this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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Because we don't want doctors guessing or being creative. They're not the R&D creating engines, they're the mechanics.
I don't see how this analogy makes their arrogant dismissals any better.
I recall a mechanic changing a flat on my motorcycle acting pissy I was watching. I just had nothing better to do, far from home with a delaminating tire at shop out of walking distance to anywhere. I happened to catch him torquing the rear axle to sealed bearing specs. "DUDE....those are taper bearings in that hub" he quit giving me dirty looks. Now see a doctor would have yelled at me for googling how to pack a taper bearing 5 years before, and learning the difference years before that. Because of shitty doctors, I've also learned to prelimary determine if it's appendicitis or not. We both fucling well knew it wasn't a UTI but weren't getting much help, but at least set our.minds at ease she probably wasn't dying.
Their actions are correct. The attitudes are not. That's absolutely fair. They need to just say "I don't know".
Telling people to leave because they don't know is also not okay.
I'm confused. Then what should a doctor say when they don't know the answer?
Unable to delete so editing instead. Leaving Lemmy.world due to privacy concerns.
"I don't know but let's find out together". Requires confidence to say though.
They can damn well explain why they disregard some symptoms and why my online diagnosis is unlikely
They disregard certain symptoms because they went to med school, had a residency and are a practicing doctor for 10 years. They see so many hypochondriacs, that if they did that, they could only see half the people, or even less.
The rule of medicine is "if you hear hooves, think horsey, not zebra". People googling their symptoms won't find their disease 99.999% of the time. You won't beat their experience by googling, that's not how it works.
Sure. And yet it would benefit us all to have a better understanding of how our bodies work and where online models work or don’t work. Do people really just want an answer with no reason? I want to hear hat Zebra are not native to this region, and the symptoms don’t include stripes. Otherwise, how will I learn not to expect zebras next time?
Because most of the time without expensive diagnostic testing the only thing you have to go off is the sound of hoofbeats. It'd be a collosal waste of resources to order every diagnostic test that is associated with the differential diagnoses for every patient. If the symptoms begin to worsen or become more frequent, then you have a patient history of recurring symptoms that can justify further tests.
You learn that simply by never expecting zebras and letting doctors do their job. Do you go to the used car lot and expect the dealer to explain to you the innerworkings of the internal combustion engine, what the little ticking sound is in the car and how blinkers know to disable themselves, or do you expect him to sell you a car?
I expect him to answer questions with some technical detail and minimal bs about the pros and cons of that vehicle, potential causes of common problems and how to avoid them and how best to take care of it. If he doesn’t, I find a different salesperson, or dealership .
I also hold my doctor to higher ethical standards than a car salesman
Okay, so you expect him to not do his actual job and humor you. While you come in and basically insult him by trying to do his job for him by using google, and being wrong all the time.
A doctors job is to cure people, not explain everything in minute detail to everyone that comes in.
Nope, I hire a doctor as an expert in my health and show respect by making an effort to understand better and to learn from his advice. A doctor is not some mystic who simply utters an incantation in a vacuum of knowledge but an expert I can use to achieve my health goals. I can help get better results from my doctor by having a bit of a discussion where I can surface potentially relevant facts and the doctor can place them in a medical context and share knowledge for me to learn about my health . That is a doctors job
If I ask the mechanic if it's the flasher unit or a bad ground, I want a straight answer, not up front maybe but after.
And if you come in and keep asking if it's the blinker fluid, and expect the mechanic to explain in a very detailed fashion that it is not and that you are an idiot?
Yeah. That's pretty far from relevant though. You're argument seems to be a doctor can't figure out the difference between a rational human who can comprehend, understand, think and correlate what they've read, compared to physical symptoms they know intimately, and the blinker fluid tards
Except for the fact that everybody thinks they are a "rational human" when indeed they are the "blinker fluid tard".
These doctors really are too dumb to tell the difference huh?
They don't care. They have to contend with hundreds of people who think they are the shit because they googled their symptoms. They are there to diagnose, not you.
Exactly my point, except the last part. Someone's gotta do their job, they won't.
So what hospital do you work at?
Although you may beat their knowledge by reading the research, which is what this guy seemingly did. That's why you go to school, to learn knowledge and also learn how to analyze the new research as it comes. If they're ignoring the research that this guy explicitly points out correlates to his experience, and has done all the digging for them and checked the legitimacy and methods (which I'm not claiming he did), then the doctors should have at least double checked.
Eh. No. You don't have knowledge by "researching" online because you can't even diagnose yourself because you lack the knowledge and research. This isn't someone looking for a service manual and changing out something simple in their car. This is medicine.
Medicine isn't magic. You can gain better specific knowledge through research. That's literally how you get it, whether through school or otherwise. There are people around the world who have self trained and become very competent at things other people go to university to learn. Assuming someone needs to be a doctor in order to gain knowledge is so stupid.