Doctors cop out. Right or wrong?

[Davek723]

Hi all.

We know doctors face the following

Long hours

Stress

Fatigue

Difficult situations

Lots of appointment

Pressure

Etc.etc.

My point is that for all of the above ,they do get well paid.

Also how many other working people can tick all the above. Police ,fire fighters, builders, warehouse workers etc etc.

None of these are as well paid.

So if any off you guys tick all the boxes would your boss put up with you using Any of what I call excuses for not doing your job properly ,professional .

The only profession getting away with it as far as I see is a GP. Yes I totally understand that all the stresses etc do exist ,this in no way excuses you from not taking the correct amount of time and care your patient requires.

Surely the fundamental reason you spend 7yrs studying is to help people. Don't lose sight of this.

So question as above.

Are all the above statements used by doctors

A cop out or not.

[Bananas5]

I would just add unpaid carers to your list of those who work long hours, stress, fatigue. no breaks.

They have no training nor pay but they selflessly look after another person, usually spouse or child. And often to the detriment of their own health

Not only care for that person but listen to all their moans and gripes too.

Welcome to my world

x

[Davek723 in reply to Bananas5]

Cheers for the reply . I just put etc because I didn't have enough characters to list all jobs.

Appreciate your reply. And all the good work you and people like you do.

[Bananas5 in reply to Davek723]

A GP is just that...General Practitioner and doesn't know the answers. He should though be able to refer patients to the appropriate department.

Having said that he will only order tests, scans etc if he feels anything can be gained. Resources are scarce and he has to decide where they can be best used.

Going to a GP armd with Google answers can be very detremental to all his years training.

I wouldn't want his job...

x

[Hidden in reply to Bananas5]

In my experience they have little diagnostic ability; I started suffering from neuropathic pain in 2017 - GP's didn't recognise it and had no suggestions; it was only when I paid for an appointment to see a consultant at the pain clinic that I was put on nerve pain meds; my suffering went on much longer thanks to their ignorance

Lately I have been diagnosed with chronic non bacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome - again by a consultant I paid for myself; again GP's totally clueless

Having said that it seems to me that the specialists are far too specialised. To give an example I had a digital rectal exam of my prostate and I said to the consultant could he tell me if I have an anal fissure issue because defecation is burning and a bit painful. He said I would need to see a colorectal surgeon for that(I did that 2 yrs ago) - that'd be another £300. I thought this is ridiculous, the prostate's only a couple of inches away from the anal sphincter - and it's only a digital examination.

The system does not do holistic

[Bananas5 in reply to Hidden]

If you were under the pain clinic why did you have to pay for a consultant?

My experience of pain clinics, Yorkshire, Scotland, and now abroad. is absolutely brilliant.

As to paying for a consultation...they will only look at the specific problem which already have been predetermined in writing..

Life is one long experience and we have all been dealt different cards.

x

[Hidden in reply to Bananas5]

I couldn't wait - so I had to pay; I got a referral letter for the pain consultant from the GP of course; can't remember what was in it - pretty general probably. By the time it had come to get a letter for the consultant urologist - prostatitis - a lot of water had flowed under the bridge. There again the referral letter was general with details of blood, urine tests I'd had; but I think they could have identified chronic prostatitis as a possibility, I'd been to the GP often enough.

The consultant urologist wasn't that hopeful; and it was telling that he didn't recommend any prescription meds; all of which are of doubtful effectiveness and may make things worse. The only recommendation I got from him was for the herbal product quercetin - which I was taking anyway.

Overall - not impressed; and one tends to speak as one finds

[johnsmith in reply to Hidden]

You say: "if I have an anal fissure issue because defecation is burning and a bit painful. " I had the same symptoms circa 1989. I have had an anal fissure circa 1989. In my case it was a small tear. Cannot give exact details because that is the name given to what I had at the time. I had to use pessaries. What the pessaries were I had no idea. Eventually had surgery. The surgery was to manually stretch the tissue of the anus in an operation. That removed the pain. It several months to fully recover from the operation.

I was offered a choice of two options. A cut or stretch. The after effects of a cut is more problematic. The muscle tissue is still contracted.

The stretch leaves muscle a bit weaker. However, it fully recovers. I had no pain after the operation compared to the amount of pain I had before the operation.

[Hidden in reply to johnsmith]

Thanks for your reply

Funnily(or not) enough I had 2 anal fissures fixes in 1989, which actually worked pretty well - the second one did

I got this after an idiotic GP prescribed me ridiculous doses of the broad spectrum erythromycin for a skin infection; the effect of this was that my anal sphincter literally seized up and I acquired the fissure and a most horrible groin rash - I suffered with this for about 5 years

[Hidden]

Ive personally been to hundreds of docs across the U.S. and my take on this is....they have a lot of excuses.They know what they signed up for when they went to school for umpteen years to become what they r today. Out of all the docs Ive seen in different fields over the years.. only a handful were actually what a doc should be.That doesn't say much for docs.I would and have walked out of docs offices that had the excuses of blah blah blah.Your right.. no other profession u can use those excuses and still have a job.Sometimes I wonder if I should just go see a veterinarian... they always seem to be on there game, LOL Great post..

