I know exactly what you're talking about. Doctors ask more questions these days about alcohol use (how many drinks/day?), smoking (how much or when did you quit?), caffeine (how many cups of coffee/day?), dizzy spells, falling, forgetfulness, etc., etc., etc. And I know that many of these questions are not relevant to my circumstances.
But I don't want the government to decide for my doctor what questions he can or cannot ask!
For people who don't want to be asked certain questions, a better solutions is for them to simply decline to answer or, if they don't even want particular questions asked, they can (when making the appointment to see a new doctor) ask for a commitment that the doctor will not ask certain questions.
We don't need more government regulations in the health care field. We need less, not more, government.
I’m due for some minor surgery in the fall, and the surgeon demanded I quit smoking, for a month beforehand.
I told him that he’s the body-shop, I’m the car: I need a fender repair, and I’m not going to change the transmission because he can’t drive a standard.
“Doctors ask more questions these days about alcohol use (how many drinks/day?), smoking (how much or when did you quit?), caffeine (how many cups of coffee/day?), dizzy spells, falling, forgetfulness, etc., etc., etc. And I know that many of these questions are not relevant to my circumstances.”
Your last sentence is the real issue. For most of us, none of those questions are relevant to our reason for our visits, and are consequentially inappropriate. But the doctors are heeling to the government “data collectors” who, from my perspective have an agenda which might not comport with our own personal view of things. The other issue that I am having is our medical group (which is affiliated now with a local hospital) is in the throes of converting to an all electronic medical records system. So now I get a printout of my various medical issues at the conclusion of my visit. The only problem is there are serious inaccuracies that I find necessary to challenge. It would appear that they are “trying to load me up” with things for which there have been no diagnostic tests and no prior discussion. My concern is that the end result could be denial of care based on the fact that I have ended up being a poor specimen, but that denial would be based on false entries. So I am challenging every one and they are being removed from my record. Everyone should be on guard now that doctors are busily typing away on their laptops during the exam that what they are entering is factual and is supported by accurate diagnostics.