How Does One Choose A
Doctor?
“Dr. Lapius, how do you
choose a doctor?”
“You choose a doctor
like you choose anything else in life. Look him up in the yellow pages.”
“Do you choose just any
doctor?”
“No! You will note
that the specialty of each doctor is listed under his name, and all doctors are
listed in alphabetical order. Of course, this has recently become more
complicated.”
“How so?”
“Ordinarily one would
start off with a general practitioner, otherwise known as family practice,
primary care physician, initial provider, or some such.
“You don’t mean to tell
me that the term general practice has been changed? For what reason?”
“For the same reason
that a housewife has become a homemaker, and that a garbage man has become a
sanitary engineer.”
“Suppose a patient wants
to go to a specialist?”
“Simple. First the
patient must make the initial diagnosis. If he has done this successfully
he or she can go directly to a specialist, but I don’t recommend it.”
“Why not?”
“The patient might make
the wrong diagnosis. They might diagnosis tennis elbow, whereas in
reality they have neuralgia. In the case of tennis elbow they would have
to see an orthopedist, but for neuralgia they might have to go to a
neurologist. Furthermore, some people get their terms mixed, and confuse
the specialties. Neurologist sounds like urologist, and the patient with
tennis elbow might suddenly find themselves upended with a catheter in the
urethra, wondering what this has to do with tennis elbow. Certainly it
would seem safer to go to the generalist first.”
“What is a generalist?”
“Another name for
general practitioner. I had forgotten to mention it.”
“Well now that we have
determined how to choose a doctor, how can a patient establish him or herself
with a doctor?”
“What do you mean
‘establish’?”
“Well you know, to sort
of hire a doctor to take care of his family. Call him up and ask
whether he is taking new patients.”
“Don’t you think the
prospective patient ought to meet the doctor and see whether he likes
him. See whether the doctor has a suitable personality?”
“Well, that might be
risky. There is supposed to be a doctor shortage. If the patient is
going to screen the doctor’s personality, he must take the chance that the
doctor will also be checking his personality. The patient might reject a
doctor he doesn’t like. But the doctor could probably reject the patient
on the same basis.”
“That doesn’t sound
right.”
“But it is right.
If a doctor doesn’t feel comfortable with a patient he probably shouldn’t accept
the responsibility for treating him, except of course, in an emergency.”
“You seem to be skirting
the question.”
“Not at all. The
problem is the term ‘establishing’. Patients come to the office and say
they would like to establish themselves with a doctor. It sounds ominous,
almost as if they want to marry him. After all, the standards of medical
education and licensure are quite uniform, and the general level of competence
of doctors is quite uniform, and the general level of competence of doctors is
quite similar within their specialties. In reality, patients eventually
find a doctor through a ‘hit or miss’ process, and tend to remain with the
doctor they trust, and with whom they feel comfortable. It’s as simple as
that. Another reality is that even if a patient feels that he has
established himself with a doctor, the doctor may not always be
available. He might be busy at the moment with another patient,
established or not.”
“You don’t seem to like
the concept of ‘establishing’.”
“Correct. It is a
snare. As a matter of fact there is something to be said for a patient
changing doctors on occasion. After all when a doctor becomes friendly
with a patient his objectivity may be altered. None of us like to see our
friends get sick. Sometimes a doctor with no emotional involvement with
the patient will do a better job. Suppose a patient doesn’t have a doctor and
suddenly becomes seriously ill? If that happens he should go to the
emergency room of the local hospital. Each day a staff man is on duty,
and will take responsibility for the patient’s care. The doctor is
obligated to care for that patient, whether or not he can afford to pay for the
service.”
“Do you find that
patients are considerate of their doctors?”
“By and large, yes.
Except for one example. I was called to travel thirty miles one morning
about 2 a.m. When I arrived a distraught woman told me her husband had
died and wanted me to sign a death certificate.”
“That wasn’t very
considerate. Why would she do a thing like that?”
“She said that I had
been highly recommended.”
“That was flattering.”
“Yes and exhausting
too.”