In my experience in the healthcare field, this guy is an exception to the rule. You don't have to go this far, but it's amazing how little time and effort people put into understanding their own medical conditions.
I don't know how many times I've seen people come to the pharmacy and ask for a refill of their "heart pill." Which one of the dozens on the market? They don't know.
At the very least, you should know the name(s) of the drug you're taking. Wouldn't hurt to know the effects and interactions, as well. If your health is that important, there's no excuse for not knowing.....unless you're taking something for Alzheimer's.
When my wife went through her breast cancer, both she and the doc got frustrated with me. Her because I was buying medical texts to learn more and the doc because I was reading papers that he hadn’t had a chance to yet so wasn’t able to answer my questions readily and he said it made him feel kinda useless. I kept doing what I was doing, but just kept it to myself after he finally threw up his hands. We got along fine after that. Wife is going on 7 years post-op with no signs of remission...so it all worked out.
But I know what you mean about some people just being sheep. There were a number of those in the waiting room all the time, similar to the way some people expect to be taken care of financially, etc.