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Some doctors have deep contempt for patients

Gijs

Senior Member
Messages
690
Doctor Robert Forbes wrote:
I have been a family physician for43 years.
Have practiced in rural Nova Scotia, the Canadian Arctic and Mississippi.
I am sorry but I don't buy any of this!
I have had patients with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia (which I call fibro- my life sucks!),
attention deficit disorder, autism, chronic yeast infection, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and now, systemic exertion intolerance disease. Try lazy!
All of them seem to want disability, disabled parking stickers, amphetamines, narcotics or Xanax. And they usually get them only to add to their problems.
I fear we contribute to this in a big way by legitimizing their complaint.
We have become a very dependent society and I am ashamed and concerned.
Fortunately I am semi-retired and fear no retribution for my free speech.
I did try to be respectful.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Just saying...
http://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20150302newchronicfatigue.html
 

MCRobbie

Senior Member
Messages
127
There are more doctors who feel this way than would care to admit it but this is a particularly stunning quote. Its Breathtaking the abject stupidity and ignorance this man displays especially now that we ALL (except for this idiot) know how dizzyingly complex human health is, both good health and poor. To settle on the, "these people are just lazy" explanation, my god what century is this guy living in.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
Wow - I just read the rest of the doctors' comments. e.g.:

"3/5/2015 1:46 PM
Robert, I think that years of clinical experience have guided you well. Among patients and physicians there is a desperate desire to be able to give a name to the constellation of symptoms that are troubling a patient. A name often validates how a patient has responded to the symptoms. I think in the case of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome we have let that desire override both common sense and sound scientific method. There has been a disturbing trend the last 25 years to let statistics replace scientific method and common sense.
I've seen so many patients hop from doctor to doctor with the constellation of symptoms c/w 'fibro-my-everything' to finally find the one physician that gives it a name. This invariably leads to further inactivity and disability and the things that will help (exercise, counseling, antidepressants, proper sleep) go right out the window.
It is time to call these constellations of symptoms what they are, which is largely psychological and quit stigmatizing psychological diagnoses vs physiologic diagnoses."

And worse comments. There are one or two who argue that the IOM report shows objective findings of illness and grave disability after exercise etc. but it doesn't make any difference to the other "doctors". It's just scary and sickening to see it in print, how they really think, after wondering about all the blank looks from them over the years, wondering what they truly think.
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
I'd say the comment section on that article is a decent representative sample of what we find in the wild. One doctor that understands the disease and 5 abusive jerks that make fun of patients behind their backs and advocate withholding diagnoses for the "good" of the patient.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482

Strawberry

Senior Member
Messages
2,107
Location
Seattle, WA USA
Doctor Robert Forbes wrote:
......
and now, systemic exertion intolerance disease. Try lazy!
All of them seem to want disability, disabled parking stickers, amphetamines, narcotics or Xanax. And they usually get them only to add to their problems.

He obviously has not met me, and many many others here, that all we want is to have our normal, active lives back! I probably wouldn't be in the situation I am today had I not been an over do-er all these years, and I know I will only make myself worse by continuing to over do. I try to cut back, but its impulsive. Lazy, my ash!

Science just needs to buck up and find tests or markers or something to filter out the few lazy people, as they are contaminating the doctors minds against the ones with real issues and AREN'T lazy. Otherwise this mentality will prevail that we are "all" lazy. We will get there.
 

Keela Too

Sally Burch
Messages
900
Location
N.Ireland
I agree there are some terrible doctors out there.... just the way there are some terrible people out there.

However talk, like this, that is effectively abusive to a disabled group of people goes beyond just rudeness. It it really is like a hate campaign.

Is there no action that can be taken to curb this type of talk?
 
Messages
10,157
All of them seem to want disability, disabled parking stickers, amphetamines, narcotics or Xanax. And they usually get them only to add to their problems.

That's a big huge generalization.

I do not want disability, I would rather work as a nurse which is what I used to do.

I do not want a disabled parking sticker because I don't have a car.

I definitely do not want amphetamines, narcotics or Xanax.

What I want is to be treated with respect and get the proper medical care that as a human being I deserve.

Doctors like this are publicly making statements of hate directed at the patient population. They should be reported to whoever licences them because it is a professional breach to behave in the manner they do.

There are some lovely doctors out there who treat us very nicely. Ones like this, though, should (fill in your own words).
 

Antares in NYC

Senior Member
Messages
582
Location
USA
That's a big huge generalization.

I do not want disability, I would rather work as a nurse which is what I used to do.

I do not want a disabled parking sticker because I don't have a car.

I definitely do not want amphetamines, narcotics or Xanax.

What I want is to be treated with respect and get the proper medical care that as a human being I deserve.

Doctors like this are publicly making statements of hate directed at the patient population. They should be reported to whoever licences them because it is a professional breach to behave in the manner they do.

There are some lovely doctors out there who treat us very nicely. Ones like this, though, should (fill in your own words).
I subscribe to what Kina wrote. That was an abusive letter by Dr. Forbes, and the ones that followed were not much better.
 

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
I've said this ofren before but it shows the gulf between doctors and patients
Doc tells me I need to lose weight, I know this, once I did martial arts, weight training etc, I was built like a brick shithouse (that's a certain definition of that saying around my p[art of the world, quite different from one used in other parts lol :p)
I tried telling him between depression (so you comfort eat), feeling weak (body keeps wanting energy), and damned stomach pain that only goes away if I eat and I cannot exercise, well of course I'm fat, strength of will be damned when yer this ill.

So he says "Well you just need to reduce your calorie intake...there were no fat folk in Belsen!"
he thought that was funny.
My great Uncle Wil', who I loved to bits, was in the unit that liberated that horror.
He suffered from it all his life, he'd had apparently a pretty impressive military career but he refused to talk about it, his commendations etc cause of that horror.
And I told that asshole doctor, there WAS one fat inmate, a DOCTOR those S.S. scumbags kept fed so they wouldn't have to deal with the camp, and if she gave any of her food to the poor sods, they'd shoot them.

The British troops burned that concentration camp down with FLAMETHROWING TANKS, totally over board, no need to do that, except for the sake of their souls, they did it because they had to see it wiped out.
They made those SS scum treat the inmates without protective clothing..so the SS, every single one of them they forced to do this, died of the diseases, typhus, typhoid, TB etc, that the inmates were rotten with.
SS doctors and nurses too. Doctors and nurses had done things I don't' want to think of.
They also used Wehrmacht troops and medical staff but those they gave gas masks and medical treatment so they didn't die.

I think that is a salutary reminder of the depths of the vile piggery and stupidity...and the suffering and decency of the Human Race
sigh.

and that's just ONE example off utter douchebaggery I've seen doctors do

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