[Indy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I would add this caveat to my post though: I do have a great deal of faith in modern medicine. And I am far more inclined to accept the assessments of medical professionals than of homeopaths and internet groups.

Whether or not I trust an individual medical practitioner depends on a lot of factors, including whether or not they have engendered a level of personal trust during my interactions with them.

Alongside the above catalogue of horrors, I have also had very good experiences of doctors and hospitals.

I have the same issue, especially when it comes to treatment for my son. My grandmother had my grandfather drive her 30 miles to the hospital because she knew something didn't feel right. They dismissed her as "paranoid old lady" and sent her home. The next day she had a chiro appt (aka "quack doctor appt"), told him about it, he did an exam, immediately identified the problem, sent her back to the hospital with his own directions on what to examine, and she was rushed into surgery an hour later. The problem they couldn't be bothered to check out the day before had nearly killed her.

Similarly my mother. She contracted meningitis. The last 3 months of her life were spent in hospitals and nursing homes, even though she was only in her 50's. They wrote her off as moody and temperamental, even though we all kept telling them she wasn't herself, she was delusional, sometimes had total memory lapses. AFTER it was too late they realized she'd had a stroke (or more correctly, a series of strokes), most likely when her fever spiked from the meningitis. For months they would only administer pain meds if she asked for them, but she wasn't capable of asking, because she didn't even know what day it was. One day she insisted her cousin was on a horse outside her window...her room was on the third floor. They couldn't be bothered to follow up on those things, though, and by the time they finally figured out what was going on, she was so out of it a spinal tap didn't even make her flinch. She was gone 2 days later.

When I hear someone say they don't trust the doctors to do the right thing, I completely understand. People tend to forget that not only are doctors human and subject to the same prejudices as the rest of us mere mortals, they also have some of the highest rates of alcoholism and drug abuse. Whether I agree with the specific reasons that mother had or not, I'm well aware that too many people are far too trusting of others, simply because there's an MD at the end of their name.