Making the most of doctor visits. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
| As you probably already know, I'm not a fan of doctors. In fact, I recently wrote a piece describing an interaction with the medical industry that nearly cost me my life. That said, doctors have their utility. Particularly in instances of acute trauma, they have the expertise to mend you, to triage efficiently. They are similar to skilled mechanics diagnosing and fixing intricate mechanical problems when your body malfunctions. They can fix what's obviously broken. So even though I tend to avoid doctors, I've developed a couple of strategies for those times when I do need a doctor or surgeon's assistance. The first tip is not to ask your doctor what you should do. Instead, ask what they would do if they found themselves in your situation. This subtle shift of perspective could be significant. When a doctor dictates what you should do, it's standard medical advice, bound by laws and regulations. If their advice misfires, they could potentially bear liability, not necessarily legally, but certainly on a personal moral level. By asking what the doctor would do in your situation, if he or she were you, you can gauge their genuine sentiments about your circumstances. What actions would they take if they were in your shoes? The second strategy concerns surgeries and other medical procedures. When discussing the risks of a procedure, a doctor will provide you with the most general of statistics. For instance, they might say, "Only one in 200 people encounter complications with this specific surgery." However, this is a ratio drawn from a general population and might not be applicable to your unique set of conditions. These statistics are also drawn from a general pool of surgeons and might not mirror the track record of the specific doctor in question. I remember one time I was consulting a surgeon about a potential procedure. He presented me with some standard risk statistics. I then asked, "But what about your personal experience? Have you ever encountered complications performing this surgery? Have you ever screwed one up?" To this, he responded, "No, I've never made a mistake. All my procedures have been successful." While doctors in general make mistakes, the mistakes are unevenly distributed. Some doctors make fewer mistakes than others, and you can ask them about it to figure out where your particularly doctor or surgeon falls. I urge you to ask. Do you have any tips or tricks for making the most out of your doctor visits? How do you get good information from your interactions with the medical industry? Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy. |
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Mark's Daily Apple 1101 Maulhardt Ave. Oxnard, CA 93033 |
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