The Patient-Doctor

Doctors usually don't make great patients. Whenever I have a patient or family member who is a physician, I find that the care is different than it would have been if they weren't in the medical profession. It's too hard to remain unbiased, and often unobjective physicians get side-tracked down one path or another. I spend my time explaining why excessive tests aren't appropriate or calling consults that are requested but ultimately unhelpful. I think patients get suboptimal care when they try to dictate it even though they mean otherwise.

So what happens when we get sick or our family members are injured? How do I, as a physician, navigate the healthcare system? It's so hard to remain completely passive, to try to be the ideal patient, unbiased, receptive, without interjecting our own thoughts, opinions, desires, and demands. How do I refrain from challenging the physician, asking for that extra MRI, or proposing an alternative treatment? We are all in the stage of lives when our parents, friends, and family members are hospitalized for things, big and small. They call us for support, but what's best for them? Should we come to their rescue, UpToDate in hand, an advocate who comes across as argumentative? Should we back away and act as the family and friend, providing emotional support, helping the patient, but not interfering with medical care? Are unbiased, objective providers better than we who care so fervently about ourselves and our loved ones, who have access to medical repositories, who have personalities that want to fix everything? I try my best not to step on other doctor's toes, especially in fields in which I have no expertise, but I know I probably make nudging comments because of who I am and what I know.