Consumers Beware
29 Sep 1975
Is it possible to believe what the doctor tells them? Or are there too many “Water-gate-type physicians” around, who too frequently lead patients up the primrose path?
It is a question more and more North Americans are asking these days and ending up with incomplete answers. A few people still have implicit, faith in the medical profession. Just look at their track record.
Antibiotics save untold thousands from dying of pneumonia and a host of other diseases. Cortisone enables other thousands to be free of wheelchairs. Cardiac pacemakers add years to the lives of heart patients. Surgeons are transplanting hearts and kidneys. But others feel doctors have fallen from their exalted perch, that you simply can’t and shouldn’t believe them.
How much truth is there in it? Let me show you how having too little or too much faith in the doctor can get you into trouble. And also what red-light signals you should watch out for.
In a world riddled by scandals, some people have also become too cynical of doctors. Sometimes these patients end up with poor medical care because they refuse to accept the doctor’s advice. Rather, they run down the street to another doctor who is willing to give an unnecessary penicillin injection for a cold, expose them to radiation or an operation they don’t need, or one who quickly writes out a prescription for a tranquilizer and then rushes them out the door.
You should remember that doctors who try to protect you from treatment are often more sincere than those who push you into it. Not trusting your doctor enough can be a bad mistake. After all, doctors can’t be complete dullards after so many years of training. And most of them are more dedicated than you think. Compare them with most other people in our society and they play an extremely good game.
Yet doctors are not paragons of virtue. And they do make mistakes. It would also be naive to deny that some doctors are more interested in your wallet than in your health. How else could you explain the wave of “injectionitis” that has crept into North American medicine?
Some physicians have a habit of giving iron shots when iron tablets could be swallowed with greater safety. Others have an addiction for monthly injections of vitamin B-l2 when its only indication is pernicious anemia which is about as rare as East Ethiopian Spotted Fever.
Still other doctors are giving daily injections of chorionic gonadotropin (the hormone of pregnancy) for the treatment of obesity. Yet there is absolutely no scientific evidence it has any value. Trust these doctors and you are using blind faith.
Patients should also be on the alert for surgeons who come to instant decisions, particularly if they are feeling fine. I have in mind a woman who suddenly moves to another town and makes an appointment with a new doctor for her yearly examination.
At the end of the checkup she expects to get the usual advice to come back next year. Rather he insists on doing a quick hysterectomy the following week. Maybe something has happened in the past year to warrant it. But there is another situation when total trust may lead you into unnecessary surgery.
Don’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Merely thank him for his advice and say you’ll call him back. But don’t make the mistake of quickly running down the street for another opinion after thumbing through the yellow pages of the telephone book. Use the “Insider Medical Approach” I’ve mentioned earlier to make certain the next opinion is beyond reproach. You can also protect your children’s health in the same way.
Suppose your family doctor or specialist says Barbara’s tonsils should come out. But he quickly adds he may as well do Jim’s and Bill’s at the same time. This family tonsillectomy approach is good for the doctor’s bank account, yet it should immediately turn on the red light. Each year children die from tonsillectomies that shouldn’t have been done. Make sure it’s not one of your children because of too much trust.
There are many other red lights when patients should put their foot on the brake. But let me tell you about one particular situation where trusting the doctor can leave you with long-standing trouble. Some doctors are psychologically phased out on the diagnosis of early pregnancy. Sometimes the doctor is razor-sharp on other diagnostic problems. But he develops a mental block with the pregnancy test.
Another group of doctors is so anti-abortion in their thinking that an early pregnancy, is time for rejoicing rather than putting on the thinking cap. The usual story is that these doctors have ordered one or even two pregnancy tests which said the patient wasn’t pregnant. Yet in spite of the patient’s pleadings that she never misses a period, that her breasts are tender, and that she has morning nausea the doctor fails to make one essential move. lie never performs a pelvic examination which would have quickly told him the tests were wrong.
It’s a grievous mistake for the young girl or married woman who desperately wants an early therapeutic abortion. So never trust a doctor who puts total reliance on the pregnancy test. It has possibly lead more doctors and patients down the primrose path than any other laboratory test.
In today’s society blind faith in the doctor or even the banker is a poor way to play the game. Use a little common sense and you’ll end up with better medical care.
Gifford Jones is the pseudonym for a physician practising in Ontario. He expresses opinions only and in general terms not to be considered advice to anyone who may have a medical problem. Dr. Jones is the author of The Doctor Game published by McClelland and Stewart
Vintage articles by W. Gifford-Jones, MD are posted for the purposes of sharing the historical record of the writings of one of Canada’s longest-serving and well respected medical journalists. Information may be out-of-date and readers are reminded to always consult with their doctors on any matters pertaining to their own personal health.
