Re: Grains Of Salt

[Guest guest]

" Word of mouth is a good way to get info as long as you know

what to look for. Look for " facts " that can be substantiated

and proven. Weed out references to personality, decor, sense

of humor, etc. Those things may be important when it comes to

bedside manner, but it's also important to know when they may

be masking a lack of knowledge/know-how, or overcompensating

for past bad behavior. "

Personally I don't mind reading all the observations including

personality etc. ... I think all the info is helpful in its place.

Knowing what to expect has its place in decreasing anxiety etc., add

to the comfort level.

I do agree with you strongly about some Drs. who have a great beside

manner and glowing reports from their patients...

Just because they have great beside manner doesn't make them great

surgeons... it also doesn't mean they are bad surgeons either.

I do know a patient can assume a DR is a great surgeon just because

he is so warm and friendly... big mistake.

I was a labor and delivery nurse for quite a few years and can recall

one DR in particular who was absolutely loved by his patients... he

was a big teddy bear type. A real southern gentlemen if you know what

I mean... He delivered babies in more than one generation in the same

family...

Oh god..if those patients only knew some of the things he did....

here is just one example;

If a patient was in labor in the evenings he would withhold epidural

anesthesia requests saying it " wasn't time " , that it would " slow up

their labor " ... then when it was time, he'd say it was " too late " ,

that it would " interfere with the baby and delivery " . His evening

patients never got epidurals.

If they went into labor during the day ... they got their epidural

whenever they wanted...

It was all geared so the patient wouldn't be delivering at a time

when he might miss his early morning golf T off time, or mess up his

early morning office schedule.

Another one who was well loved was DR F----.. a real charmer and very

handsome... he would tell the nurses to " have the patient start

pushing at 5:30 am " .... if you know anything about delivery you know

the criteria to start pushing is when the patient is fully dilated

(open)... but he never said " have the patient push at 5:30 if fully

dilated " ! We used to call him 4th degree F--- as that is the degree

of cut he would need to make as the patient was all swollen from

having pushed when not fully open and he had to make the opening

bigger to delivery the baby...(by the way that 4th degree episiotomy

cut was from the vagina to the anus.. very painful to recover from)

These Drs. were both well loved and admired. Their patients admired

them so much and had such faith in them they never researched for

themselves, never felt they had to as they trusted their DRs so

much... they never had a clue what poor quality care they got. They

were too mesmerized by his charm to know better.

Just because a DR is a charmer doesn't mean he is also a poor

technician but being a charmer doesn't make you a good surgeon

either... buyer beware.