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Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-05 15:02:01 +0000
Medical Etiquette
So, two weeks ago I went to get a check-up. Hadn't had one in about three years, and I knew there were one or two things to look out for, but when got a call last Tuesday that my doc wanted me to come in and talk about something I didn't know I had I started to get worried. Of course, the nurse said, before we got off the phone, "it's not cancerous." That didn't make me feel any better, so I did some internet searches on the growth I was told I had, with the vague information I was given, and it turned out that some of the complications of this thing included infertility, miscarriages, pain, heavy bleeding, etc. My anxiety started to increase. Why would my doctor call me in to talk about something that wasn't a big deal, right?
I wavered about telling my family. Finally I told my sister and my mom. Sis wanted to come with me. I said no, since I thought she would get bossy and I didn't really want to deal with that, too.
Yesterday I went to the doc (and took the afternoon off, just in case...and because I worked over 15 hours on Friday), and she said it wasn't anything to worry about. I told her that next time there's something that's not a big deal to please get on the phone right away, that she scared me. She apologized. So, today I'm thankful for having relatively healthy reproductive organs and frank discussions with my new doctor. And for not crying really hard in front of her.
Posted by tommy on 2007-06-05 15:13:43 +0000
I'm glad to hear you are okay!
"Bedside manner" to me is about the most important thing to me in a doctor. It's amazing to me that so many of them are so bad at it, and it's a shame that there doesn't seem to be a way to know about this until after you've already picked a doctor. I've probably had a dozen doctors, and each time you have to pick a new one, they want you to do it over the phone knowing only the doctors' names and where they went to school.
I had a good one and she just retired, so I have to try to find one again. Is there a "rate your doctor" site, you know like Amazon or Netflix... "Since you enjoyed Dr. Cooperstein, we recommend _____"
Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-05 15:19:04 +0000
We reccomend Dr. Benway
sorry, I will cease all future Naked Lunch humor immediately.
sorry, I will cease all future Naked Lunch humor immediately.
Posted by tgl on 2007-06-05 15:20:57 +0000
I go by looks.
Posted by tommy on 2007-06-05 15:29:17 +0000
By the time they're out of med school, they're way too old for me.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-05 15:52:23 +0000
You can check for their malpractice record. I actually got this one on a recommendation from my brother-in-law's brother, who is a doctor in town. And I choose people my bro-in-law hasn't represented in court (he defends docs in malpractice suits). She's very nice, but I clearly didn't ask the right questions over the phone...mostly because it wasn't the doctor calling me; it was a nurse or administrator letting me know I didn't have cancer but should come in for a consultation. There is definitely a lack of bedside manner these days, I think because of the pressure docs have to churn out the patients to meet their financial needs via the insurance providers.
Either way, I don't think I'll get any better care elsewhere; I just need to remember to make a list of questions before I see a doc again.
Posted by pamsterdam on 2007-06-05 16:03:49 +0000
Sorry, Mir. Doctors over here are even less forthcoming. My perception of most Europeans' doctors' visits:
Doctor: There's something wrong with you. You'll have to take some pills (scribbles something on a pad).
Patient: OK.
And, of course, there is the culture shock:
Pamsterdam's doctor: There's something wrong with you. You'll have to take some pills (scribbles something on a pad).
Pamsterdam: What's wrong with me? What are the possible ramifications of this malady? Which tests have confirmed that diagnosis? Can I have a second opinion? Which pills are your prescribing? What side effects should I expect? What are the alternatives to taking the pills? How long will I need to be on these pills? When is my next check-up to see how the pills are working?
Pamsterdam's doctor: Please go away now.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-06 11:42:46 +0000
That was pretty much like my hospital visit in Sfat in January.
Doctor: There's nothing wrong with you.
Miriam: Then why am I in excruciating pain and I can't breath normally?
Doctor: (Crazy-finger twirl to the side of his head)
At least my doctor here was willing to talk with me. Sorry for your crap, unfeeling docs there!
Posted by pamsterdam on 2007-06-06 12:31:16 +0000
Oh, it ain't just the docs! :O)
When I told my boss last spring about my mother's illness, she patted my hand, told me how sorry she was, and asked me if I'd like her to tell our colleagues so I wouldn't have to. I thought that was really sweet of her, y'know, offering to e-mail the office to inform them of my situation. I thanked her for her thoughtfulness, stood to leave her office, opened the door, felt her standing at my side, and heard her say (in a loud, clear voice):
"Everyone!" All eyes turned toward us. "Pam's mother has a terminal brain tumor."
