HERALD EDITORIAL: Be a proactive patient

“Fine, don’t listen to me.  I’m just a doctor.  What would I know about health?”
This sardonic brand of brow-beatings awaits many who question a doctor’s judgment.  The behavior is present in many professions: try telling a bus driver or an airplane pilot how to do their job—they won’t have it either.

To some extent, medical professionals’ defensiveness is understandable. They attended medical school—that much is true.  At medical school they teach you to be a doctor; to accept others’ health as a responsibility. Doctors are taught to mitigate symptoms, to minimize risks, and to be decisive.

Convincing leery patients is seldom included in medical schools’ curricula.
Patients, too, learn their role. Patients  accept doctors’ advice, just like they arrive fifteen minutes early and expect to wait awhile.

And, no doubt, this is a good thing. If not our doctors, with whom can we entrust the oversight of our health?

But how much trust can we place in a profession in general?  Auto repairmen are seldom granted trust because everyone knows that skepticism is warranted in dealings with auto repairmen. Auto repairmen know the ins and outs of cars as well as doctors know their field.

Yet, when an auto repairman alerts us of a problem that “isn’t a problem yet” but “probably” will become a problem “down the road,” we’re inclined to doubt them in a way that we seldom doubt doctors’ diagnostic integrity.

People need to be aware of this because it is hard to argue that skepticism serves no function in the area of medicine. Watch an advertisement for one of the new-fangled drugs on the market.  The side effects often outweigh the symptoms themselves. It’s ludicrous.

The issues present in the field of medicine are just too huge for a unilateral opinion to even be healthy.

The continuous debate over treatments’ effectiveness is what begets newer, better treatments.  The patient’s role cannot be passive and unquestioning. We need to be actively involved in our health. We need to scour the Internet and inform ourselves about treatment options.

Human accomplishment simply isn’t born of satisfaction.  Conversely, it has been dissatisfaction that has guided and focused our efforts. To become to content with our present medical treatments is to devalue our efforts to improve them.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=12391

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 22 2009. Filed under Editorial, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com