IN FOR A PENNY
7 Reasons Why I Hate Doctors
And you might too if you read this
My granddad wanted me to be a doctor. Come the first of every month, he would summon his trusted driver from the nearby auto-rickshaw stand (via me of course) and we would make a trip to the bank. It was a magical place with actual tellers who doled out crisp notes. We would patiently wait in line as he collected his pension. He would proudly tell me that he was keeping money aside for me to fund my studies to become a doctor. I would nod noncommittally, saving the excitement for later when he would buy us fresh cakes and spicy vegetable puffs.
During the summer holidays after eighth grade, to give my mother respite from my constant whining about being bored, my father took me to a medical exhibition. The kind where there were well-preserved jars of brains, kidneys, weird tumors, and whatnot. Here, I caught sight of a cadaver for the first time in my life. It was scary, smelly and horrible. That’s possibly the moment when I began having true doubts about a possible career in medicine.
The day I found out my blood group was also the day that I knew that I couldn’t be a doctor. (Sorry, grandpa!) We had to prick our hands, add a drop to a card and check. One of my friends accidentally cut herself. And the scarlet red blood came out gushing from that small wound ruining the white card.
As the teacher scrambled to help, I marveled at the beauty of the complex machine that the human body was. I was equally repelled by the scene and shuddered involuntarily. What made it truly worse was seeing somebody in pain and not being able to do anything about it. Somehow, since then, I have always avoided hospitals as much as I could.
The medical community sucks!
Is it only me or have you lost faith in the medical community too?
For the treatment of a close family member, we have visited over 17 doctors and 4 top “reputed, best-in-healthcare” hospital chains in the past 70 days. I am not counting the visits to the testing labs and centers.
What started as something small became something super complicated (because of underlying complications and old age) leading to surgery. Thankfully, the necessary intervention happened and the patient is recovering (albeit slowly). But this didn’t happen without a lot of unnecessary pain and agony for all involved.
Ok, I recognize the value of the medical community, their importance in society and their immense contributions. Heads up, my observations on the system are purely based on our first-hand experiences.
The system is broken. Here’s why.
Treating by Pieces and Not The Whole
The medical community is all the more focused on treating the human body part by part and not as the unified system it is.
So there is a specialist for every part of the body. At this rate, soon we will have doctors who treat only the right thumb or little toe of left hand.
Have you used those “coloring by numbers” books? Imagine someone who would only color the ones, threes, fives, and let the other numbers be. The big picture doesn’t emerge and it is all incomplete. That’s how it is with the healthcare system today. It is appalling.
The rheumatologist on the case is completely oblivious to what the general surgeon had recommended (who has no clue about the meds given by the endocrinologist). So thanks to the piece-wise treatments, the cocktail of drugs brings on the same side effects and within two days, we are back to the hospital seeing all the doctors again. This vicious cycle is so bad that soon, we were only firefighting and not following any logical “treatment plan”. Trust me, this is a balancing act you don’t want to try!
Treating ONLY Symptoms
I grew up hearing stories about natural healers who could tell your health status by checking your pulse and irises, et al. (It seems so far-fetched in today’s modern times but was true even until my grandpa’s times).
Treating people only for their symptoms is THE main problem. They don’t seem to know what to do for the underlying condition. And as a result, that makes it necessary to go for second, and third opinions.
Before you say that I am not trusting, here’s what happened. After one month of “trusting” one doctor, they conveniently ignored some factors which resulted in us having to opt for a serious surgery and loss of function.
Since then, for every complication, we had to get multiple opinions as there was too much risk, and then we compared them to find the best way to proceed. And this delayed the treatment option we had to choose. Only positive outcome, now I know more about auto-immune disease markers and how to give IV fluid without making someone puke.
The Unwanted Testing and Probing
Why do we need a thousand tests? Are the doctors even capable of interpreting these results correctly?
For every doctor we met, we had to take another set of tests from the labs they recommended (yes, they get a commission). They just did not accept the results from the previous very-similar, highly-expensive and seemingly-unnecessary tests! My family member was more tired getting to and from these testing centers.
Can they make up their mind about the tests, please?
Broken Doctor-Patient-Caregiver Relationships
Many of these doctors, especially the more experienced doctors, barring a very few, have been plain RUDE. You can’t ask questions or discuss their approach. And as caregivers, when you can’t discuss the treatment approach, it is infuriating.
You may argue that they are busy saving the world. Agreed that doctors are born to wreak miracles. But it cannot be at the cost of basic human courtesy and dignity for the patient and their family, can it? Some of the assumptions and presumptions of these doctors can fill a whole book!
Lack of Nutrition Advice
When I was younger, if I got sick, I remember getting various “patient” meals depending on the illness. The patient meals were simple yet tasty and so comforting. My grandparents and parents swore that it helped accelerate the healing process.
“Food is medicine” is an oft-repeated quote of my father.
After surgery, my family member was fed such a carbohydrate-high meal and a packaged pudding with 15g of sugar (yup, another “oversight”) that they needed additional insulin injections! It took us a couple of days to figure out the right diet.
Nutrition based on the lifestyle one follows is such an important part of recovery. But doctors do not consider this. Treating everything with courses of medicine or surgery seems to be the preferred way. And there is no nutritionist available. who has an idea of what would help the patient heal faster.
Adding to the list of super unhappy-things-you-should-be-sad-about, we humans also seem to have forgotten ways of listening to our bodies.
No Money, No Treatment
It was at the hospital that I learnt about true privilege in my country, India. We were able to see the power of money and the privilege of having insurance.
For every visit, even if it was just a follow-up under five minutes, we had to pay the full fee! If you want prompt service, then you better book a room in the VIP ward of a private hospital (which costs at least five times the price, if not more). Only in the VIP ward can you actually get attended to on time. Everywhere else, there were super long waits. The sad truth is that more than 90% of the people do not have access to such healthcare.
Transactional Nature of Healthcare
Healthcare is a business these days -the modern kind that values the money in the bank more than serving the customer. Quite contrary to what they say, the patient is NOT (in fact, nowhere near) the center of this business.
We are treated as machines that can pay.
Every part of the healthcare system should be brought together with the sole purpose of truly helping the patient. We need more compassion in the process.
Until then, please don’t get sick.
P.S. If you can tell me I am wrong, I may be able to sleep better, thanks to the hope that not everything is bad everywhere.
