Things Your Doctor Won't Tell You

• If paying cash you can negotiate in most cases 25% or more off the cost of an office visit. It's not rude or unprofessional in the least to ask.




• Being a doc is nothing like he thought it would be when he started knuckling down on science classes when he was in high school with an eye toward medical school acceptance.




• You're not necessarily right if he folds on an idea you brought up by starting with, I read on the Internet...- he just hasn't the time or energy to argue with you over something you should probably trust his judgement over anyway.




• He assumes you'll lie over pretty much anything.




• A urinary tract infection in an otherwise healthy adult is a STD (now being referred to more correctly as a STI sexually transmitted Infection).




• When he says, We could test for______ but, I'm sure it's ______ He means, I know after seeing 10,000 cases of ______ that's what we're dealing with however, if I don't offer this test it could haunt me in a lawsuit...




• Many new, sexy and expensive drugs you'll demand after reading something on the Internet are no more effective than the cheaper, proven gold standard meds the new one is wanting to replace- it's just cheaper for him to not argue with you nor even attempt to educate.




• You won't change your behaviour- essentially no one does- so yes, you'll get a script for virtually any problem you present with to his office.




• When he leaves the exam room for an extended amount of time and returns with some samples- he was pretty sure of his instincts for his diagnosis however, he wanted to check the Merck manual or even call a more experienced buddy on the issue to be sure.




• In most cases if he has the guts to tell you to lose some weight- add 20% (or more) to the figure he recommends.




• The squeaky wheel does get the grease.




• Due to this and all the ninnies who wear the docs down with, I read on the Internet...  and demand this or that treatment or test- if you're stoic and don't ham it up real well- something could get missed.




• 70+ percent of all our medical woes would simply go away if we: managed our chronic diseases, ate like we had some sense, drank more water and exercised.




• Although the consumer will consistently report feeling that docs don't spend enough time with their patients- in 90% (or more?) of cases he can correctly diagnose and recommend a course of treatment in 10 minutes or less.




• In most cases if you can't trust him- there was no reason to visit him in the first place. He does not want to get in over his head.




• A female doc is no more likely to catch problems in a female patient and studies have demonstrated just the opposite.




• Unless a dermatologist he will often have no clue what he's looking at with a skin problem- without dragging out a reference book.




• Even a dermatologist is often making an educated guess at a course of treatment with a skin problem.




• In an E.D. on a Friday night the physician now attending your child just treated: a gunshot wound, two people extensively damaged in a motorcycle wreck, a teen overdosed on heroin, a suicide attempt, etc. and your child appears to have a fever and cough? It will be a pat on the head and, You're a new mom- don't worry. Give her Tylenol and ... . In these situations something could get missed. Children aren't small adults- in anything you think may be an emergency, take your child to a children's hospital if at all possible- especially on weekend nights.