Doug PollardTrust me, I'm a doctor
October 12th 2008 00:11
This won't hurt a bit
The specialist was brisk, breezy and confident.
“Oh yes, soon have that fixed, I’ve a slot next Wednesday…..”
“Er, excuse me, but what method will you use?”
His eyes widen in surprise.
“Just the usual way, of course,” he says crossly. “Now you do have private medical insurance, I see, but there will be a . . . . ”
“Sorry to interrupt, but do you mean open surgery and then staple across the incision? Doesn’t a laparascopic repair using a plug and mesh system have a much shorter recovery time?”
He stares at me.
“You don’t want to go believing everything you read on the internet,” he sneers.
“I’m aware of that. But isn’t it true the traditional method can actually weaken the area, meaning the repair often has to be repeated within a few years?”
He rolls his eyes, sighs, and then says, slowly and with heavy emphasis, “Look, these clinics that advertise on the internet, they have a vested interest in selling you their system, you can’t rely on their advice, it’s hardly unbiased. I don’t use mesh because I don’t like leaving foreign material inside patients, it can cause complications further down the track, get in the way of subsequent medical procedures and so forth.”
For a moment I feel a fool. He is, after all, supposed to be the expert, plus he seems to be trying hard not to lose his temper. And he’s a pretty imposing sort of bloke. But it’s my gut he’s proposing to slice open.
And I am not a fool. I knew those clinics were commercial operations. And I knew they weren’t telling me the full story. So I also looked up the British Medical Journal and the New England Journal of Medicine, and there I found articles confirming their claims, and dismissing my doctors objections. I take a deep breath and tell him.
Now he’s really in a huff. For a moment I think he’s going to shout at me. His face actually darkens. But he’s not about to see a fee slip out of his grasp if he can help it.
“Well,” he says, through gritted teeth, “I suppose if you’ve made your mind up, I can do a mesh repair.”
What!? Ten seconds ago he was telling me he didn’t do them because they were dangerous!!
I actually feel afraid of this man, but I have to ask, “Have you done many of them before?”
“Look, I told you I don’t normally do them,” he spits, “but I’m perfectly competent to do one if that’s what you insist on.”
I take a deep breath.
“No offence, doctor, but I think I’d prefer someone who has some experience in the area.”
He stares at me for a second as if he can’t believe his ears, then storms out without a word.
Score one for patient power!
I wasn’t in a life-threatening situation. The operation wasn’t urgent. And I’d done my homework, so I knew he was wrong. Plus I’m generally a pretty confident bloke. But standing up to him was still very stressful. He’s the doctor, the expert, confident and assertive. Who was I to question his judgement?
I thought about that this week when I heard about some doctors who won’t help a woman have an abortion, or refer them to another doctor who might, even when her life is in danger, because abortion offends their consciences.
I wonder how many women have been browbeaten into going through with unwanted pregnancies by confident, self-righteous doctors and nurses like that?
Already in America we’ve seen these conscience-stricken doctors refusing to provide IVF treatment to single women and lesbians, and pharmacists refusing to dispense contraceptive pills (even when they’re the only pharmacist in town) because it’s against their religion.
Well sorry darlings, but if your morals get in the way of your job, you’re in the wrong job.
The Catholic Church agrees. They said if the abortion law, passed they’d have to close down their maternity wards. Well, it passed. Your move, Monsignor.
You don’t go to a priest for medical assistance, and you don’t go to a doctor for moral guidance. Render unto Caesar, and all that. In a clash between doctor rights and patient rights, patient rights always win.
We’ll now see the same kind of fight over the assisted reproduction bill. Doctors who don’t like rainbow families will find all kinds of ‘moral’ excuses as to why they should be allowed to stay in business while continuing to discriminate against us.
You may not see what all this has to do with you. You’re a man, so you’ll never need an abortion. You are a woman, but you’ve no intention of ever having children. But allowing people to refuse medical treatment simply because they don’t approve of the patient – which is what these people want – sets a very dangerous precedent. What treatment might one of them decide you don’t deserve?
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Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
Health Focus
Poetry Lighthouse
MS Paint Art
I think these things are private, just thought I'd let you know my point of view, without in any way trying to restrict yours.
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I feel strongly about this, but I try not to blog about it, simply because I get angry, then I get incoherant, and we all know how those people look in text....
For a young woman Ive needed to see a lot of doctors. I went through years of being bullied - exactly as you have described above - until one day I realized these 'doctors' are just people, not gods. They dont know everything, and I actually have to live in my body, so I think I should get a say in what gets done to it.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
haha i thought exactly the same thing!
oh so youre going to protest that you dont want to perform abortion by shutting, well good, perhaps if all the patients they skim out of the public system came back it would run more efficiently
essential services should not be run by churches, they are biased as all hell!
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Oh bravo, bravo, bravo!
And hooray for Melbourne's pollies. Once in a while they make me proud.
Comment by Doug Pollard
Rainbow Reporter
Morgan and Ruby: if churches are going to take public money to run public services, such as housing, aged care, schools and hospitals, they they must be held to the exact same standards as anyone else. They can't be allowed special treatment, exemptions from discrimination laws, taxation etc. etc. I mean it's absurd that a huge business like Sanitarium is tax-exempt because it belongs to a church!!
Comment by JJY
Fortunately i have not heard of many incidents in Australia, but this sort of thing needs to be stopped as soon as possible. As you say, if your morals/religion conflict with your job, choose another job!
Comment by Doug Pollard
Rainbow Reporter