Do you trust your doctor?

endless psych · 23rd February 2008, 7:30pm

Well?

Partly for my own interest (and partly to help finish an OU assignment...) I thought I'd ask the good folks of AN if they trust health professionals and why they do or why they don't?

Is trust inherent in Doctor-patient (health professional/service user (consumer or whatever the appropriate term is now) relationships or is it something that has to be earned or built up over time?

Do you trust a Doctors diagnosis and take their advice based upon their position or is it based more on how well you know and trust them. IE. would you be more likely to trust your local GP whose known you for years and seek a second opinion when dealing with a new doctor?

Cheers to anyone who decides to post a reply.

Pantgirl · 23rd February 2008, 7:36pm

I think it's a combination of both. Trust is gained AND inherent. I think with the invention of the internet and the accessibility to hundreds of thousands of online "resources" and people own experiences etc, people are self diagnosing and not keen/not trusting of the Doctors/Vets (etc) diagnosis some of the time.

hotblonde · 23rd February 2008, 7:38pm

I think that in the modern world, people challenge what they're being told by doctors. Personally, I think this is a good thing. Gone are the days that questioning what your G.P. tells you is a rare event.

I challenge everything a G.P. does, down to my own and my family's diagnosis, prognosis and medication. That's just a G.P.; for specialist services, after first investigating their credentials and reputation I'll tend to go with their advice and recommendations. I've not been in a position to require seeking an alternate diagnosis, but until in that position I can't really comment either way. For me it's not simply about trust, it's about their competency.

Gaias Id · 23rd February 2008, 7:38pm

Depends on the doctor.

Some have genuinely saved my life and acted like the compassionate professionals they should be, others have crippled me with inappropriate meds that plunged me deeper into a nasty fever. I dont think any have tried to outright kill me yet...

Hammer · 23rd February 2008, 7:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by endless psych

Partly for my own interest (and partly to help finish an OU assignment...) I thought I'd ask the good folks of AN if they trust health professionals and why they do or why they don't?

It depends on the member of staff. From experience, I'd be much less inclined to trust some Doctors and Nurses that I've been treated by. General unprofessionalism and accepting a self-diagnosis without examining me really put me off one of the GPs at my local surgery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by endless psych

Is trust inherent in Doctor-patient (health professional/service user (consumer or whatever the appropriate term is now) relationships or is it something that has to be earned or built up over time?

I'd say it's a combination of the two. You have to trust the person treating you to some degree, but that trust can be lessened or strengthened.
I mistrust hospitals however - my view of them has been affected by negative experiences within my family and friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by endless psych

Do you trust a Doctors diagnosis and take their advice based upon their position or is it based more on how well you know and trust them. IE. would you be more likely to trust your local GP whose known you for years and seek a second opinion when dealing with a new doctor?

As a rule yes, I do take the advice and act upon it. I'm more likely to question and ask what kind of alternative treatments are available if I don't know the Doctor.

I'm Your God Now · 23rd February 2008, 7:48pm

I really trusted my usual doctor in my Clydebank practice, been going to him for 20 years, as has my mum and the rest of the family.
But getting a new Doctor sometimes bothers me, I had an appointment once with someone who wasn't my regular doctor, and he blamed my ill health on my nipple piercings. Then I eventually got to see my regular doctor and he diagnosed it as a lung infection due to having broken ribs. - In that case I felt the need to seek a second opinion from my G.P as even I knew that the original diagnosis was a pile of pish.

Having worked in a hospital, I dealt with plenty of Doctors/Surgeons/Nurses daily and got to know them really well, some of them I would have loved to be my G.P where as other I just fell really weirded out by.

Personally I think i'm more inclined to trust someone such as a Physiologist at first hand rather than a G.P - Although this may be a bit biased as there's a good chance i'm going into the Physiology field.

I think it genuinely is based on a persons ability to relate and trust any person first hand, not just a doctor, but everyone will always feel much better with someone they have seen or gotten to know on more than one occasion.

Purplerose · 23rd February 2008, 7:53pm

I pretty much trust my doctors completely, mostly because of their position but also because I've been going to them since I was wee. However, when I moved away for 2 years and had a new doctor, I trusted him a great deal too. On the other hand, I've never really had to test that trust, the things I get treated for I've been getting treatment for them for years so had no reason to question a diagnosis meaning that could change if something new came up. I know I trust doctors less in a hospital environment, not so much because I doubt their ability but I know they have many patients and are hard pushed for time so the potential for error seems greater. In any case, if a doctor gave me advice or treatment I wasn't happy with I would be inclined to question it.

