doctors i have despised ... and respected

I humbly admit to being a raging bigot ... when it comes to the medical profession!  :-)  As well as the bad taste one gets in one's mouth from what we read of them online (both BY them and ABOUT them), i have plenty of first-hand experience of their arrogance, ineptitude and stupidity.

I'm sure the first quality will be debated by nobody outside the profession.  If you don't belong to their immaculate priesthood, you couldn't POSSIBLY be worthy to discuss the emerging evidence that all we've "known" about nutrition for most of our lives is incorrect -- or any other subject for that matter..  Tell me, is there a class in medical school called Attitude 101?  Or maybe it's just a groupthink thing -- to maintain their position in society they HAVE to be right about everything, all the time.  They couldn't possibly be misled themselves.  What's in the medical books is FACT, scientifically unassailable, and any other doctor who disagrees is a heretic, after whom the AMA and FDA will be coming any day now.  Patients MUST believe in their omniscience.  ...Sounds like the placebo effect to me, that anyone ever benefits from consulting one.

As far as ineptitude and stupidity are concerned, you have to wonder -- these people have GOOD BRAINS!  They couldn't have gotten through all that schooling without them.  Why are they so susceptible to the blandishments of drug reps, then -- where's the skepticism?  When they read about the chicanery practiced by Ancel Keys and the nonsense presented during the McGovern-led hearings, how can they brush it aside without THINKING, the way most of them do?

How can a fat, unhealthy doctor confront his patients and proclaim, "do what i say, because i know what i'm talking about"?  First, trying to take care of HIMSELF and finding his own advice doesn't work, HOW on god's earth can he not doubt the validity of his beliefs?  A certain doctor, whom i know only socially, is the poster-child for the point of view i'm describing -- his diet is appalling.  I honestly like the man but ... DAMN.

There are plenty of "professionally revolting" doctors out there, too.  From the GP i'd seen only once, who tried to make a house-call uninvited after i had returned from a hospital stay, to my "favorite," the ritzy Houston endocrinologist who declared that it didn't matter how bad i felt, because my blood-test numbers were good....  I don't know how these dickweeds can live with themselves.

On the other hand, there are some who deserve all the blessings the gods can give them -- some have MY blessings already!  The men who "fixed" my mother's knees and eyes were paragons of their art.  The two doctors i had, who themselves suffered from thyroid problems, who taught me a great deal i had never heard before (and i was no spring chicken when i consulted them) -- one of whom, additionally, educated me on allergens -- these were worth their weight in gold.  The female doctor, actually was worth her weight in something more like platinum (the skinny thing)....  It was a dark day for me when she left her Texas practice.

One or two friends, being aware of my predilection, voice surprise that there are blogs that i read and endorse which are written by [gasp] DOCTORS!  :-)  Doctors, of course, are like plumbers and hair-stylists, in that there are great ones as well as the piss-poor.  It's just that there's a limit to how much damage a crummy plumber can do.

There are those who will say we have to cut doctors some slack, because after all, they're only human.  My reply is, they can't have it both ways.  They can't insist on maintaining their monopoly when their track record in so godawful.  The excellence of trauma-care cannot cancel out their abyssmal record in the advancement of wellness.  Until the physician learns to heal him/herself, my trust and confidence will be firmly withheld.