Why patients so eager to hate the physician profession: “I suspect the payment system has something to do with it. When patients don’t know what we charge for things (we are not allowed to disclose our fee schedules), they assume we are milking the system for all it’s worth. The fact that the majority of transaction happens below the surface devalues the visit.”

Nice post from Dr. Rob. I’d like to add that the media tends to hype cases that portray physicians negatively – it sells more papers. Stories where patients are satisfied with their care and happy with their physicians make for boring headlines.

That being said, doctors have the come to grips with the better informed patients of today. The internet will be the primary source of consumer health information, and we need to better handle patients who show up with preconceived, self-researched notions of their condition.