Is this typical of most doctors?

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Specializes in nursing ethics.

I hope this is the right forum.  As a patient I have had doctors in specialties.

Who look bored. Who are eager to end the appt asap with a few words. I am interrupting their day it feels. Who are so rude or unfriendly. One walked out of the meeting to see another patient across the street without warning. Doctors who either make snap wrong diagnoses or have me take unnecessary tests to rule out diseases. Doctors who do not look at the body for minor issues. Is this apathy?  Doctors who make snarky jokes? I could go on with more

Is this very common or am I over reacting?

The doctors I'm around don't work that way. It's hard to say what the situation is. I have seen a lot of patients (including my own family members, occasionally) misread doctors' behavior based on preconceived notions.

For example, "eager to end appointment..."? or simply can't spend the amount of time that a patient thinks is appropriate? Hard to say.

Historically we haven't done a great job of helping people know what to expect at visits. That's why there's a struggle when someone is supposed to have an interval med check visit (should take just a few minutes) and they come with a laundry list of things that they could have messaged or called about or set up a separate appointment to address.

Rude, unfriendly? Hard to say. Harshness isn't necessary nor appropriate, but there is a variety of things that patients consider unfriendly, including docs that are just more quiet or more serious than others.

Making snap or wrong diagnoses? Especially with "wrong diagnoses" -- well, medicine isn't as black and white as people wish it was. I've heard plenty of patients proclaim how their doctor was wrong about this or that, when it was an evolving situation or an illness that hadn't really declared itself or that took some twist or turn that required additional work-up.

Nothing you mention is typical of most doctors. Even if you do come across a rude one--are all doctors like that? No.

They are also as stressed as everyone else is right about now.

4 Votes
On 9/19/2021 at 8:02 AM, Mywords1 said:

I hope this is the right forum.  As a patient I have had doctors in specialties.

Who look bored. Who are eager to end the appt asap with a few words. I am interrupting their day it feels. Who are so rude or unfriendly. One walked out of the meeting to see another patient across the street without warning. Doctors who either make snap wrong diagnoses or have me take unnecessary tests to rule out diseases. Doctors who do not look at the body for minor issues. Is this apathy?  Doctors who make snarky jokes? I could go on with more

Doctors who do that are not ethical, they are getting paid for a visit, a certain amount of time. It is probably illegal  and cheating the patient to leave early, but wrong diagnosis, that is against their medical license, to misdiagnose. That's crossing the line. If a doctor cheats like that, report them and find another doctor. 

Specializes in Community health.

Here is my experience: Doctors have about the same ratio of positive personality traits to negative personality traits as the general population does.  So, if about half of grocery store cashiers are pleasant and friendly, and half are sullen ... Well, that's about the same as what you'll find with doctors. 

I see a specialist for a chronic condition, and she is highly intelligent and an excellent diagnostician.  However, she interrupts.  She asks a question and doesn't really listen to my response.  Which, I find, is a common trait in humans overall, so it doesn't surprise me that my MD has the same flaw.

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Specializes in nursing ethics.

Agree. The same for veterinarians I discovered

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