Doctors

Yesterday on the front page of the Corvallis Gazette Times was an interesting article that said that patients lie to their doctors. Easy out for doctors. No accountability. No need to feel responsible, if you can say that your patients lie to you and that's the reason why your answers and treatment doesn't work. This may be the answer in some cases but I think that in other cases, the truth is closer to medical records being washed of any possibility of leaving a trail of a future malpractice suit. Prevention is key.

It said in the article that patients just lie when asked if they have ever smoked. Well, I can say in truth that I have never smoked or wanted to smoke. I went through college in the 60's at Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University from 1966 through 1970. I have never smoked or tried marijuana. I have come in contact with second hand smoke. My Dad smoked and died of lung cancer. My husband smoked for years until I came down stairs one night finding him asleep in the chair with a lit cigarette. That was it. I made him stop. I think that was in 1984. As a little kid in Libby, Montana I used to play in piles of zonalite with my cousins. We used to throw it up in the air, the shiny particles that was mined in Libby responsible for cancer deaths years later.

At a time when doctors want only one symptom per visit and this visit lasts for 10 minutes, how can a doctor expect to diagnose and accurately get to the bottom of any problem? I think it would be wonderful to have a doctor who cared about my health and about me. I think this is rare these days, just like a friend is rare.

Thinking about doctors, I was sad that Meredith died on the television show, Grey's Anatomy. She was a great doctor and I cared about this character. She cared about her patients. She went the distance. Maybe someday I'll have a doctor who cares about me, who will talk to me, and who will do what it takes to make sure I'm okay. My husband says this takes money. Yes, money buys great service and the best professional care. I guess we come back to Prevention is Key for those without insurance and for those without medical care.