[johnsmith]

There are many good medical people who their best. The symptoms people present can be for a multitude of different diagnoses. Same symptoms as described by patients is shared by a multitude of different diagnoses. I have no idea how you can decide one diagnosis from another.

There are many doctors who are menace to the health of patients. They have past their exams. Demonstrated competence to their superiors. Have been working for a number of years. Their dangerous practices put patients lives in danger. They can think that they are untouchable. They often are.

The patient must do their own investigations to protect themselves from these doctors.

[Hidden in reply to johnsmith]

True - but by the time you realise they can be a menace you can end up seriously compromised

[johnsmith in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the reply. I know the experience. I also know the protection that psychiatrists give these doctors. The question I have is how can we support the good doctors and obtain procedures to remove the bad doctors?

Good doctors we make mistakes and will learn to be better doctors from their mistakes. It takes a lot of courage to admit a mistake when the mistake made could cost them a future career.

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay is worth a read.

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research (also known as service user/lay involvement) refers to an active partnership between patients and/or members of the public and researchers.

This is being proposed as a research topic in a PPI:

“What makes a difference? Using Citizen Science to explore the value of various methods for recovery or improvement of mental health."

This has taken me 30 years to get to something like this. The contributions of other members of the PPI helped greatly. MY limited ability of the right phraseology was improved by the contributions of the other members.

Your thoughts greatly received.

[Aligil]

Reading some posts here always leaves me feeling so grateful that the Gp my husband and I use is so good. Our only issue is that because he is, trying to get an appointment with him is very difficult. Due to my husbands condition, our doctor always personally books him in again at the end of the consultation, so he gets to see him every 6-8 weeks. During our last visit I had a chesty cough that I had put down to Asthma and high pollon and so had not yet tried to get an appointment for myself. I left, following a chest examination, with a prescription for antibiotics and steroids for which I was extremely grateful, as by the time we got home I was feeling quite poorly. Over the years it has sometimes taken a while for him to work out exactly what the condition is, as with my Fibromyalgia diagnosis, but he certainly makes every effort to do so. What a shame all his colleagues aren't as good.

[Davek723]

Hi .Glad you have a good doctor.

I will be posting a follow up to my post in a few days. It will explain fully the shocking reason why I asked the question in the first place.

I didn't want to influence anyone with the post.

Cheers be well

Dave

[victoria1000]

We expect our GPs to be know everything. However we know what to eat to stay healthy but we carry on eating a rubbish diet expecting the NHS to pick up the pieces.

If most people are well there would be less people needing treatment.

[Heracat]

Well I think your theory is all wrong about the Doctors and Nurses. I have had Prostate Cancer 3 years ago, lost my Gall Bladder Christmas 2017 and I now have Small Cell Cancer of the lung, Spine and Pleura and have attending Aberdeen Royal Infirmary so far on all cases and the treatment I have received to date has been second to none and very efficiently carried out. I certainly would not like to have a job like they have no matter how much they get paid is certainly not enough having to work the hours they do under all the pressure and responsibility. No money is more than enough for that pressure and stress. Shame on you sir.

[Davek723 in reply to Heracat]

Hi the reason I put right or wrong is that for every story like yourself there are so many the opposite way. Im so glad to here you have been well taken care of and wish you all the very best ,it sounds like you've been through the finger.

Unfortunately not everyone gets the care you've had hence the post. I said I will post full reasons for the post next week. Sorry if this caused you offence .none ment.

Cheers dave

[Heracat in reply to Davek723]

Cheers Dave No offence taken. Yes I have been through the ringer a few times these last few years but I am still here and fighting this damn thing thanks to the staff, Doctors and Specialist here in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Scotland and they are now building two very large Cancer Specialising buildings just to tackle this scourge.

When finished this will possibly be one of the biggest and most well equipped hospitals in the world in the fight against cancer.

Well recommended.

Thanks for your best wishes and your comments. It is fantastic to be able to discuss this subject with people going through the same situation and nice to know everybody involved are so positive. 👍

[Emma2017]

Unfortunately a lot of people if they can pass exams well and want money will look towards the medical world. I am not being sceptical, one lad who worked for us during the summer was studying to be a dr, I asked him why and he said “loads of money”. Not the first time I had heard this. Some other people I knew had a son who wanted to be an engineer however they pushed him into the medical world, even told him to take a job in an old people’s home to look caring, reason again was money. Not all go in it for the money but too many straight A exam passers without compassion do go into it for that reason. I am not sure about stressed out etc either. My surgery is not open during the weekend and if you need one then you either get a locum or have to go to the A&E. I know of many more people who work far longer hours and are stressed but earn far less. I feel if you want to be a GP you should not expect every weekend off but work every third one or so, after all we do not stop being ill because it’s the weekend. On top of all this, near us there was an Indian guy practising as a dr for a long time but it turned out he actually never got his degree. Also one in our practice sent my husband packing with a psa level that was too high re the new guidelines, turned out he had cancer of the prostate but if it had been up to this dr he would have been dead now. Sorry bit of a rant and if you have a caring good GP just think how lucky you are.

[Chance15]

Hi there can I just comment a doctors job is easy.U c ur doctor explain ur problem doctors then type in computer and then a list comes up with possible causes on doctors screen so they do av it easier now.