Crunch Time!

Understanding Your Doctor

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Instead of assuming your doctor is giving you the brush off,try reading between the lines

1. He says: “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

You hear:”You’re wasting my time with trivia.”

What’s behind it? Doctors see illness at its earliest stages when a firm diagnosis is not always possible.

Aspirin is unlikely to cause harm and will ease minor symptoms until the problem is more obvious.

2. He says:”This won’t hurt a bit.”

You hear:”This is going to hurt like hell.”

What’s behind it? Doctor are aware of patient’s fears and their reputation depends as much on their reputation depends as much on their ability to soothe as to diagnose.Muscles tensed in expectation of pain resist probing fingers and needles,causing pain and discomfort anyway.

3. He says:”It’s a virus.”

You hear,”I’ve no idea what’s wrong with you.”

What’s behind it? Viruses pack out waiting rooms can cause a wide variety of symptoms. As the vast majority are harmless and self-imitating,saying this is a way of buying time.Either the problem will solve itself,or evolve into something recognizable.

4. He says:” I’m sending you to specialist.”

You hear.”I’ve had enough of you.”

What’s behind it? Doctors know a bit about everything.Specialist, on the other hand know everything about a bit.Combine these two types of expertise  and you have a safe,efficient system.Sometimes,the need for a specialist opinion is obvious, or your doctor may be worried about missing a serious cause of a symptom such as tiredness.

5. He says:” Is there anything else ?”

You hear:”Is that all you’ve come about?”

What’s behind it?  A good technique for finding out what the patient really came about. This often applies to men,who are notorious for spending 90% of the time discussing cold,only to admit to impotence just as they’re leaving.

Keith Hopcroft in The TIMES