People think doctors know what’s going on in the news. Many times that’s not true. They live in a bubble. People are dying tonight because the news has not caught up with them yet.
The number of occasions I changed doctors’ practices by being more informed, is many. It comes down to reading studies and their continuing education credit materials (that they don’t read).
They don’t have the time to “know everything,” so get up to speed before going in.
Just last week, I changed a long standing practice at a local hospital with their many years of not warming to body temperature their strongest CT contrast iodine. It’s been a bad practice to not warm for at least four years (the high viscosity unwarmed creates many internal tears that cause bleeding and allergy-like responses). I showed them their own educational updates and they said they would change their practices.
Doctors can’t know “everything.” Learn the most recent recommendations and studies that affect what you are going in to get and be armed.
My wife needed to go on blood pressure meds. The standard is a cheap ACE-I that is quite old. The best ARB as a generic has at least three major benefits over that ACE-I. I requested that for my wife and the doctor complied, but asked why. I told her that three common side effects are not a problem with telmisartan and telmisartan has better efficacy and longer time in the body than other ARBs. Since both her choice and mine were generics—why choose the old drug? She concurred and asked me if I was in the medical field—I’m not.
I now always refuse the flu typing when having flu symptoms. Doctors are on autopilot and always seek to shove a tampon up your nose to type the flu, but it does nothing for anyone but the CDC, while costing you $175. You see, you get the same Tamiflu for either Type A or B flue strains. So stand up to your doctor and tell him you will get typed if he or the CDC pays for it. Otherwise, it’s not happening. Do I, or do I not, have obvious flu symptoms? Think about my 102.5 fever and the speed it came to be, along with everything else (this was before COVID this year). He will admit what you say is true and won’t type you and will give you the Tamiflu.
There are many other occasions I could name, if you were curious.
Don’t blindly trust any doctor.
My best friend is an MD in anesthesiology and he literally laughed at me at the thought of patients sharing a ventilator.
No offense to doctors, but I was always surprised that he passed any MD test, and I’ve known him since I was 5. He’s the most kind and compassionate person I’ve ever met but he’s not that smart. He has always been a follower and he’s panicked at the current situation.