Patient voices

1,315 articles · Since 2005

Articles, page 10

Here are some things that patients wish doctors knew

March 2, 2018Mar 2, 20182

A partial excerpt from What Patients Want: Anecdotes and Advice. To complement posts regarding what doctors wish their patients knew, here are some things that I as a patient wish doctors knew: We’re not here for the magazines. We’re here…

A partial excerpt from What Patients Want: Anecdotes and Advice.

To complement posts regarding what doctors wish their patients knew, here are some things that I as a patient wish doctors knew:

We’re not here for the magazines. We’re here because we’re sick, which often means we’re scared too.

We’re often embarrassed. You’re wearing clothes. We’re wearing a paper sack. Please be aware of that.

We know germs can thrive in …

A #MeToo moment with a pediatrician

Lauren Feltz, MHSc

January 31, 2018Jan 31, 201812

There I was, an awkward 13 year old sitting in the doctor’s office. For the past two weeks, I had been complaining to my mom about rib pain, and she had scheduled a visit to the pediatrician. I was very active — I played softball constantly — and she wanted to be sure I hadn’t broken a rib.

“Where does it hurt?” the nurse asked me.

“Right here,” I said, pointing to …

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A #MeToo moment with a pediatrician

What Celine Dion can teach us about patient care

Edward Leigh

January 26, 2018Jan 26, 20183

During a recent Las Vegas performance, an intoxicated concertgoer got on the stage and stood next to singer Celine Dion. This situation could have been handled in multiple ways, but Ms. Dion never lost her composure and handled the situation with grace and kindness. She brilliantly was able to diffuse the situation without anger while maintaining her dignity and that of the fan. The way she handled the situation and …

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Doctor-patient relationships would die without this one thing

David Penner

January 14, 2018Jan 14, 201813

As many readers are undoubtedly well aware, the doctor-patient relationship has a place of profound significance in health care. The critical importance of this relationship becomes magnified in oncology, where life hangs in the balance, and fear hangs over every…

In the winter of 2015, a needle biopsy was performed on a mysterious tumor in my …

Do you see me or your computer screen?

Michele Luckenbaugh

January 5, 2018Jan 5, 20183

The current state of health care in America, in my opinion, has been negatively impacted by Big Pharma, health insurance corporations, health care corporations and a plethora of governmental mandates. All have placed an immense burden upon our practicing physicians who spend much of their day doing paperwork and inputting into computers rather than face time with their patients. Some find it necessary to leave the profession. Please give us …

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Do you see me or your computer screen?

Are we living in a medical Zombie Land?

David Penner

December 20, 2017Dec 20, 201733

There is a strange and peculiar place in American society. Some say that when one enters this place, there are many odd-looking people walking about wearing white coats and wearing funny looking shoes. This place has a name. It is…

Entering into Medical Zombie Land for the first time, it is hard not to feel that one has been enveloped in a mysterious dimension of irrationality. Home …

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Are we living in a medical Zombie Land?

Is there danger in hoping too much?

Darrel Moellendorf

November 27, 2017Nov 27, 2017

According to Hesiod’s version of an ancient Greek legend, because Pandora has opened a jar stuffed full of evil by the Olympian gods, “countless plagues, wander amongst men … earth is full of evils … Diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently.” Curiously that jar was closed before hope was also allowed to escape.

Is the legend an expression of how bleak the …

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Is there danger in hoping too much?

The most frustrating things about being chronically ill

Toni Bernhard, JD

November 22, 2017Nov 22, 20172

Healthy or not, everybody has his or her share of frustrations in life. The chronically ill don’t have a corner on that market! This piece focuses on frustrations that are unique to those with ongoing health issues. I’ve experienced all of them as a result of being chronically ill with a debilitating illness that settled in after I contracted what appeared to be an acute viral infection in 2001.

Here are …

Are cultural sensitivities affecting care?

Esther Covington

November 21, 2017Nov 21, 20172

My job as a standardized patient (SP) at several different medical schools means that I spend a lot of time being interviewed and examined by students at every stage of their education. Occasionally, the interview is of such a nature that the SPs are told to dress in a certain “costume” because it signifies to the student that there is something about our cultural representation that affects our medical care. …

Got real rights? Not when seeking health care.

John T. James, PhD & Michael F. Mascia, MD, MPH

November 18, 2017Nov 18, 20172

Until genuine rights are extended to all patients, the ongoing health-care-reform saga perpetrated by Congress and executive leadership will continue to fail the American people. Many Americans have suffered and died because of a broken health-care-delivery system. One of us lost a 19-year old son due to lack of certain patient rights – specifically the right to evidence-based medicine and the right to a complete discharge plan from his hospital. …

How can patients navigate our complicated health care system?

Linda Girgis, MD

November 12, 2017Nov 12, 2017

It is not enough to know that a patient’s medical condition warrants an MRI. For most insurance companies, a diagnostic test of this sort requires what is known as a prior-authorization. But, the doctor saying the patient needs this test often fails. The insurance company has a certain guideline the patient must travel first before they will consider the test.

