I have no sense of humor right now.

I rarely do when I'm not feeling good and my experience at the doctor is horrifying.

Signed,
Still Not Over the Whole Crystel Meth Thing

The New York Times has been having a series on what it's like to be a patient, and their most recent one was about bad doctor behavior. They said that traditionally almost nobody complains, but big practices and HMOs are really working to get people to comment on the way the doctor treats you. If nobody complains, nothing gets done, but if people complain, TPTB can make the doctors go to sensitivity boot camp, or even fire them. TPTB like happy patients who come back.

Scarlett Johansson in NYT Style. What strikes me the most is the contradiction between:

Johansson, who is 21 but whose poise makes her seem older

and, well, the incredibly vapid rest of the article. I can very well imagine the sorts of older men that would date her. It's not flattering in the least.

eta:

if people complain, TPTB can make the doctors go to sensitivity boot camp, or even fire them

Man, I got burned by an ENT months ago, and I never thought to do anything about it other than complain to my internist. I wish I'd known of things like this.

It appears to have stopped snowing. Probably not even an inch, and not sticking to the roads. What do you want to bet that traffic will be a complete nightmare anyway?

and, well, the incredibly vapid rest of the article. I can very well imagine the sorts of older men that would date her. It's not flattering in the least.

That article was great. The reporter just let Johansson take all the verbal rope she needed to hang herself. "I don't like stuff, except my closets of designer dresses and cashmere socks, but everyone must give me gifts all the time even if they're unsatisfying, like a car that doesn't come with a valet"

That article was great.

That's why I totally don't get the poise line.

Mom's dealt with complete incompentence from her former eye doctor, her chronic pain for the last 2 years was a serious problem and even though he kept telling her take Tylenol it actually does nothing to relieve the pain she was having.

Not only has she written a letter to the doctor himself but she's contacted her HMO and what ever regulatory board there is for eye doctors. Plus her doctor was so pissed off about the treatment he received HE wrote a few letters about this.

My advice is to complain in person and in writing and when you change doctors let the new doctor know exactly why you are switching.

I just sent my doctor an email complaining about the appointment. I feel better, now.

Today is just not going well.

I think I may cry, or go throw up again.

eta: good for you on speaking up, Allyson.

I'm mad at myself for being too discombulated to say anything at the time it was happening.

The same thing happened with me last year, with my ex-shrink. At the first appointment I had with her after my scary not-quite-suicidal experience (okay, the appointment was 3 months after, but she had my records and knew I ended up at the psych ER the next day), she didn't ask me one specific question about my mental health, but proceded to talk about my weight the entire time, and what I should weigh, and what exercises were good (Pilates, IIRC, is good for the "fat around your middle"), and that if I hadn't lost weight by my next appointment 3 months hence, she'd put me on a weight-loss drug.

Because apparently *fat* is what makes you crazy.

I was utterly flabbergasted and, consequently, speechless.

That was my last appointment with her. Fuck that.