Comments on: How Doctors DON’T Think: Groopman on the Today Show

By: George R. Clark

George R. Clark — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:31:55 +0000

My doctor ran a Cat Scan on my lower body after injecting something to make my arteries stand out. I had severe blockages in my calf areas and numerous ones in my pelvic area. He had me go to the waiting room and from there to an examinibg room. His 1st words there were have you ever had an angiogram on your legs. I was ticked off because He had kept me all day waiting for that test and I replied, “No, and I don’t eant any more angiograms because I’ve already had too many of those.” His 1st words should have been why I needed to have another angiogram and explain possible consequences of not having one with stents implanted. What followed seemed to me that after 23 years of my cardiologist treating me I was being dismissed.

By: Payne Hertz

Payne Hertz — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:45:48 +0000

You are spot on about doctors not thinking. Although doctors are supposed to be scientists, and to adhere to the scientific method, the reality is many of them are prone to stereotyping and making snap judgments, and critical thinking skills are sorely lacking in most physicians.Many doctors are prone to substituting medical folklore, rules of thumb and anecdotal evidence for sound science and good, ethically-grounded medicine, and have a related tendency to make decisions based on what is expedient for themselves, rather than what is in the best interest of the patient, and to simply rationalize the decision to do so afterwards.

I doubt there is any area where this is more true than with pain management–or rather the lack thereof. If you have chronic pain, and mention that a particular opiate drug works for your pain, or report having adverse reactions to previous drugs, wear sweatpants for comfort at exams, or part your hair down the middle (male) you may find yourself branded a “drug-seeker.”
, and once this “diagnosis” has been made, you may find it impossible to get your pain properly treated or to convince the doctor that you or your problems are legit. None of these stereotypes are based on science, but doctors apply them every day and you will have little trouble finding medical associations and doctors who promote these pseudoscientific “drug-seeker” criteria that are little more than folklore-based quackery.

I guess the $60,000 question is how do patients get past the often simplistic, primitive mindset of their doctors.

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:24:55 +0000

A doctor who can say, “I don’t know” is tops in my book. That means s/he is willing to admit they are not God or superhuman. That doctor will probably research for answers and send you to other doctors for second opinions.

And to those docs who think they can figure a patient out in a few seconds needs to go speed dating not diagnosing. First impressions, especially for patients in a doctor’s office are not reliable at all.