Drs firing patients
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Anonymous
| I work at an urgent care and maybe it’s the low expectations (like, I’m not going to solve your underlying chronic medical issues today, unfortunately, and all parties seem to know this fact) but I find the majority of my patients to be pleasant and appreciative of the short term, immediate problem-focused help that I can provide them. I think it also helps that all parties are aware that there is going to be somewhat of a wait to be seen so it doesn’t come as an unexpected surprise when you are seen an hour after you arrive. Also, any patients that I can just tell I’m not going to jive with- that’s also fine, it’s easy to be pleasant and professional in a 10-15 minute urgent care visit no matter who the patient is or how they are acting. Because I know this isn’t a patient I’m going to have to spend hours a week on, largely unpaid, for the foreseeable future despite their abrasiveness. It’s a short term relationship for both of us, and we both know it. Anyways, 10/10 recommend for any docs experiencing burnout in your current practice. |
Anonymous
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I think it is problematic when doctors are not open to polite questioning and they aren't receptive when you inform them that they were in fact wrong. Sadly sometimes the only way they are forced to truly accept they are not God and were wrong is through a lawsuit. I wouldn't be surprised if many lawsuits could be prevented by a doctor simply checking his/her ego at the door and admitting he/she doesn't know and needs to refer.
My cousin is dead. Her cocky internal medicine doctor and self-important GI doctor told her she had anything from IBS to gluten sensitivity to she just needed a good shrink and it was in her head. She dealt with endless rude speeches, ego meltdowns and belittling. She got fired from doctors or had to leave doctors and was desperate to find some one who could get over their ego and judgment and listen. Then she ended up violently ill in the ER and she was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer. It was a pretty miserable death. I don't know her if her husband ended up deciding to sue to rudest doctor. he did let him and his superiors know the mistake and there was no response. No remorse. No gratitude for the update so they are more attuned with the next patient. |
Anonymous
Speaking of projecting...  where did I say I did any of those things? After waiting howeverlong for my typically-late provider, I want to gtfo as quickly as possible. I don't bring studies; I say "this is what I need" and have whitecoats look at me like I've said it in a foreign language, backwards, while standing on my head because who the eff do I think I am to question their authoritAY?! 
I don't expect miracles. I don't even expect basic humanity anymore. I generally expect it to be a timesuck and an annoyance, at best, and I'm pleasantly surprised on occasion when I meet an MD who still moves like a human. And your position of "if you were rich, you could buy better care" is ableist on its face. Disabilities interfere with our earning potential. That's one of the reasons we're seen as "less than". |
Anonymous
OP I am not a doctor but a healthcare professional who works with a variety of patients. I “fire” patients all the time for non-compliance. I am not there to validate their own perspective about their health. If they don’t agree with my approach and take action to implement I’m not interested in working with them. |
Anonymous
Yes. My attitude on the entire medical profession sucks. I have experienced two major misdiagnosis, infections, misread, radiology reports, and experienced abrasive nursing care. It is my own research and common sense that saved my life. When you have a life-threatening, chronic medical condition you are in “the system”. It’s like being a foster kid and you better believe you need to advocate for yourself. |
Anonymous
Stop playing and come down off that cross! |
Anonymous
The pp is correct. Doctors are autonomous professionals any are not required to take on any and everyone unless they are working in an ER. A lawyer doesn’t have to take or keep your case, a contractor doesn’t have to do your job. Neither does a doctor if they think you can’t work productively together. You’re not entitled to treat a professional poorly and still demand they serve you or do business with you. Perspectives may differ but unless you can prove it is discrimination against a protected class, you are free to find another doctor. |
Anonymous
+1. The clever doctor who encounters an antagonistic patient who has an axe to grind or chip on their shoulder about doctors and medicine and science in general, will play modest, humble and dumb, they will say “I don’t know enough to help you” and suggest the person find someone more knowledgeable. |
Anonymous
+100 |
Anonymous
Oh, that wouldn't be enough to make you happy, or even less belligerent. |
Anonymous
Deciding to not follow a doctor’s advice is not “treating them poorly.” They give advice; the patient decides whether to take it or not. The doctor is not the boss or God. I personally would not keep seeing a doctor whose advice I frequently disagreed with, but we don’t know the whole situation. I’m guessing the “medical professional” here is a chiropractor or similar. |
Anonymous
If I, as a doctor, prescribe a diagnostic workup and the patient disagrees with it and won’t complete it- yes, I will likely terminate the relationship. It is a huge liability to me to have a patient with, say, worsening chronic morning headaches who won’t get a head CT. (This is just one very simplified example- that’s never actually happened- but it’s the general idea). It also indicates that they don’t trust my judgment, which means I’m not going to be able to help them. So they’d do better going elsewhere which is fine. It’s not a punishment or an ego trip to decline to keep a patient on my panel. It’s CYA, and it’s also so neither of us is wasting the other persons time. |
Anonymous
| ^^and the CYA aspect is largely, if not entirely, because of patients threatening lawsuits or actually filing lawsuits. To the person who suggested we would practice better medicine if we had a few lawsuits hanging over our head, you have no idea what you’re talking about. If I suspect a patient will be quick to sue me if they get sicker, I do not keep them as a patient. If I do keep them, for some reason, you better believe I’m ordering every single test known to man, even if the test probably exposes them to unnecessary radiation or gives them worrisome false positives. Because that’s the danger of overly defensive medicine- it actually causes more health problems than it solves, but hey, at least I won’t be getting sued. |
Anonymous
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What is the conversation like when a doctor is letting a patient go. Is it veiled as something else or is it explicitly stated?
And is Medicare a reason or not? I mean, doctors are paid less, so I can see that. |
Anonymous
I totally get this. Clients bringing in pets are just insane with internet misinformation and the assumption that everything costs too much. They just don't get it that this all costs a lot of $$, the education and technology has progressed a lot in 15 years, and vets really are burnt out. Signed, Not a Vet, but a Pet Owner Who Has Seen a Lot of Abuse |