Medical schools do not prepare students for a lot of shit.
I have a rather rare metabolic disorder, a subtle one with a lot of complications. I had to fight to get the correct tests done, I had to fight people who got constellations of symptoms wrong, older people with MDs who didn't want to listen to some kid. The tests came back: they were wrong. (This was all prior to all of this information being available on the Intarwebz; I had to learn everything from books)
I still have to check the meds I am prescribed. I have to deal with doctors whose pupils visibly twitch when scanning my chart -- they mysteriously excuse themselves for a bit and return, "I see it says here you have ..." Others simply pass the buck on treatment. I had a hematologist client-dump me on the answering machine.
It's hard enough to treat the bulk of the boring patients. If you're on the edge, well, they simply don't have experience. Most doctors won't ever see someone like me. If doctors were some other species who lived to be a few hundred years old, they would have the experience. I'm reminded of that recent Slate Star Codex parable about the alchemists and the dying prince. It's just too much to ask from mere mortals.
The flip side of this is me recognizing doctors as mere mortals and not just going with everything like a lamb.
I have a rather rare metabolic disorder, a subtle one with a lot of complications. I had to fight to get the correct tests done, I had to fight people who got constellations of symptoms wrong, older people with MDs who didn't want to listen to some kid. The tests came back: they were wrong. (This was all prior to all of this information being available on the Intarwebz; I had to learn everything from books)
I still have to check the meds I am prescribed. I have to deal with doctors whose pupils visibly twitch when scanning my chart -- they mysteriously excuse themselves for a bit and return, "I see it says here you have ..." Others simply pass the buck on treatment. I had a hematologist client-dump me on the answering machine.
It's hard enough to treat the bulk of the boring patients. If you're on the edge, well, they simply don't have experience. Most doctors won't ever see someone like me. If doctors were some other species who lived to be a few hundred years old, they would have the experience. I'm reminded of that recent Slate Star Codex parable about the alchemists and the dying prince. It's just too much to ask from mere mortals.
The flip side of this is me recognizing doctors as mere mortals and not just going with everything like a lamb.