doing research on your doctor

<< I'm working on an article about the things that consumers
can (and can't) learn about the safety records of doctors
and hospitals.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ofcourse you can do research (and should) before you see
any doctor, and on the hospital as well. I've done plenty
of background checks on doctors, and I will tell you when
you present the information to the doctors, many of them
become "nervous", and one doctor (a conventional type)
became outraged that I would be looking into his
credentials because he proclaimed he was a specialist in
his field. When I asked him to hand over his credentials he
got even more irate. I said, "what's the big deal, you
earned your credentials, didn't you," but he told me he
took it as an insult.

With reference to a hospital, I did some research on a
hospital chain that had earned a bad rap a couple of years
ago, and a friend of mine decided this was not the place,
nor was the doctor connected to the hospital somewhere he
wanted to deposit his mother for a surgery, which, after
getting a second opinion at Stanford, and a third opinion
at UCSF, discovered that the first opinion was an
unnecessary surgery.

"If you're gonna walk on thin ice, you may as well dance."
(Jessie Winchester).

This is a good example of the attitude that doctors in
general have . This is part of the mystic of medicine , they
feel aloof and above we mortals , if you come through a
system that allows you make life and death decisions without
having to be ever held totally and fully responsible for the
results of your decisions then of course you are going to
feel threatened and annoyed when questioned , after all who
is this uneducated mere mortal who is daring to question MY
credentials ? , who do they think they are ?

The great thing is that now more and more people are
questioning their doctors , changing doctors when they don't
like the attention or don't get the respect they deserve .

Its good to see that people are finally starting to take
control of their health care and not just accept blindly
that whatever the doctor says must be right , many times
it's not and we need to keep reminding them of that fact .

"DEBBEE1023" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20040324215259.08141.00000045@mb-
m02.aol.com...

Quoted message said:

<< I'm working on an article about the things that
consumers can (and can't) learn about the safety records
of doctors and hospitals.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ofcourse you can do research (and should) before you see
any doctor, and

on the

Quoted message said:

hospital as well. I've done plenty of background checks on
doctors, and I

will

Quoted message said:

tell you when you present the information to the doctors,
many of them

become

Quoted message said:

"nervous", and one doctor (a conventional type) became
outraged that I

would be

Quoted message said:

looking into his credentials because he proclaimed he was
a specialist in

his

Quoted message said:

field. When I asked him to hand over his credentials he
got even more

irate.

Quoted message said:

I said, "what's the big deal, you earned your credentials,
didn't you,"

but he

Quoted message said:

told me he took it as an insult.

With reference to a hospital, I did some research on a
hospital chain that

had

Quoted message said:

earned a bad rap a couple of years ago, and a friend of
mine decided this

was

Quoted message said:

not the place, nor was the doctor connected to the
hospital somewhere he

wanted

Quoted message said:

to deposit his mother for a surgery, which, after getting
a second opinion

at

Quoted message said:

Stanford, and a third opinion at UCSF, discovered that the
first opinion

was an

Quoted message said:

unnecessary surgery.

"If you're gonna walk on thin ice, you may as well
dance." (Jessie

Winchester).

Quoted message said:

Ofcourse you can do research (and should) before you see
any doctor, and on the hospital as well. <<

Debbee --

Thanks for responding. I'm glad you've been able to be
proactive. When you do the kinds of research you're talking
about, what sorts of resources do you turn to? (E.g. state
medical records, legal records, word of mouth?)

Cheers, Matt

"matt heimer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ofcourse you can do research (and should) before you see
any doctor, and

on the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

hospital as well. <<

Debbee --

Thanks for responding. I'm glad you've been able to
be proactive. When you do the kinds of research
you're talking about, what sorts of resources do you
turn to? (E.g. state medical records, legal records,
word of mouth?)

When I check out a doc, especially for my kids, ALL OF THE
ABOVE, and then check the treatment offered.

[email hidden] (matt heimer) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ofcourse you can do research (and should) before you see
any doctor, and on the hospital as well. <<

Debbee --

Thanks for responding. I'm glad you've been able to
be proactive. When you do the kinds of research
you're talking about, what sorts of resources do you
turn to? (E.g. state medical records, legal records,
word of mouth?)

