Dr. Waste my time
December 18, 2012 7:40 AM   Subscribe

How do you deal with a doctor who isn't helpful?

For the past 4 months I've been dealing with a bruised shin that isn't going away. My very important sports doctor told me that I could keep running on it, and he asked me to sign up for what I thought was physical therapy, but is actually just expensive personal training. Do I even bother going back on a follow up? I went to a podiatrist in the meantime and he's given me a much more proactive approach to getting better, which includes NOT running on it and prolonging the injury. I'm very frustrated.
posted by Unred to Health & Fitness (21 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Get a second opinion. If your doctor continues to be unhelpful, get another doctor.
posted by xingcat at 7:41 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


There's nothing wrong with going to another doctor for a second opinion.
posted by reptile at 7:41 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


You deal with an unhelpful doctor by going to another doctor. Sounds like you've done that already by going to the podiatrist.

I wouldn't bother going back to the sports doctor for a follow-up if the podiatrist's advice is working.
posted by erst at 7:41 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not all top doctors are going to be good with everything. Some guys are good with joints, others are good with ACL. You've got a mystery ailment and your guy, instead of saying, "not my area of expertise, is punting."

Your guy isn't able to help you, so it makes perfect sense to seek help from a different doctor.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:48 AM on December 18, 2012


Response by poster: Is it worth going back to tell him that if he couldn't help he should have found me someone who could rather than waste 4 months and now I've spend about $1200 on this personal training BS.
posted by Unred at 7:49 AM on December 18, 2012


Nope, not worth it. You asked for his professional opinion, he gave it to you, you disagree. Move on.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 8:01 AM on December 18, 2012


Yes. Sure. His services were unsatisfactory. Tell him that and tell him that you've sought treatment from someone else who is taking care of your problem.

A couple years ago, a friend of mine was feeling very sad because she was single. In spite of being an avid hiker and mountain-biker, she is a larger girl, and just happens to have a body shape that looks pregnant. Always. She just always looks pregnant. People on buses give her their seat. People ask when she is due. And this happens all the time. It is awful. So her self-esteem was in need of some real work. So she went to a therapist to talk about her self-esteem as it related to dating.

When she walked in, the therapist said, "Hello, so good to meet you. So what can we talk about today. I see you're pregnant."

Honest. To. God.

Of course, my poor friend burst into tears and then told her that this was exactly what she was having a problem with.

We went on vacation together later that week, and she was all upset trying to figure out if she should keep her next appointment. I think my exact words were "No, HELL no. And you have to tell this therapist that her unprofessional and unhelpful behavior has completely undermined your ability to form a therapeutic relationship with her and that you'll be seeking help from someone else."

It is an extreme example, but when someone's care/treatment has been lacking, you really need to say something to them (as well as seeking care/treatment from someone else.
posted by jph at 8:03 AM on December 18, 2012


Actually, yes, I WOULD complain, particularly about the personal training. Ask for your money back. If you don't get it, complain to his practice and the state board. That is unethical and he might very well be getting a kickback.
posted by bq at 8:04 AM on December 18, 2012 [5 favorites]


Seconding what bq said. You don't need to give this guy another chance (I wouldn't), but it's worth it to tell him how he screwed up just for the sake of him possibly getting the message and not doing it to the next patient. It's possible that he didn't realize the real nature of the service he recommended.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:24 AM on December 18, 2012


I don't think you need to book another appointment. But if you want to provide feedback, and it sounds as though you do, I'd write him a letter explaining why his treatment was disappointing and you are going elsewhere.
posted by bearwife at 8:43 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


Dump him.
posted by michellenoel at 8:45 AM on December 18, 2012


Dump the doctor without hesitation. Feel free to let him know what went wrong, but be polite, and don't hold out hope that he'll listen to you.

To be honest, I'd tell him this via letter, as opposed to a phone conversation, because the last thing you need is your doctor lecturing you as to why your podiatrist is wrong and blah blah blah. He lost a client, it's that simple.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:37 AM on December 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


Your doctor is not your girlfriend/boyfriend, not your parent or sibling, not your roommate, cubemate or officemate. Nor a priest, reverend, or rabbi.

