Types of doctors?

October 27, 2003

Since having my gallstone attack about three weeks ago, I am

definitely looking at some other choices for my family's health care

needs.

I see a midwife for prenatal care and she will attend the birthing.

I am very comfortable with her, as she was the same midwife who

helped birth my daughter 2 1/2 years ago.

We moved here about three years ago. We interviewed several

pediatricians but did not find any that seemed well suited to us. I

met a friend and, by chance, her husband is a family practitioner

who takes a very holistic approach to health care. We opted to go

with him to provide our family's health care needs. My friendship

grew and I realized I personally felt awkward seeing my friend's

husband as MY health care provider. Kind of makes social dinners

uncomfortable for me. He also has very limited office hours -- just

one or two days a week for half a day. He provides services at a

fasting clinic, which is his primary passion and focus. It became

hard to get the children in to see him because of his limited

hours. Also, we have a PPO and he is not one of the providers on

the list, so we have to pay up front, submit the claims and then get

reimbursed. We opted to change to a different FP based on the

recommendation of a friend. I had an appt with this new FP and she

seemed ok but not nearly as right for us as a health care provider

who is more willing to look at non mainstream choices and not just

write a prescription. Our children had well check-ups early in the

year and she was somewhat harsh in her opinion of our choice for

delayed, selective vaccines. My husband had taken my son to that

appt, so I wasn't there to hear exactly what she said/how she said

it. The next day I took my daughter in for a similar appt and was

prepared to hear the same thing, but she seemed somewhat ok with our

choice and didn't give me any pressure. More recently, my husband

discussed just how harsh she was about the issue and it makes me

feel uncomfortable with having her as our family doctor --

especially considering we are expecting a new baby soon and will

make some choices that may not line up with mainstream medicine.

[side note here: we are not out to make choices that deliberately

are against mainstream medicine but want to make informed choices

based on research, facts, discussion, and prayer. We are truly

trying to make the healthiest choices for our children].

My doctor's response to my gallbladder problems just confirmed this

growing feeling inside me that I need to find a different health

care provider. She completely dismissed any alternatives to

treating my gallstones/sludge other than surgery. Twice she has

prescribed medicine during my pregnancy which she has assured me is

safe and I've researched to find them class C drugs in pregnancy.

These were not drugs I NEEDED to survive and I was very disappointed

that she led me to believe these were safe choices when in fact they

were not. I did not take the drugs -- did research first. I think

this also shows that I don't trust my doctor very well.

I have to admit that I don't know much about different types of

doctors/practices that might be more in line with what I am looking

for: homepathy, osteopathy, naturopathy. What do each of these

do? Can they provide health care for a family -- including

infants/children? What training do they have?

For those who have a FP/GP, how did you go about finding one that

meets your needs? Asking friends doesn't seem to help because many

of our friends have quite a different approach to health care than

we have. My husband's work benefits are currently doing " open

enrollement " so now is a good time for us to examine some choices.

We can choose a HMO such as Kaiser, a PPO or a regular plan.

Even if we need to go off list to find a health care provider, I am

willing to do this if it means we find someone who meets our needs.