**Kenny Everett** · 23rd February 2008, 8:17pm

I'm picky with all health professional. not just doctors. I think there are things that you can ask and say that encourage the person to justify why they think what they think, but then again I consider myself to be reasonably decent with interpreting medical-speak

Foxglove · 23rd February 2008, 8:22pm

I don't actually know who my doctor is. I can't actually remember the last time I went to my GP. In fact I am pretty sure it has been about 14 years since I last went and even that was at the insistence of another party when I knew I just had a throat infection and knew there was little the doctor could do. If you are including dentists as health professionals though, I never fully feel comfortable with them. It always feels as though they don't give you enough time and recommend treatments that are unnecessary or not enough. However, I take my concern with a pinch of salt as I really detest visiting dentists so I generally put my fears down to my own inner and irrational fear of dentists in general rather than the care and treatment that they have provided me.

Awright · 23rd February 2008, 8:27pm

My doctor is awright but not amazing, aptly named Dr Cartilage. Sometimes i've thought shes been a bit snappy with me. I have a recurring ear infection that I get about 9/10 times a year and she puts it down to cold wind and a low immunity. She does know more than me and I trust her but I would like a 2nd opinon.

And it also rolls onto my hearing as well as its shite. I have to have subtitles up when watching the tv which drives cunts insane and she says my ears are fine when I know somethings up. And I can't help but think that the two are linked.

I reckon i'll change doctor.

Wicked · 23rd February 2008, 8:28pm

When I went to my last doctor with constant, severe headaches, he told me to keep taking stronger and stronger painkillers all the time til they went away. That was his only suggestion. So no, I didnt trust him. I have a new one now thankfully but still felt the need to get a second opinion on my knee.

*LesMTS* · 23rd February 2008, 11:41pm

My mate's dad's GP told him, a slightly overweight, 55 year old man with a history of family heart problems that he had indigestion while he was having a mild heart attack in his office.
And my GP told my cousin, who'd recently had an orchiectomy for testicular cancer, that he had pulled a muscle when he went in complaining of abdominal pains. Turned out the cancer had metastasised.

endless psych · 23rd February 2008, 11:47pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotblonde

I think that in the modern world, people challenge what they're being told by doctors. Personally, I think this is a good thing. Gone are the days that questioning what your G.P. tells you is a rare event.

I challenge everything a G.P. does, down to my own and my family's diagnosis, prognosis and medication. That's just a G.P.; for specialist services, after first investigating their credentials and reputation I'll tend to go with their advice and recommendations. I've not been in a position to require seeking an alternate diagnosis, but until in that position I can't really comment either way. For me it's not simply about trust, it's about their competency.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LesMTS

My mate's dad's GP told him, a slightly overweight, 55 year old man with a history of family heart problems that he had indigestion while he was having a mild heart attack in his office.
And my GP told my cousin, who'd recently had an orchiectomy for testicular cancer, that he had pulled a muscle when he went in complaining of abdominal pains. Turned out the cancer had metastasised.

Its interesting that the two responses that seem to most (explicitly then implicitly) advocate not "fully" trusting doctors are from forum medical types...

*Strokes imaginary beard thoughtfully...

**djtoast** · 23rd February 2008, 11:57pm

when i got glandular fever i saw a total of three GPs. each of them gave me increasingly bigger pills which had no effect and were almost impossible for me to swallow. i said (wrote, actually, i couldn't talk) to each of them "could it be glasndular fever?" since a hundred people had suggested that would make sense. "nope" they all replied.

when i was finally admitted to hospital, the ENT consultant would bring a group of students around each day and get em to look down my throat, saying "this is a textbook case of glandular fever. this is what glandular fever looks like. if you see this, it's glandular fever. there will never be a more illustrative example of glandular fever than what you're currently looking at."

doctors are clever people who know far more than i do, but it's hard not to wish for a teeny bit more reliability in this kinda situation.

*LesMTS* · 24th February 2008, 12:01am

Quote:

Originally Posted by djtoast

when i got glandular fever i saw a total of three GPs. each of them gave me increasingly bigger pills which had no effect and were almost impossible for me to swallow. i said (wrote, actually, i couldn't talk) to each of them "could it be glasndular fever?" since a hundred people had suggested that would make sense. "nope" they all replied.

when i was finally admitted to hospital, the ENT consultant would bring a group of students around each day and get em to look down my throat, saying "this is a textbook case of glandular fever. this is what glandular fever looks like. if you see this, it's glandular fever. there will never be a more illustrative example of glandular fever than what you're currently looking at."

doctors are clever people who know far more than i do, but it's hard not to wish for a teeny bit more reliability in this kinda situation.

I think there's an element of pride involved. They make a diagnosis and then have some "layman" call them on it, some types of people would immediately become defensive in that kind of situation.
Not the kind of people that should be doctors, in my opinion, but that's the way the biscuit breaks.