I've been considering how to wade into this, but I think I will not.

Come, now! I didn't say that none of us are the *Empress*!

You did indeed qualify that. My over-inflated ego thanks you.

I would never overlook the Empress!

The words I typed said doctors are self-righteous etc., but I did not mean all doctors.

So it's incumbent on the ranter to over-explain in case someone interprets hyperbole in a literal fashion?

Good to know.

Like DJ, I have no dog in this fight, but I can think of any number of times where a negative broad stroke was painted, no qualifiers given, and someone took offense - regardless of their own personal experiences that caused them to feel like that.

I've been called for doing it any number of times (jeebus Aimee, learn will ya?) and I apologized for hurting my friends.

Boubon, ChiKat, bourbon.

Or some weed.

Or both.

And chocolate. Not a ton, just get some high-test and nibble.

And remember: You wouldn't have cramps if you weren't fat. ::eyeroll::

I am one of the fortunate few who has a doctor who said the first time she met me, "Well, you're x overweight but your blood pressure is great, your good cholesterol is slightly high but it doesn't concern me, your EKG is dead on. If you lost weight you'd have better wind, some more stamina in general. As you get older, it could start to cause you problems." That conversation (more or less) happens yearly. If I gain weight, we talk about it. If I lose weight, we talk about it. It's a factor but its not the be-all-and-end-all of my existance as her patient.

The two times I've needed medication for my depression she didn't start with "loose weight". Nor for my insomnia. In my subsequent visit (once the crisis was under control) we discussed them in context of my overall health and weight.

It is a big part of the reason she has been my doctor for nearly fifteen years and I have gone through hoops to keep her.

There are other reason's too. When I had no health insurance she gave me another year's perscription of my Anti-D without a visit -- I'd been her patient for over a decade and she knew I wouldn't go on taking my (thankfully small) dose if it caused me problems or stopped working.

If the killer sticker isn't there that day she does my blood-draws herself because I have wuss veins (no weight comment there, btw).

When I needed some big needles before I went to Peru she did them herself because she's amazingly good at them (I once told her she should have been a pediatrician, she said she'd considered it but decided it would be too sad).

Whenever I've been sick she's gotten me in right away.

Best of all, however, is that when I needed an ObGyn and said "I think I'd prefer a woman" she replied "Bill S____ is the best I know." "Well, are there any women you could recomend?" "He's my gynecologist". I went with that.

And when I had an icky girly medical mystery the two of them would get on the phone with me in the room with one of them and decide what we should do next.

He's not in her practice group but my dermatologist and orthopedic surgeon are. Really, only my dentist is out of this loop.

The sonograms, CT scan, and bladder scan practices I had to go to were quickly gotten appointments. The x-ray was walk-in. The time I needed an ER for my breathing I took a taxi (over an ambulance) so I could pick my destination and those results seamlessly entered the flow of information. They're all within blocks of one another and communicate with one another beautifully, transmitting test results with never a hitch.

I lucked into it and even though I now live four blocks from another major medical center I'm going to do my damndest to keep all my stuff at NYU because I'm not giving up a good thing. They are CROSS TOWN and I will not give them up. (Ask a New Yorker, that is serious ).

I have no idea if NYU is particularly good at this or if its just my group. Columbia Presbyterian where I am now may be great too.

None of this is rocket-science. It's basic communication and treating a patient as one person and not a collection of parts. Living in a city is CLEARLY an advantage geography-wise and but we live in the computer age so it shouldn't be that big of one. This should be standard care.

No, someone asked me what I meant when I said the rant was hyperbolic/exaggerated. I was explaining that that's what was being argued.

And yeah, I think when the ranter has hurt someone's feelings it is, if not incumbent, at least polite to apologize and explain that it was exaggeration.

Dunno if JenK posts here um, ever, anymore but she's a nurse. Exbuffista? And many of us work with the medical profession and doctors and nurses every day. IJS.

And may the owners of the dog know best how to handle this so as to prevent a recurrence.

What sucks is that the dog owners are B's husband's aunt and uncle. She's an old dog for her breed, so sadly I think that time is going to run out for her simply because she's a large dog. Which is sad because I have met the dog and she's a sweetheart of a dog.

I've been considering how to wade into this, but I think I will not.

I think the same - but I do research medical sociology, health inequalities and disability. I think the key thing to remember in this kind of debate is that critiquing structures doesn't mean critiquing the individuals within those structures. As a teacher, I've heard a lot of "my teacher was crap and made me lose my self-esteem forever." I wouldn't take that personally, much as I might be tempted to. There *are* a lot of health inequalities in our societies, and those can affect people directly and personally. Aaaand now I'm being dragged back to my ridiculously complicated life. "Remember when things used to be nice and boring?" "No."

Aims, I should have said how horrible for your friend. I have a teeny dog who doesn't even play bite, but he doesn't like kids. He will tolerate, but clearly doesn't like (they pet too hard, and he has to hide from them). As friendly as he is, if one of them chased him or cornered him, I can see him growling.

Poor everyone involved!

And yeah, I think when the ranter has hurt someone's feelings it is, if not incumbent, at least polite to apologize and explain that it was exaggeration.

No, what I meant was over-explain ahead of time, in the event that someone reading might know someone who is in some way related to something mentioned in the rant. As in, "I in no way wish to disparage any medical professionals anyone here may know currently or at some time in the future or may have known in the past, but the experiences I've had with doctors have been so uniformly demoralizing that I wish to avoid all doctors and would rather die in my own backyard because I think that doctors are evil, though I am sure that someone here knows or knows of a non-evil doctor or may know one in the future."

Kind of makes the point of having a rant be, well, pointless.