For example, a patient with back pain and numbness in one …

No one cares about the doctors

Peggy A. Rothbaum, PhD

November 8, 2017Nov 8, 201722

I love my doctors. I have an undiagnosable autoimmune disease. It's mostly manageable, my lab work is perfect, and I rarely get sick. I get allergy shots and take blood pressure medication. I always have at least low level, mostly…

I love my doctors.

I have an undiagnosable autoimmune disease. It’s mostly manageable, my lab work is perfect, and I rarely get sick. I get allergy shots and take blood pressure medication. I always have at least low level, mostly familiar, physical symptoms. Occasionally a new one appears. Sometimes it is scary.

I could have sued any or all of my doctors over the last decade-plus. I could be “livin’ large.” They …

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No one cares about the doctors

Some patients are hesitant to see the doctor. Here’s how we can fix that.

Arthur Guy

November 7, 2017Nov 7, 20176

Since the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires an annual checkup, and getting a yearly physical is generally a smart way to take care of one’s health, it’s a wonder why many truck drivers tend to avoid their yearly exams. Are they tired of the long waits, which may seem like more time spent away from home and family? Do they fear that the stress of their jobs, and perhaps

…

The painful side of positive health care marketing

Sam Harnett

November 7, 2017Nov 7, 20172

Lori Wallace sits on a couch with her 11-year-old son and his new pet snake. It burrows under his armpit, as if afraid. Wallace is sure it’s not. “If he was terrified, he would be balled up,” Wallace said. “See,…

Lori Wallace sits on a couch with her 11-year-old son and his new pet snake. It burrows under his armpit, as if afraid. Wallace is sure it’s not.

“If he was terrified, he would be balled up,” Wallace said. “See, that is why they are called ball pythons. When they are scared, they turn into a little ball.”

Wallace is dying of breast cancer, but a stranger wouldn’t know. She has a …

Is physician shadowing immoral?

David Penner

November 6, 2017Nov 6, 201732

Countless times as a patient both at two hospitals in New York City, I have witnessed doctors arrogantly waltzing into an examination room and arriving not alone but with an entourage. Like Greeks bearing gifts, they arrived with something unwanted and threatening: medical students, interns, residents, and fellows. And not once, in all the many times that I have been subjected to this ignominious practice, was my consent ever obtained …

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Is physician shadowing immoral?

A first-hand account of single-payer health care

Darrel Moellendorf

September 29, 2017Sep 29, 201710

I am sitting in my hospital room in a bone marrow transplant unit in a European city. I am a patient who has recently received a stem cell transplant. I am U.S. citizen, but I am a resident of a…

I am sitting in my hospital room in a bone marrow transplant unit in a European city. I am a patient who has recently received a stem cell transplant. I am U.S. citizen, but I am a resident of a country with a single-payer health system. The insurance system here covers 85 percent of the population. And participation is mandatory, although high earners can opt out by purchasing private insurance. …

Here’s how your attitude affects patients

Lauren Feltz, MHSc

September 17, 2017Sep 17, 2017

I have a very interesting job: I travel around the country providing neuromonitoring to surgeons in the operating room. I’m also an anesthesiologist assistant, certified and licensed to provide anesthesia. Throughout my ten-year career in the OR, I’ve been the guest of nearly a hundred hospitals in the U.S. and the UK. No two hospitals are the same. My career has allowed me to meet hundreds of incredibly caring doctors, …

3 ways to better communicate with patients via signposting

Edward Leigh

September 8, 2017Sep 8, 2017

Imagine driving through an unfamiliar area, and there are no street signs. How would you feel? Frustrated? Scared? Angry? You would feel these emotions because you had no direction or guidance. Patients need direction when they enter the health care…

On the streets, there are posts that have signs. They provide direction; they tell us where we are going. Hence, the name, “signposting.” …

Health care at the N of 1

Andy DeLao

August 24, 2017Aug 24, 2017

In the past few weeks, there has been a question regarding my use of the hashtag #Nof1 along with how I end the majority of my posts and tweets: Health care is delivered at the N of 1. One person…

In the past few weeks, there has been a question regarding my use of the hashtag #Nof1 along with how I end the majority of my posts and tweets: Health care is delivered at the N of 1.

One person even believed there might be a trademark infringement with the company N-of-1 who provides molecular testing for patients and then delivers evidenced-based medical recommendations for oncology patients. The reality is that, …

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Health care at the N of 1

Can doctors see beyond a patient’s weight?

Laura Fraser

August 23, 2017Aug 23, 20176

My older sister, Jan, visited me in San Francisco last spring. “You look great,” I told her, noticing that her clothes were hanging loose; she’d been heavy most of her life. “I’ve lost 60 pounds,” she said, and I automatically…

“I wasn’t trying,” she replied.

It hit me then that something was very wrong, first with …

Patient voices

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