I think part of the trouble with doctors is, that to become one you need to be accademically very bright and also believe in yourself to the point of arrogance ( some go too far on this ). This combination, plus very little training in "bed side manner" more often than not leaves us with a doctor that can be far too confident and has no particular urge to "share" with their patients, or the "doctor knows best" syndrome. Occasionally we get doctors who remember that they are human beings the same as the rest of us, but not often enough.

I work in a teaching hospital, where potential doctors are trained in their craft. It can be down right scary, knowing that these people, regardless of how badly they handle patients ( or even just people in general ), will be given a medical degree and let loose on the public.

I think HOW we train and socialise doctors is a large part of the problem. In Britain especially, GP's are very much left to their own devices, they are not encouraged to cross consult with other doctors on difficult cases and quite often, due to lack of finance / time / resourses, physically can't. This ends up giving you three types of GP.s. Those who refer at the drop of a hat, those who will hand out drugs like sweeties in the hopes that they'll finally figure it out and those who won't refer you even when they should. Lump this together with not being able to actually see your doctor for weeks on end and it becomes no surprise as to why people neither trust nor want to go to their GP.

What makes it really bad is when you have a really good doctor and your local health authority muck him about so much that he leaves!

Many GP.s and doctors in hospitals leave their patients in the dark even after requests for information. Then they wonder why the patient chooses to do something that may not be in their best interests, or they may just never see the patient again!

I'm not saying that there aren't patients who will do anything to avoid either knowing about or dealing with a problem they have, but I think the majority of people are just plain lacking in sufficient information and nervous of what may or may not be happening to them.

I think being able to talk to other people who may have been through the same thing as you are, at least gives you some direction to what action you want to take. If you don't know anything about a situation how can you make a decision on what to do?

TTFN M'Lady P.