“They don’t physically touch patients if they can avoid it — let some nurse look in eyes and ears. Machines and blood labs will diagnose; doctors will read printouts.”
Geez, my Doctors aren’t like that. I like all of my doctors, but I always research the ones I go to before I choose one. I always ask my primary Doc for multiple choices when he is referring me to a specialist, so that I can Google them and make the best pick based on that research. So far it has worked very well for me.
I guess I don’t have quite as bleak an outlook as to doctors as you do. Mine have gotten me through a few rather bad patches and thus I’m alive to type this comment. Bless their souls.
As they say — YMMV!