Physician, treat yourself

by kpmautner

I think the medical and legal professions have the right idea: the lawyer (or doctor) who represents himself has a fool for a client. (Been there, done that, seen the movie, got the T-shirt)

And my doctor on the subject of Big Pharma television advertising is hilarious, in a very sad sort of way. His opinions are not printable. He gets patient after patient coming to him and telling him (telling him) that they have this and such condition because they saw it on television. And they don’t need tests. They know they have this and just want the miracle drug which will fix it.

He spends countless hours trying to convince these idiots that just because what they are experiencing sounds like what the tv ads are telling them, doesn’t necessarily make it so. He tries to explain that sometimes the drug they want won’t work on what they have – or worse, might make it worse. They don’t listen.

Being a physician of principles, he refuses to prescribe the wonder drug they want without a battery of tests to make sure that they are the right treatment. They get huffy, call him ignorant and leave. He shrugs and treats his other patients.