Bad doctor experience

@AllyJay I think that’s fantastic, helping young doctors-to-be 😊. It helps medical advancement. I agree about the senior doctors 👌🏻.

@FLClover  Arsehole indeed...I've come across a lot of those. But....having said that, I've also come across quite a lot of extremely caring, professional and perfectly lovely doctors on my travels through the wormhole that is large Teaching Hospital Medicine. I've had to learn how their "system" works as far as being sent here, there and everywhere with this, that and the next doctor. The hospital has an in house computer which shows staff what patients are in hospital and their diagnosis. There is a sub program for final year medical students to find any "interesting" cases for their "Long Case Study" where they interview and examine patients over an hour, and then go straight from the bed to present that case to their lecturer. If you've been used before, the student fives a star rating for the patient based on their knowledge of their condition, the ease of the interview and whether or not the patient is prepared to be case studied by other students. Apparently, my name lights up as a go to patient. I have no problem with these fresh faced, keen and polite youngsters, who are younger than my own kids, but being used as a piece of meat by very senior doctors is just not on.

Excuse my language @AllyJay but what an asshole he was 😠. Clearly you were just a robot to him. I’m happy you told him no! As if it’s not hard enough having all those medical issues, you now need to be a guinea pig for these insensitive p**cks. Unbelievable. 

@sister I think I really like Adelaide University. And this just goes to show how so many intellectuals don’t think people skills are necessary at all, and why we see so many medical professionals with terrible attitudes. Not only are they arrogant, they’re cold too. All medical unis should have that interview in my opinion. 

Good on you, @AllyJay - you've really copped a bad set of cards - but you maintain an amazing sense of humour & dignity in how you are tackling it xx.  Take care. xx

Then, of course, you get the other type of doctor who wants to do this, that and the next test, without the results of these changing anything. As some of the members may know, I have a rather strange and convoluted medical situation, aside with my stoush with breast cancer. I have three autoimmune conditions, one of which causes all the connective tissue in my body to become inflamed, and then scarred and rigid. It affects my lungs, heart, kidneys, blood vessels, muscles, nerves, tendons...the lot. Basically connective tissue sticks shit to shit, and that shit is stuffed. I did get peripheral neuropathy from taxol, but I had a degree of it before, and it continues to deteriorate. For the nerves in my legs, I'm a mystery. The little rubber hammer gets no response whatsoever at the knees or the ankles and I also have an abnormal Babinski response in the soles of both feet. Basically, according to the books, I shouldn't be able to walk at all as I have no deep nerve conduction happening. Granted. I do use a wheeled granny walker when out, but use it more as a cage around me to stop other fools bowling me over. Anyhoooo this one neurologist wanted to do a barrage of tests on me, including muscle and nerve biopsies (ouch) and also electrical nerve conduction studies (also ouch). When I asked him why did he want to do them, would the results change my treatment, or give them other ideas not yet thought of? "No," he said..."But it would scratch my intellectual itch about how you can walk even although you should be in a wheelchair". I told him I'd get him a scratching post from the pet shop. I don't mind students learning on me, but if any of that involves rubber gloves and KY Jelly, or sharp little knives or needles...no way. He looked most disappointed.

In the 90s, Adelaide University (which has one of the supposedly top notch med schools) introduced an interview process as part of the admissions requirements.  It caused a furore then, and occasionally still does, when academically gifted students did not get offered places due to their performance in the interview.  Oh dear, my son/daughter is brilliant and being forced to go to Melbourne to study medicine.  One of the main reasons they introduced this requirement, was to try to recognise "people" skills amongst other things.  (Interestingly, I have heard on the grapevine, and so should be taken with a grain of salt, that there are some applicants who go into the interview and tell the panel they don't want to be a doctor - this is the only part of the process that they feel they can fail.)

@Cath62 @Afraser @MicheleR  @TonyaM  @Sister  @AllyJay
Yep, absolutely! I couldn’t believe what was happening. He was explaining to me what it was, even though I already knew, and my questions were only was the condition better, and were there any long term effects from the surgery. I wasn’t opposed to the surgery, just wanted to know my options and recovery time. While he was still doing the test, I mentioned I wanted to know if I could avoid the surgery if the condition was better, and he asked how the symptoms were. I said much better than before, that’s why I even came to do another test. He goes don’t let anyone tell you you need surgery if your symptoms are ok. You know best, and if your symptoms don’t cause trouble then don’t have it. I said Dr C (first doc that did the test in Nov-female) told me best to do the surgery, otherwise I could lose muscle mass permanently. He cuts me off, gets annoyed and starts going off about how Dr C can’t tell me those things, then explains what it is, and tells me the same thing Dr C told me. That was when confusion first started. Then he realises I had the test before, gets old results, prob looks at my file properly for first time and tells me I should fix it, and the above conversation followed. So he went from telling me not to do it if I thought it was ok, to telling me to do it, but not directly. Geez!! There was a young lady trainee doctor there. She was putting the nodes on me and controlling the electric pulses. He kept telling her off for doing it wrong and missing a week of training. I thought, even if she could do it perfectly, she’d still stuff it up cos of him, cos he was making her nervous with his impatience. Poor girl. And poor me. I was so baffled I was speechless. 

@FLClover .... a neurophysiologist is a neurologist who specializes in the diagnosis of nervous system disorders (not necessarily a surgeon.) They are supposed to give you nerve tests and advise yay or nay to surgery! He only confused you! 

 It really Sounds to me like you need to see An orthopedic hand specialist who has specific expertise in orthopedics as it relates to injuries and debilitating issues in the hand – which is what makes this type of medical specialist the proper health care professional to diagnose and treat your carpal tunnel syndrome!

Try and see the best ortho Hand specialist you can find .... and good luck 

@Sister...That had me scratching my head too. This claim that..."Long term, it will kill you". What was going to kill who, and how does surgery for carpel tunnel correlate with death of the patient? I wouldn't let this "doctor" anywhere near me with a scalpel in his hand....