Being A Bad Patient Vs. Being A Rude Patient

There is a vast difference from being a bad patient as opposed to being a rude patient. Yes I know often when we go to the doctor we are not feeling are best and are probably prone to over reactions and stress. But there is no reason to be rude.

So I was appalled when I read this article on the amount of the abuse faced by doctors. Medical doctors have studied for many years. They know what they are doing. They are professionals who are trained to take care of people. They are human beings, just like you or me. So there is no reason to be rude to them.

"A wide-ranging survey of more than 800 U.S. physicians, conducted by WebMDand Medscape in collaboration with STAT, found that 59 percent had heard offensive remarks about a personal characteristic in the past five years — chiefly about a doctor’s youthfulness, gender, race, or ethnicity. As a result, 47 percent had a patient request a different doctor, or ask to be referred to a clinician other than the one their physician selected.

Fourteen percent said they had experienced situations in which the patient complained, in writing, about the doctor’s personal characteristics.

African-American and Asian-American physicians were more likely to face such attacks, and female doctors were more often the victims of bias than males. But patients found targets in every imaginable corner: 12 percent of physicians, for instance, endured offensive remarks about their weight."

Does it really matter about a doctor's age, weight, gender, race or ethnicity when they are treating you? I do realize that some people prefer a male or female doctor for certain exams but there is no good reason to be rude to them about any of those demographics.

And certainly swearing or using derogatory or racist terms when referring to the doctors is just plain wrong. What does it matter what they weigh? I know all my doctors seem to be toothpicks, at that perfect BMI, and I feel fat next to them. 

When I first saw the title to this article,  I assume it was about the abuse nurses face on a daily basis - where they are hit, bit, pushed, shoved and more. This is another significant example about how a profession is being abused by the rest of us. 

A significant part of this issue is that many doctors have to resources to support them when faced by this kind of treatment from patients. What are they supposed to do, bite their tongue and keep treating them? Verbal abuse can leave emotional bruises where no one can see them but they still deserve help. And its just sad if hospitals need to provide resources to protect the people they hired to take care of others.

There is no room in the world for this kind of treatment. No one deserves this kind of treatment, especially someone who has studied for many years and wants to take care of people.

Aren't they supposed to be saving lives?

I thought the whole point of medications is to save lives? Isn't that why medications like methotrexate, antibiotics and thousands more were invented? To save additional lives? Evidently that is not the case. Well maybe they were not invented to save lives, they are now merely a way to meet the bottom line for the manufacturers.

There is a growing problem with shortages of critical medications. I have heard  numerous excuses why there are these shortages - manufacturing problems, shortages of ingredients, etc. They are excuses. And there is no excuse for them. I call it poor planning by the manufacturers. I understand that plants need to be shut down for maintenance and that the manufacturers are dependent on the supply of needed ingredients. But shouldn't they plan accordingly?

This is one that really kills me, a plant shut down for sub-par conditions:

"Last year, Ben Venue Laboratories closed an Ohio plant that made about half of the country’s supply of methotrexate, which is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, and bone tumors, among other illnesses. The plant had been under scrutiny for what Kweder said were significant quality-control problems. The plant also was a major producer of Doxil, a drug used to treat ovarian cancer."

I am sure the plant was either making cuts to meet the bottom line or otherwise slacking off on their quality control - hence their problems. You may call me naive but I believe that the goal should be to save patients lives not to meet the bottom line and line the pockets of a bunch of share holders. This should also be true of medical facilities.