Matt:

The actual "research" DEBBEE claims to do WRT checking out a
doc isn't the kind you're talking about. She said that she
developed her own little set of questions to pose to a
doctor & while there were a couple that were quite
reasonable, there were several that stretched the
imagination 😉 ===

Search result 1 for your query doctor's religious beliefs
group:misc.health.alternative From: fred & michele
([email hidden]) Subject: Re: Consent Forms

View this article only Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative
Date: 2003-03-31 18:59:43 PST

"DEBBEE1023" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20030331210047.24212.00000070@mb-
fr.aol.com...

Quoted message said:

On the subject matter of "consent forms", with all of the
medicare fraud, doctor's prescribing bad drugs, getting
gifts, etc., I've developed my own "form", for every
doctor that I will see from now on, when I interview
prospective doctors...

1. Have you ever had a malpractice suit against you? If
yes, what kind of malpractice suit, and how much did
was the patient rewarded?

This is where the doc will likely see a pt. interested in
suing him/her.

Quoted message said:

2. Have you ever received any samples, gifts, perks,
trips, etc., from any pharmaceutical company? What
were they, and why did you take them?

Like anybody will go into great detail over such an asinine
query..............LOL!

Quoted message said:

3. Has any "drug detailer" ever influenced your decision
to prescribe any drug for any reason?

Toooooo funny!! Like an unethical doc would be honest about
being influenced by anyone..........

Quoted message said:

4. What grades did you get in medical school? Where did
you do your residency?

The residency question is actually not bad & most MD's are
happy to discuss
it. The grades? Maybe s/he'll ask to see DEBBEE's to see
how smart a pt. she'd be -- but by the end of these
little morsels, it'll be obvious that this is one pt.
who's sharp as a bowling ball.........<G>

Quoted message said:

5. What forms of alternative medicine have you
personally read about, used, or prescribed?

Not an unreasonable question. Unfortunately, you're planning
on following it up with this idiotic piece of [censored]:

Quoted message said:

If none, why haven't you joined the current generation,
and kept up with the times?

ROFLMAO!!! Now DEBBEE plans on telling the doc how they
should practice. If the doc doesn't utilize the therapies
DEBBEE wants, it's certainly her perogative to get up &
find another MD (& the doc will no doubt be happy to hold
the door open for her on her way out) -- it's the height
of arrogance to tell the doc s/he's not "kept up with the
times" because s/he doesn't do what lil' DEBBEE thinks
s/he should!!

Quoted message said:

6. Who paid for your college/medical school? Were you
financed by any church, or any outside interest
group?

Perhaps a doc whose reply is "Mom & Dad" should be suspect
-- after all, what is *their* agenda??? Does the gov't. --
with its student loan programs -- make a doc beholden to an
"outside interest group"? After all, those damn taxpayers
just might bias the doc to do things *their* way......<G>
[And since when do churches fund medical school tuition?

Quoted message said:

7. Has any outside interest group, ever contacted you,
and presented scientific studies to you? Have you
ever taken cash from any outside interest group?

ROFLMAO!! Gee, maybe watching a PBS documentary has
influenced a doctor -- quite an "outside interest group
there...... And DEBBEE must've forgotten about insurance
companies. Holy [censored], trying to find an MD who *hasn't*
taken that filthy insurance money's gonna be a tough one.
But I'm sure DEBBEE will re-word that one when the doctor
asks her if she's friggin' crazy by this point.

Quoted message said:

8. What religious preference to do you have?

I hope any doc would respond appropriately to this gem -- &
tell her that their religious beliefs are personal & not
something they discuss with pts. any more than they would
expect a pt. to have to do so. Frankly, I think they should
quickly shoo this loony out of the office as soon as the
question arose, but I think most MD's would be more
sympathetic & view DEBBEE's idiocy as a cry for help
instead of the indication of a religious bigot that we've
seen here on MHA.

Quoted message said:

9. Who influenced you to become a doctor?

Most MD's would probably be okay about this personal
question *if* it was asked before some of the others she's
listed above. But after some of those other pieces of
insanity, the chances of getting more than an invitation to
leave aren't looking good........

