chapter 6: part 3 Study your Doctor

continued from Chapter 6: part 2

Let’s take the worst- case doctor/patient scenario and say that the two of you can’t make a compatible fit, either in personality or confidence and you still want a referral. You have been doing all that research in chapter five and this is just a minor setback.
If you are sure in your mind that this doctor is one you simply cannot relate to or trust completely then take immediate steps to make a change.
You don’t have to change your name, leave town and start again.
Ask for a second opinion, and then call the family doctor or a medical friend if you have one. Do some auditioning. This takes considerable tact. It takes some time, but if you are making your selection from say, the same clinic, your file goes from doctor to doctor so you’re not starting from scratch.

Fiona told me of her experience on Sean’s behalf when they first began seeing his specialist at a cancer clinic in a general hospital. It was a shabby, drafty place and most patients were vocal, wailing and breast beating. Sean was an uptight, private person and this display of overt emotion upset him as did the dingy setting. Fiona knew this wasn’t going to work well for him. She got on the phone and called everyone who might know of a specialist who might be right for her Sean. She kept hearing the same name and believed this might be the right one. He worked from a hospital she was familiar with.

They arranged their appointment and when the doctor asked why they had come, Sean told him bluntly and honestly that he didn’t have confidence in either his present doctor or that clinic. Fiona sensed that the specialist was pigeonholing Sean as a difficult patient and he casually asked them to wait while he went away to review Sean’s files. She knew he was going to turn them down. She turned to Sean and said, “Look, he isn’t going to take your case; he believes you might be a trouble maker and he doesn’t need the aggravation. It’s your job to convince him that you’re a good guy. You may have to beg, but do what you have to do to change his mind.”
And he did.
Continued in chapter 6: part 4