However much we rail against organized labor or trades, the AMA is one union we will always pay tribute. They have the power to persuade legislators to deny free citizens the right to diagnose and treat their own illnesses with any and all means and medicines.
the AMA doesn't represent anybody but liberal academic physicians that either suck off the government nipple for grant money or are trying to land a sweet gig in an agency as a bureaucrat. Get your facts right before lumping doctors into some evil cabal. I like patients that are pro active in their health and there are several sites that are very helpful to patients and physicians..
This is a bogus poll that serves to divide a doctor from his patient. I love all the stories of self diagnosis that were made with simple Google searches. The patients that are obnoxious about how much they think they know by using Google just want certain tests to be done. I usually try to guide patients through my reasoning for tests and treatment plans but if they're convinced that they have an aneurysm then by all means get the CT and then the spinal tap..
If they're sure they need probiotics or a muscle biopsy or EMG studies , well heck , go for it. Doesn't cost me anything to let somebody get an MRI or other test. They're the ones getting the extra radiation , the needle into the vein or skin that could infect them or the false positive tests that can lead to other more dangerous or expensive workups. The reason you go to medical school is to learn the scientific method and to be versed in the interpretation of data and the structure and function of the human body as it relates to the art of medicine and the care of your fellow man. Without the ability to analyze both subjective observations and the information statistically it's very hard to diagnose a patient. If it was easy, then a computer could greet you at the door and put you on a conveyor belt. Then spit you out the back end of the clinic. Hahahahaha