When you get well but the doctor is angry

[Guest guest]

What if the kid whose arm they recommended removing and did not--

died? Will the kid be so lucky next time? Will the cancer return

(as so often happens) and this kid now will be convinced that medical

treatments are useless when in fact it could save their life? How do

we explain why nothing was done and the worst outcome happened?

There's a whole lot to consider when looking at this kind of

situation from the doctor's point of view versus our own. We in this

group, and others in the GEIPE etc, are not tasked with any legal or

other responsibility for anyone's health, so it's easy for us to

encourage people to do things in a hopeful way, out of concern and

caring, but without the ultimate responsibility for the outcome! Not

so the doctors. They are called to account, into court, harrassed by

families, sued, threatened all the time, even if their treatments had

nothing to do with the outcome. Sometimes just so someone can get a

large cash settlement. It's a very hard position to be in and remain

cheerful and encouraging to patients if those patients do not

cooperate yet are under their care!

Let's be real, doctors are tasked with ordering treatments that

have " a chance " of healing, a chance of killing, a chance of maiming,

and a chance of doing nothing at all. Failure is built-into such

treatments. They have to prescribe them knowing it. A calculated

chance is still better than something untested with no idea if it

works at all, let alone how often it might work. I don't envy and I

do understand that situation, but only from a safe distance. They

are up close (and frightened of it). Someone is dying and it is very

scary if you are the caregiver!

Be well for heaven's sake, and if not, use the best of everything,

and understand that a doc is not just another caring person, they are

in an impossible spot for your sake. I think most of them really do

care.

bG