Time to dismantle the Pedestals.

[AFK]

Okay this rant is based on a personal situation.  Right, which ones aren't.  

When I was a kid growing up we'd all play the game of what we wanted to be when we grew up.  Of course I never said, oh, oh I want to be an Assistant Manager at a Mall Retail store but it seemed to happen anyway.  And of course when we were playing the game or our parents and teachers were asking us what we wanted to be you'd hear the obligatory President, Lawyer, Doctor, etc.  Your parents would say, when you were young, "oh you can grow up and be a doctor and make lots of money for us." or some drivel like that.  Doctors have always been held up high in society and I'm beginning to wonder more and more, why?

Why do we hold up someone who has a "practice."  When are the going to start doing it for real?  I'm sure that's what my dying grandmother is asking herself.

My Grandmother is dying of cancer.  Cancer that went undetected for at least a year because her doctor refused to entertain the possibility that she had cancer.  She'd say, "I've had sisters who died of cancer."  Doc says, "Nope, it's not cancer."  Grandma would say, "I'm afraid I may have cancer, can you check for that?"  Doc would say, "Hmm, nope you definitely don't have cancer.  X-Rays look great."  Grandma goes to different hospital in Bangor, Maine and they look at her records and say......

"Uh, duh, it's cancer and it's everywhere."  Unfortunately, it looks like this second opinion has come too late.  

My grandmother's health was held hostage by a doctors ignorance and refusal to probe further.  She lives in a remote part of Maine where there really aren't any easy options for second opinions.  There's one major hospital and Bangor is a good 3 hours away and for someone of her age that isn't an easy task.  

So, I find myself asking, why do doctors get held in such high esteem?  They are just as fallible as any others in any other profession.  I know, I know.  They save lives.  But how many do they ruin with incompetence?  I'm sure FEMA saved at least one life in New Orleans but how many did they fuck up?  

I'm not saying doctors are bad evil but they aren't perfect and yet our society seems to deify them to a certain point.  We want our kids to be doctors.  We elect them to Congress.  I just don't see the justification for their pedestal status.  If you get a good doctor who really listens and helps you through what ails you that is great.  And that should be encouraged and rewarded.  However, I think there need to be greater consequences for those doctors, like the one who was mis-treating my grandmother, who through arrogance and stubborness condemn their patients to a sentence of a long painful death.  

May what comes around, go around!

[The Doctor]

I don't know, but one book that really opened my mind was "Year of the Intern" by Robin Cook. It was a tirade against the medical school industry as seen through the eyes of Cook when he was in school, and he says some pretty scathing stuff. Basically he says doctors get that attitude forced onto them in school, and they in turn force it onto their patients, and that a lot of people are doctors who really have no business working anywhere near people in the first place.

[fluffy]

some doctors fall into the trap
of reading the ama journal
which says that x is the proscribed treatment if the patient has y symptom
and assume that is all there is to being a doctor

i call them cookie cutter doctors
(i'm not sure why
maybe because there are only so many cookie cutters
and everything ends up the same shape)

instead of treating the patient
all they do is look up test results on a big chart
and then write you up the appropriate perscription

(i could tell you stories about doctors)

[Technocracy]

Malpractice Lawsuit?

Or if that fails remember that karma comes in many forms and some times requires a little encouragement.  I think the best medicine for someone with a god complex like this doctor is to be reintroduced to the cruel reality of apparent random violence.  

Recipe for Instant Karma:
1 Aluminum Baseball Bat
1 Ski Mask
1 Roll of Duck Tape
1 Pissed off Person
1 Deserving Mark
1 Late Night Encounter

Mix Liberally and Enjoy

[Acoge]

Malpractice Lawsuit?

Or if that fails remember that karma comes in many forms and some times requires a little encouragement.  I think the best medicine for someone with a god complex like this doctor is to be reintroduced to the cruel reality of apparent random violence.  

Recipe for Instant Karma:
1 Aluminum Baseball Bat
1 Ski Mask
1 Roll of Duck Tape
1 Pissed off Person
1 Deserving Mark
1 Late Night Encounter

Mix Liberally and Enjoy

With a recipe like that I'm sure it would be even better to mix the ingedients conservatively.

[Technocracy]

With a recipe like that I'm sure it would be even better to mix the ingedients conservatively.

Mixing conservatively makes it premeditated, my way you plead emotional distress and get consuling instead of cornholed.  Of course you could always opt for knee-capping as a form of "non-terminal punishment.  It's a free country, surprise yourself.

[B_M_W]

It's a free country

Since when?

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Yep. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that doctors exhibit the same flaws as every other group of people.

Sorry about your grandma's case. She should grap some decaying uranium and strap it to her original doctor's belly for great justice.

[AFK]

Malpractice Lawsuit?

Or if that fails remember that karma comes in many forms and some times requires a little encouragement.  I think the best medicine for someone with a god complex like this doctor is to be reintroduced to the cruel reality of apparent random violence.  

Recipe for Instant Karma:
1 Aluminum Baseball Bat
1 Ski Mask
1 Roll of Duck Tape
1 Pissed off Person
1 Deserving Mark
1 Late Night Encounter

Mix Liberally and Enjoy

My family's working on the first one.  I've contemplated the other except my version is a little more sadistic.  It involves stuffing approximately 5 packs of smoldering cigarrettes in his lungs and sewing him back up.  When he looks at me with that look of agonzied terror I will respond"
"Hmm, seems like you might just have a case of the sniffles."  and then walk away.

[The Doctor]

some doctors fall into the trap
of reading the ama journal
which says that x is the proscribed treatment if the patient has y symptom
and assume that is all there is to being a doctor

i call them cookie cutter doctors
(i'm not sure why
maybe because there are only so many cookie cutters
and everything ends up the same shape)

instead of treating the patient
all they do is look up test results on a big chart
and then write you up the appropriate perscription

(i could tell you stories about doctors)

And failing that, they just throw some antibiotics at you.

This is why you get second opinions. And a PDR so you can find out what they're giving you. They will never tell you about the true nature of a drug, since they are often being paid by the drug company to push its wares- pharmacists are better for those questions.

[AFK]

Yep. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that doctors exhibit the same flaws as every other group of people.

Sorry about your grandma's case. She should grap some decaying uranium and strap it to her original doctor's belly for great justice.

Thanks.  What makes the situation even more tragic is now my Mom and her sisters are all blaming themselves for not doing enough.  But what the hell are they going to do?  That's what the freakin doctor is for.  I mean they were all telling this doc that, "Um, hello.  Cancer in the family.  Maybe check for cancer, hmm?"  And he says, "Pshaww, nonsense.  Probably just depression."  WTF?  Depression?  And I watch the Simpsons and realize that Dr. Nick isn't as fictional character as I once thought.

[The Doctor]

Well, if it's any consolation, doctors get sick and die just like everyone else...

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Well, if it's any consolation, doctors get sick and die just like everyone else...

<stabs the Doctor>


and injured.

[The Doctor]

*oof*

I already died 9 times, can't a guy get a break?




Or at least another barrel of tequila?  

[AFK]

Well, if it's any consolation, doctors get sick and die just like everyone else...

There really is no consolation but the gesture is noted and appreciated.
Her illness could have been treated and cured if it had been checked into when she first started feeling ill.  My grandmother trusted the doctor.  Everyone said he was really good.  And I have no doubts he's helped other patients but in my world he fucked up and he fucked up big.  And he probably still sleeps at night, or maybe he's racked with guilt although I get the impression he isn't.  His convictions led him astray.  But then again as the PD says:  "Convictions cause Convicts."