Although the article is about parents dealing with pediatricians, it's good advice for any patient whose doctor won't listen. YOU are the one who lives in your body 24/7, you are the expert on what is happening with your body. Don't let any doctor tell you that you are "imagining things", especially if your friends/family/co-workers see the same things you do. Emphasize "my boss has commented that I ___, which I didn't used to", "Aunt Esther noticed _____" -- if you were a hypochondriac, other people wouldn't see anything wrong.
Don't let a doctor bully you into taking a medication that's caused problems before -- YOU will be the one who has to live with the consequences, not him.
I was asked by an outside doctor "are they trying to kill you?", when I asked for a second opinion on taking a medication I'd previously been told not to take, which my doctor, over my strenuous objections, insisted "it'll be fine" and refused to change the prescription. Hearing that my doctor's refusal to listen to me could have resulted in death was the end of my relationship with that medical group.
The fact is, there would have been no downside to giving me a trial of sleeping pills and/or pain pills as I requested -- other than the blow to the doctor's ego of having to admit that the patient was right. The most important thing SHOULD be your health, not his ego. If the doctor can't admit he was wrong, find a doctor who puts your health first.
After reading this, you have something I didn't -- the name of someone who can intercede: Dr. Vicki Rackner left her surgical practice to become a patient advocate.
(The article contains advice from doctors who specialize in physician-patient communication.)
"I felt like she didn't completely believe everything I was saying," Redrick says. Both Redrick and her pediatrician wanted what was best for Matthew, but they came at it from different directions, observes Dr. Jennifer Shu, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"A parent should explain what they want to do. Then they can ask the doctor, 'What's the downside of doing what I want to do?' " says Shu, co-author of "Heading Home With Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality." If they can't reach a middle ground, Shu suggests calling in another pediatrician from the practice. "Sometimes getting another person involved can defuse the situation."
Dr. Delia Chiaramonte says when a treatment has been going on for a long time and isn't working, a parent should begin to suspect a misdiagnosis.
"Because I don't have letters next to my name, doctors take what I say with a grain of salt," she says. Travis had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. "They said they were really sorry. They said, 'We should have listened to you.' "
Doctor tells parents to stand up for child
The trick here, she says, is to stand firm, even when you know you're annoying the doctor. "You have to let go of the desire to be the good patient and make everyone like you," she says. She recommends questioning the doctor thoroughly.
No comments:
Post a Comment