Doctors: do you ever treat your family members?

[Anonymous]

My brother had an acute medical issue this weekend and while i was pretty sure it was X, i couldn't get the lingering fear that it could be Y out of my head (and knew I wouldn't sleep wondering if it was Y) and sent him to the ER to rule out Y. He told the ER doctor that his sister was a physician and that I was concerned about Y. He said the doctor rolled her eyes, told him that I should let her do her job and that it couldn't be Y, at all (untrue, but whatever) and sent him home with a diagnosis of X and medication for X without any workup for Y.

i do feel reassured that she didn't think it was Y, but now my parents are wondering why I couldn't figure it out since it was soOOo easy for the ER doc to differentiate.

personally, i think she blew off Y too quickly, but whatever, if he gets worse, I'll send him to a specialist.

But it got me thinking: how many of you treat your own families?

Maybe I couldn't see that it was just simple boring X b/c it was a family member and I needed to be SURE it wasn't Y.... but if I had seen him in my practice, I'm pretty sure i would have diagnosed him with X and sent him on his way and not even thought of the ultra-rare Y.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother had an acute medical issue this weekend and while i was pretty sure it was X, i couldn't get the lingering fear that it could be Y out of my head (and knew I wouldn't sleep wondering if it was Y) and sent him to the ER to rule out Y. He told the ER doctor that his sister was a physician and that I was concerned about Y. He said the doctor rolled her eyes, told him that I should let her do her job and that it couldn't be Y, at all (untrue, but whatever) and sent him home with a diagnosis of X and medication for X without any workup for Y.

i do feel reassured that she didn't think it was Y, but now my parents are wondering why I couldn't figure it out since it was soOOo easy for the ER doc to differentiate.

personally, i think she blew off Y too quickly, but whatever, if he gets worse, I'll send him to a specialist.

But it got me thinking: how many of you treat your own families?

Maybe I couldn't see that it was just simple boring X b/c it was a family member and I needed to be SURE it wasn't Y.... but if I had seen him in my practice, I'm pretty sure i would have diagnosed him with X and sent him on his way and not even thought of the ultra-rare Y.

Ha! My sister is a doctor also and is a lot like you. She is an internal medicine doc so when it comes to the kids she always says, "it could be X, Y or Z but you really need to go to the pediatrician since they really aren't just little adults!" But like you her mind always goes to Y instead of X. She has to know that it isn't Y and keeps me going to different doctors to be sure. Plus we have had some weird medical issues with the kids and she was really good at guiding me, questioning what I was being told and helping me figure out what was going on in plain-non-doctor-speak.

In general she doesn't "treat" us but she calls in prescriptions for easy stuff when I know it is an ear infection or something simple.

[Anonymous]

BIL is an oral surgeon and does minor oral surgeries on family members. He also calls in prescriptions when we ask and gives general advice. Other BIL is mildly mentally retarded and he accompanies him to important doctor appointments, such as his first appointment with his oncologist and/or communicates with his doctors.

[Anonymous]

My dad has written more prescriptions for my family than any outside doc ever has. Of course he doesn't prescribe anything controlled, but for routine stuff, I don't even bother with appointments and waiting rooms and whatnot.