You don't have responsibilities to your doctor beyond paying your bill and showing up on time for appointments, or canceling in good time when necessary.

Your doctor, on the other hand, is a paid technician who is contracted and licensed to perform duties on your behalf. If he or she isn't holding up their end of the bargain (and remember, your end is show up and pay the bill), move on.

You have responsibilities to yourself to follow reasonable medical advice, of course, but not to the doctor to follow their advice just because they gave it.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:44 AM on December 18, 2012


ratemds.com (also: Yelp)
posted by kmennie at 1:20 PM on December 18, 2012


Wait. We have zero evidence from this post that the doctor's diagnosis is wrong or that the treatment is in any way unethical. Ineffective perhaps, but that's hardly rare in medicine, given the complexity of the field. The doctor would likely benefit from hearing the OP's thoughts and experiences, but there's no reason to report him or her to anyone. In fact, opening a dialog could advance this doctor-petient relationship quite productively.

Picture yourself in the doc's position: you render a professional opinion, suggest a solution, and instead of getting direct feedback on the efficacy of your advice, you get reported for it and dumped. Doctors don't typically come up with terrible ideas randomly; they, like the rest of us, have professional reputations to protect and a personal desire to be right, too. Pay the doc the professional curtesy to discuss what your experience is, and hopefully you can both benefit from the experience.

Also, if you've got a blood disease or some other condition, it's entirely possible that only an MD or DO can diagnose and treat it, and that the podiatrist won't be able to. This is another reason to go back to the doc with feedback on what happened, in case this is unrelated to running.
posted by Capri at 2:39 PM on December 18, 2012


Time to move on to another doctor. At the end of the day, doctors work for you. You pay them for the service they provide. If you don't like something about the service, or you feel you're not getting the best service, then it's your right to find another doctor out there who will give you what you want. Trust me, there's a lot of great doctors out there. There are bad ones to. It can be challenging to find the right one but you owe it to yourself to be happy with your doc.
posted by ljs30 at 6:38 PM on December 18, 2012


Capri: it's entirely possible that only an MD or DO can diagnose and treat it, and that the podiatrist won't be able to.
Podiatrists are MDs or DOs. Your advice makes little sense.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:02 PM on December 18, 2012


IAmBroom: that is incorrect. Podiatrists receive a DPM - "Doctor of Podiatric Medicine" degree. They do have some training to identify systemic disease and so forth, but it is a completely separate career/training from what an MD or DO goes through, although the structure of the training is similar.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:24 PM on December 18, 2012


It would be a good idea for the OP to go see a new MD or DO, but there's still no duty owed to the current doctor. Not all doctors are created equal.

Also, the "professional courtesy" Capri references above would be between two doctors, not between a doctor and a patient. (Although, and I note this only as a tangent, perhaps a patient with Munchausen Syndrome could be considered a sort of professional patient...)
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:27 AM on December 19, 2012


Response by poster: Thanks all for the help. I think he had no desire to help me out, whether because he didn't think a hematoma on a shin was worth dealing with or (and this is my take) he wanted to get me to spend money elsewhere. For instance, the first visit after looking at an x-ray where you could clearly see a huge mass on my shin he told me to buy his book of how to do squats and lunges etc. Then after 6 weeks when I returned he told me to sign up for personal training sessions, and now I'm curious if he gets a kickback for that too. At least the podiatrist was concerned with the actual injury I had and gave me specific treatments for it. I think my biggest frustration is the time he wasted with me. He had me continue to run on an injury that even my running coach was wary of. After looking at his reviews on yelp, it seems I'm not the only one. Which is too bad, he's actually quite well respected and has clearly been very beneficial for other patients.
posted by Unred at 7:59 AM on December 19, 2012


treehorn+bunny: IAmBroom: that is incorrect. Podiatrists receive a DPM - "Doctor of Podiatric Medicine" degree. They do have some training to identify systemic disease and so forth, but it is a completely separate career/training from what an MD or DO goes through, although the structure of the training is similar.
Sonofabitch... TIL...
posted by IAmBroom at 1:19 PM on December 20, 2012


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