Quoted message said:

10. Would you mind if any of this information was put on
a website or the newspaper?

I sincerely hope any doctor wouldn't respond to the religion
questions or at least nix the info about religion being
publicized. Religion is supposed to be a private issue with
personal choices about what should be shared with others WRT
the subject, although DEBBEE can't understand that.

Most doctors already make public what they want people to
know. WRT their education, residency, specialties, &
sometimes philosophies of practice they are often quite
candid. Very few would see any purpose with talking
religious beliefs & rightly so. It's also a violation of
privacy to delve into the source of their med school
tuition. Perhaps everyone is entitled to know who paid for
DEBBEE to go to college?? Or how much somebody borrowed on a
gov't. student loan for their schooling?? Or whether
somebody's SO had to get a second job to foot the bill for
their education?? HINT -- IT'S NOT EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS.

Quoted message said:

I see a new doctor tomorrow.....I cannot wait to try it
out. I already have all sorts of history about the doctor,
and I want to see if I can trust the physician.

DEBBEE doesn't know the answers to her questions for sure.
That information is quite personal & unless she illegally
snooped into the doc's financial records, bugged his/her
phone calls, etc. she's full of [censored] like she always
iu.

*If* DEBBEE really has a doctor's appt., I hope she actually
asks these silly ass questions. At least the doc will
quickly realize that
j/he's dealing with one of the goofiest buffoons that's ever
waltzed into a physician's office. With any luck, the MD
can immediately refer DEBBEE to another doc that s/he
doesn't like & wants to annoy........

Michele

[email hidden] (DEBBEE1023) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

<< Thanks for responding. I'm glad you've been able to be
proactive. When you do the kinds of research you're
talking about, what sorts of resources do you turn to?
(E.g. state medical records, legal records, word of
mouth?) >>

Legal records, state medical records, other clinics, other
doctor's opinions (although most are not willing to
recommend someone that they dislike), and wait around the
doctor's office, and talk to other patients as they are
going in, or going out. You can also interview the staff
by asking them all sorts of questions on the telephone or
in person. Most do not like this, as it makes them spend
time that they claim they don't have.

Most do not have time to answer questions the doctor should
be answering -- most don't have time to answer "all sorts of
questions" (especially the kind DEBBEE asks about the
doctor's religion) when there are patients waiting to be
seen by the MD (with the pre-requisite v/s to be taken,
health history questionaires to be filled out, insurance
info taken to be given to the billing dept.) & patients
preparing to leave the office (with any needed follow up
appt. scheduled, referrals & scripts from the doctor given
to them) -- most are assigned to carry out specific tasks
(scheduling, reception, & billing usually being the ones
patients talk with initially) & leave answering DEBBEE's
kind of queries to the doc & maybe the nurses.

Quoted message said:

My feeling is if they don't have the time to answer simple
questions on the telephone or in person, then it makes you
wonder what they do have time for

"Asking all sorts of questions" is a far cry from posing a
basic question or two. And "interviewing the staff" more
than that takes them away from doing what's needed for the
other patients. Not that DEBBEE gives a [censored] about anyone
else who's entitled to the doc & office staff's
attention.....

Quoted message said:

.....one woman I spoke with told me she was too busy to
chat

Just too busy to chat with DEBBEE -- especially if she
wasn't the one in a position to answer whatever "all sorts
of questions" she was being asked.

Quoted message said:

...then she promptly turned around and started discussing
what she was going to wear for a party she was going to in
two weeks

OF COURSE, DEBBEE is sure that this stranger knew the
answers to her "all sorts of questions" or that the woman
wasn't doing her best to cut the conversation with DEBBEE to
discuss another patient with her co-worker but couldn't do
so until DEBBEE was out of earshot. These possibilities
wouldn't occur to DEBBEE.

Quoted message said:

with a co-worker...being the pro active one,

Naah, DEBBEE's confused RUDE with "pro-active".....

Quoted message said:

I asked her how wonderful it must be to be able to yak
with friends about non business, and have no time for
potential patients..

I hope she either ignored DEBBEE (the polite option,
although hard to imagine unless the woman was extremely
sweet) or told this particular *potential* patient to have a
seat while she "accidentally" spilled White-out on DEBBEE's
name in the appt. book.

Maybe this fairy tale has a "happily ever after" -- & DEBBEE
walked out of the office, never to return ........