Then she patted me on the shoulder as I stared at the opposite wall in abject horror.
Pretty hilarious in hindsight.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-06 14:50:50 +0000
Wow. I think that story=the new bluntness.
Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-06 15:11:11 +0000
Anyone curious about Michael Moore's impending Sicko?
Posted by pamsterdam on 2007-06-06 15:27:35 +0000
Blunt is one thing. Doing the twirly-finger "crazy" motion right in front of your patient... well, that's something else entirely.
May all your future medical dealings be frank and friendly. And healthy.
Posted by Epoisses on 2007-06-06 17:01:42 +0000
I can't believe you'd get down with that kind of lefty pinko propaganda.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-06 17:27:29 +0000
Thanks, babe. I hope your work life doesn't reflect the show "The Office" anymore!
Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-06 17:34:08 +0000
Just because I don't (typically) agree with Moore doesn't mean that I can't be curious.
I think Spike Lee recognizes D.W. Griffith as a talented filmmaker despite the subject matter of his films.
Also, at least on a pop culture level, it will be (momentarily?) Nationally relevant, so yeah, I'm curious.
I'm also curious to see if there is any blatant trickery in 'Sicko' on the level of 'Columbine' where he films a guy going into a bank on week 1 and then shows same guy going into a bank week 3 and getting a free gun while failing to show any time lapse or title card for the audience, which unfairly gives the bank a 'fast food drive through gun emporium' feel.
Posted by tommy on 2007-06-07 08:20:35 +0000
Holy crap, is that true about the finger-twirl? Did he whistle while he was doing it?
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 10:26:45 +0000
Completely true. He said something in Hebrew to my friends who came to the hospital with me (one of the volunteer staff on my program, and one of my roommates who's been a volunteer medic in Israel for several summers); they were my translators. Basically, he told them it was all in my head, which I gathered from my rudimentary Hebrew and the finger-twirl. They were scared to tell me what he said. I insisted after he left the curtained area, and when they told me I wanted them to get him back so I could yell at him. They wouldn't, and said it would just make things worse.
Things were bad enough: I had an x-ray by a guy who was on the phone, in a super creepy hospital, gave them plenty of blood samples (one of which they took to rule out pulmonary embolism...my roomie told me not to move at all after that, just in case), was not actually treated for anything (no oxygen or breathing treatment, which would have been a huge help), and my travelers insurance didn't cover it.
All in all it was no good. When they offered to keep me for observation overnight I said no thanks and got out of there as fast as I could.
The bizarre cabrides there and back are a whole 'nother story!
Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-07 10:33:55 +0000
It doesn't seem to be the case, but I am still curious - would there happen to be any cultural element to this gesture at all?
Is the finger twirl an international / universal gesture? I am certainly not trying to discount your tale, but I know certain finger gestures mean one thing in the US and something else entirely overseas.
Having said that, though, I am sure you are much more likely to interpret and understand Israeli hand gestures correctly than I would be.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 10:35:28 +0000
He meant it the same way. And he was a Russian doctor practicing in an Israeli hospital with an American patient and one American, one Canadian translator. We all took it the way he meant it, and he really meant it.
Posted by virtue on 2007-06-07 12:03:42 +0000
You left out the part where he was Russian before--now it all makes perfect sense. The Russians, and Slavs more generally, are culturally incapable of not being what Americans consider to be rude and abrasive. (Although, now that I think about it, Israelis don't generally win high marks on those counts for Americans, either.)
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 12:39:13 +0000
Yeah, but after recounting the story to Israelis later, I understand that I should have insisted on a doctor that spoke English, and that was Israeli.
Posted by ConorClockwise on 2007-06-07 12:56:16 +0000
Most good hand gestures come from southern Italy.
Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-07 13:56:51 +0000
Have you compiled them all, yet? ;)
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 15:04:59 +0000
I think it's coming out in the magazine's special addition.
Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-11 12:26:26 +0000
Footnote: I was so wrapped up in thinking I had something hugely wrong with my uterus, I forgot to go to my pulmonogist last Monday. Luckily, they forgot, too. Turns out the doc who thought I was crazy in Israel didn't diagnose my asthma.
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