 

[ions]

I don't have a primary care provider. I use urgent care. Simply for the power of the script that they have there. Like an antibiotic, or prednisone.
The gout flare ups have subsided since I got rid of the treadmill. so don't need prednisone. Antibiotics sometimes. Lyme.
I have a psychiatrist that I think has value outside that she keeps writing off invega for profit.
However doctors have gotten away from healing and more into profits. Doctors want to work miracles, and that's why you may see that as Gods.

 

[4DQSAR]

However doctors have gotten away from healing and more into profits. Doctors want to work miracles, and that's why you may see that as Gods.

You do know the US model is almost unique for a developed nation, right? Not many GPs get rich in the UK because they get the same salary regardless of if they do or don't prescribe a given medicine.

I am by no means saying it's a perfect system, but I've seen others. I've seen the Dutch and German systems and as far as I know, they don't get paid to prescribe.

The moment you make it profitable to prescribe, you will soon see the venal and the amoral who see the profession as a path to wealth. I bet there are still a lot of very good doctors in the US who really do care for their patients. But I have a suspicion that such people would seek to work in a small community where they actually know their patients. But that's a guess - I've only visited one doctor in the US and he didn't even charge me as advice rather than pills is what I needed. Did I just get lucky? I have no idea.

 

[Illyria99]

I've found that some ER/Urgent Care doctors will prescribe opiates for me. Even after they've seen my medication history.

I go in super early, dressed professionally, and look properly demure. During triage, they'll ask, "On a level from one to ten, how much pain are you in?" I usually say, "About a six." (If you say anything higher, it triggers suspicion)

I think the BEST visits were one doc giving me forty 10 mg hydrocodone, another gave me intravenous Dilaudid (OMFG THAT WAS BRILLIANT) and another gave me thirty 2 mg Ativan. These were all amazing, but I'll never forget that fucking Dilaudid.

 

[4DQSAR]

I go in super early, dressed professionally, and look properly demure. During triage, they'll ask, "On a level from one to ten, how much pain are you in?" I usually say, "About a six." (If you say anything higher, it triggers suspicion)

On that one, I always state that my comparison is based on previous severe injuries (I have had several) and could honestly say 'it's about as bad as X'.

Thing is, if you have ever been in extreme pain - you are NOT talking. You are just trying to manage that pain. Only happened to me once but the ER doctor took one look at my vital signs which will obviously show a body in extreme stress and just said 'we will do something about the pain'. Which believe me, was great (the non-verbal understanding, not the medication).

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Obviously not. They're human and fallible.
I think many DOCTORS think they're Gods. The way they love to gatekeep meds like they're the fucking holy grail.

^I once got kicked out of hospital for correcting a doctor? When I was recovering from surgery on my leg (to remove a very large intramuscular abscess) a patient in the next bed had cellulitis. It started to small bad (my bed was maybe 6 feet from his and I could smell it). It also looked bruised, but a greyish bruise? And he was talking to me about how he was AMAZED by how fast it spread. The doctor looked and decided it was just cellulitis. I said "That's an NSTI*". He said to "stop bothering the other patients". I said something like "Sorry, and obviously I'm not a medical professional or anything...."
The patient asked what I was saying and I said "I'm not trying to fear-monger you or anything, but I think basically the tissue in your leg is dying."
I said to the doctor "please give him an MRI, or a finger test"
The doctor closed the curtain thing around the other patients bed, but I heard him tell the doctor he wanted the MRI. The doctor reluctantly agreed,

Anyway, turned out ma bro had Necrotizing Cellulitis which is a surgical emergency.

I ASSUMED any doctor would praise/thank me (obv not why I did it, I just didn't want the due to die) but he was FURIOUS and discharged me early for "bothering the other patients and giving unsolicited and uninformed medical advise".


*Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection

 

[neversickanymore]

Vomit..

 

[4DQSAR]

@ChemicallyEnhanced If you check out those Phil Hammond videos, he absolutely states that everyone involved in the process should be heard without fear of reprisals. The guy in the next bed owes you a pint, I reckon.

Look at is this way - whatever else you have done in your life, you saved someone else's life.

The two occassions I recieved bad treatment was once nobody noting my potassium level had crashed, the other was when a nurse attempted to give me the wrong medication. It was a drip and had one of those red warning rings on it so I KNEW it was the wrong medication and one clearly known to be dangerous. In both cases my wife ensured that the mistakes were recorded. Because mostly mistakes are being hidden!

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

My doctor is from Iran and doesn't like women contradicting him. Generally I don't mouth off to him, but he'd given me an incorrect diagnosis and I questioned him about it. That's why he got pissed. Basically, he puts up with me because I have GREAT insurance and I put up with him because he gives me 120 Tramadol a month. It's a symbiotic relationship lol.

Aaah, this is much more understandable. lol

I'd probably put up with quite a bit for 120 tramadol a month too. lol

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

Around 400,000 people die annually of "medical errors" in the US.

That's WAY more people than how many die from the big scary "opioids" every year, even with fentanyl in the picture.

That's about how many people die a year from smoking too. So in a way, going to the doctor can be dangerous for your health. lol

 

[ions]

Around 400,000 people die annually of "medical errors" in the US.

That's WAY more people than how many die from the big scary "opioids" every year, even with fentanyl in the picture.

That's about how many people die a year from smoking too. So in a way, going to the doctor can be dangerous for your health. lol

Be your own doctor when you can.
Sometimes you need to outsource a problem.
Some people over do it.

 

[paracetaminophen]

If doctors were gods, I don't think we would have cases like this woman dying after being told she was "too young for breast cancer" or a florida surgeon accidentally removing the patients liver thinking it was his spleen and killing him.

 

[4DQSAR]

Around 400,000 people die annually of "medical errors" in the US.

That's WAY more people than how many die from the big scary "opioids" every year, even with fentanyl in the picture.

That's about how many people die a year from smoking too. So in a way, going to the doctor can be dangerous for your health. lol

I actually found a headline claiming 800,000 - shouldn't the fact that the numbers vary so wildly suggest that the metrics were arbritaty and chosen by the journalist?

Are medical errors really the third most common cause of death in the U.S.? (2019 edition)

The claim that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the US has always rested on very shaky evidence; yet it's become common wisdom that is cited as though everyone accepts it. But if

sciencebasedmedicine.org

I am not asserting the veracity of the data in the above link, I merely provide it for balance.

I HAVE looked for the original Johns Hopkins paper but it turns out that there isn't A paper, there are MANY papers and none excludes cases covered in another paper... see the possible issue here? I can't find a single reliable figure of any size. But I'm happy for someone to post links - I'm always happy to learn.

What I hope we can all agree on is the fact that we need to understand outcomes. If a person goes to their doctor and doesn't return, their is no mechinism to see outcomes. We don't know if that person recovered, died or anywhere inbetween.

So as I have stated, everyone involved in the process should feel they are able to flag issues without fear of reprisals. If a mistake is made, it shouldn't matter who spots it - only that it IS spotted.

In Bristol the heart unit was known to be failing even by it's OWN STAFF who nicked named it 'The Killing Fields' which is kind of dark, but those medical professionals had no way to FLAG those failings without it destroying their own careers, which is clearly a bad way to do things.