Friday, June 22, 2007

When doctors' beliefs hinder patient care

I am glad to see this in a fairly mainstream news source. I've faced this kind of discrimination regularly throughout my life. I've also watched clients and friends face this. You'd think we'd've advanced further by now. Often, it's not nearly this blatant -- this kind of discrimination, like many others, can be pretty insidious. And, as with some of the women profiled here, can leave you wondering if you're the crazy one.

I've also worked with some really wonderful doctors who treated me me as a whole person and a partner in my care, rather than dictated to me from their assumptions. I celebrate them (and regularly refer others to them).

The last time I had a doctor who treated me this way, I fired him: I called his office and cancelled my remaining appointments. I'm a very educated health care consumer, and even so, firing someone who was treating me badly -- and whose inability to see past his own assumptions was putting me in danger -- was intimidating.

Doctors' beliefs can hinder patient care

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