re: I wonder if medical students realize...

A good doctor is worth their weight in gold. I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. If you don’t like your doctor then find another one. I can talk to my doctor and ask questions on just about any topic.

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Doctors that work in large clinics are employees now with all pressures and burocracy that comes with it.

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I don’t get it, I’m trying to help you out here.

Doctors can work in “large clinics” and be 100% private practice and not be employees.

Actually, nvm. Just keep going I guess…

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So all doctors did this? News to me because I was against it from day one and advised anyone that asked not to get it. My wife wouldn't even sell it at her pharmacy. We passed up on between $1-1.5million in profit by not giving or pushing the vax. I'd say half of the doctors I know were against it.

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Thanks for admitting there definitely was a profit incentive behind it. What other profit incentives are there in the medical field?

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onmymedicalgrind

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DEI

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If they just assumed I was one of the "bad ones" and couldn't be convinced otherwise? Yes. I'd encourage them to find a physician that they trusted to do what's best for them.

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I think this discussion often bounces back/forth between the medical industry broadly and doctors - not doctors generally, but particular doctors.

I have doctor friends that I know are excellent and I'd not hesitate seeking their help in their specialties. But I have been skeptical of the industry beginning with an experience I had with a sales team (one man, one woman) trying to sell my wife and I on the dire need for an amniocentesis when my wife was pregnant with our first child. We were summoned to the dr's office to discuss the results of a blood test and were deposited in a room full of marketing posters. The sales team came in and proceeded to explain how scary things were, the blood test indicated a heightened probability of something (I forget what). I explained that it didn't matter, we wouldn't abort the baby in any case and all that did was put those two in hard sell mode. It was eye opening. I sat there and realized our f'n ob-gyn was, in some ways, no different than the "technician" at the quicky lube shop trying to sell me an air cabin filter for $80. I can make a list of similar "marketing schemes" but I bet you'd be better at that than me.

Point is - that emerging view of the medical industry + the fact that medical spend as a percent of GDP has about doubled during my adult lifetime + the fact that in some ways, Americans have never been unhealthier - that has more and more Americans viewing your industry with less and less respect. And I think that's a fair assessment as a general view.

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Doctors can and sometimes do fire patients.

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Yes, they do fire their patients. They do that by harassing patients about care. I know, my child's former pediatrician harassed us over the guardasil vaccine to the point where we left his practice.

Doctors are human and there have always been good and bad ones.

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easy money

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keep talking out your arse

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They aren't required to figure anything out.
Most physicians are replaceable via AI.

The US holds physicians to higher status than elsewhere in the world.
We pay them the most etc.

COVID should have shown people that a lot of physicians aren't real smart. They can memorize and regurgitate some information.

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A good doctor is worth their weight in gold. I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. If you don’t like your doctor then find another one. I can talk to my doctor and ask questions on just about any topic.

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OK, do this little test. Next time you see your doctor, challenge him/her on their treatment. Do it in a polite way and then see what the response is. Something simple like... " I'm not going to take this medication, too many side effects. If they show any irritation, you know where they stand.
FYI, doctors are very sensitive about being challenged. I know.

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FYI, doctors are very sensitive about being challenged. I know.

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I have a lot more respect for surgeons (aka medical professionals who are trained to actually do something). This is just for your regular GP or potentially even a specialist.

That's where trying to have a discussion with your doctor about your symptoms usually gets you nowhere. You are labeled as a kook and reprimanded by your doctor for daring to google your symptoms. How could you possibly understand x disease? They went to medical school for 8 years, meanwhile you just spent 2-3 hours on google.

Nevermind the fact that, in a lot of ways, medical school is the equivalent of "googling" symptoms. it's a lot of memorization and regurgitation from what is read out of a textbook. How does the doctor know that what he is reading is accurate? He doesn't care because he's just trying to get through medical school to get that fat six figure paycheck. How much time does the doctor spend on research post-medical school or are they just relying on what they learned in college?

The end result is a lot of doctors know a little bit about a wide berth of different things but know a lot about very little.

You go to the doctor about x symptom or help with x disease and it's pretty much just plug and play what they were taught in medical school, you are sent out the door, and they are off to see the next patient.

I once had a doctor I went to about something. Went to another doctor for a second opinion. Second doctor needed to get medical records from first doctor. Called first doctor a few months later to refill prescription medication and was told that since I went to second doctor, they were going to have to get approval from first doctor that he would accept me again as a patient.