Dr. Scott Haig, who writes for Time (of all liberal rags) doesn’t like his patients using Google to find out about their condition. How awful can it be to have an informed patient? I don’t think he hates the informed patient so much as he did the one he wrote about.
Susan had chosen me because she had researched my education, read a paper I had written, determined my university affiliation and knew where I lived. It was a little too much — as if she knew how stinky and snorey I was last Sunday morning. Yes, she was simply researching important aspects of her own health care. Yes, who your surgeon is certainly affects what your surgeon does. But I was unnerved by how she brandished her information, too personal and just too rude on our first meeting.
Every doctor knows patients like this. They’re called “brainsuckers.” By the time they come in, they’ve visited many other docs already — somehow unable to stick with any of them. They have many complaints, which rarely translate to hard findings on any objective tests. They talk a lot. I often wonder, while waiting for them to pause, if there are patients like this in poor, war-torn countries where the need for doctors is more dire.
From his attitude, I get “Poor ‘ittle doctor got his feelings hurt because Susan was trying to manage her medical care!! How dare she ask questions, informed if she was from WebMD let’s say. But I could be wrong. Maybe he was just pissed off at her approach.
She had brought her three-year-old to my office, but was ignoring the little monster as he ripped up magazines, threw fish crackers and Cheerios, and stomped them into my rug. I tried to ignore him too, which was hard as he dribbled chocolate milk from his sippy cup all over my upholstered chairs. Eventually his screeching made conversation impossible.
“This is not an acceptable form of behavior, not acceptable at all,” was Susan’s excruciatingly well-enunciated and perfunctory response to Junior’s screaming. The toddler’s defiant delight signaled that he understood just enough to ignore her back. Meanwhile, Mom launched into me with a barrage of excruciatingly well-informed questions. I soon felt like throwing Cheerios at her too.
[snip]
I knew full well what was wrong with this woman, and I could treat her, probably as well as anyone. But treating her condition, which was chronic patellofemoral pain, would test the mettle of patient and surgeon.
[snip]
I like to be straight — “It gets worse before it gets better” is what I tell them. Susan’s style, her history and, somehow, most telling, the way she treated her son said she was not going to make it through this. Not with me, anyway.
My question after reading this article is: Just how did Susan approach this doctor with the information she had? Was she rude? Did she argue with him? Did she say it was her way or the highway? Why did she bring an undisciplined child to a doctor’s appointment and allow said child to be as destructive as he was? Clearly, anyone in any profession is going to a tad bit upset with someone destroying their property. Does he really just hate all his patients that Google their condition, or just Susan’s approach with said information and ill-mannered toddler?
When I was diagnosed with Graves Disease and opted for the treatment I did and then became Hypothyroid, I hit the internet for all the information I could find. That is where I found thyroid.about.com and lived on that website, talking to other people, and absorbing as much information as I could. When I approached my doctor with my documented symptons, my own paid for thyroid pane and a request for a different medication to see how it would work, I was tried like an office chair, patted on the head and told it was all in my head. Because I was a Googler, I punted his ass to the curb and found another doctor, who I approached with the same information. He agreed to let me try the other medication and I have been on it since. He was not offended by my information and answered all my questions.
I did the same thing when my current doctor diagnosed me with Type 2 Diabetes. I talked to others I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to do if not via the internet. With information from others’ experiences and product websites, I approached my doctor with another treatment option. He agreed. And then tells me he likes that I’m organized when he gets in the office, knows what I need, and asks informed questions.
I think Dr. Haig had a major issue not so much with Susan’s information she Googled, but her approach to him with said information.
Oh, by the way, us Patient Googlers, we care not about your bathing or sleeping habits Dr. Haig - we want to know you are giving us the best care available and if you can’t, be man enough to send us to someone who can.
