so do you think that the medical preofession will ever really get rid of the God Complex amongst some practitioners?

[pagwatch]

DD was in hospital a week ago and our visit included dealing with a Paed Consultant who talked to me as if I was immensely stupid and lectured me loudly in front of the whole ward about DD not having been vaccinated ( without waiting to find out why)

When he realised he had been a bit of a cock he just shrugged. When I stumbled over a question abouts DDs last hospital visist and then apologised that I was tired ( three nights no sleep while DD in high dependency) he sneered 'well arn't we all'

Then attended GP for follow up yesterday and Gp could barely hide her annoyance that I was bothering her until I asked her to check DDs discharge forms which suggested she needed follow up GP visit ...

Don't get me wrong. My regular GP is fantastic and most of the hospital staff were bloody wonderful. And I have no doubtthatthere jobs often involve dealing with aggressive, rude or time wasting people.

But there does seem to be a high number of medical practitioners who feel instantly superior to everyone, assume everyone is dense and are superior and rude.
In many other professions this gets stamped out by clients/bosses and peers. But less so GP/DRs where they are often dealing with frightened folk.

Is there any move within the NHS/mediacl trainning/med school etc to try and stamp this out?
Or is 'arrogance' considered a nessecary trait enabling Doctors to make swift decisions.

I am a qualified nurse

IME it's the old-school type consultants who are particularly God-like

The younger ones who have more recently been promoted to consultant-status tend to be more human-like and team-playerish

Mind you, I work in psychiatry. General medicine may be very different (haven't been in general health for years. Surgeons were the worst IIRC)

Forgot to say, hope DD is ok now?

Hope your dd is better.

You should consider complaining to the hospital. I'm sure you're right that patients are less likely tell a rude doctor where to go than someone in another walk of life. But the complaints system does at least allow the "getting it stamped out by the boss" route.

You can do it here if you can't be bothered with the traditional route and they get responses pretty quickly from the hospitals on that site.

Thanks notnow

I did wonder if modern teaching was trying to get rid of it. Because it must be like the old pilot error thing - if no one junior is prepared to speak up because those in charge see that as dissent it can be dangerous.

And it is also tiresome

she is much better thanks

Thanks yesway. I will think about complaining.

The irony about the vaccination thing was that he wrote on DDs notes

no vaccination. counselling given

and

Some of the older ones are complete misfits.

I went with dd to change her pill (she is on the pill at 14 not because she is a WAG in training, but because her periods were so painful and heavy). Anyway, couldn't see our normal GP, so had to see this complete twitching loon. Wanted to change pills as the one which dd had been given had made her moody, he proceeded to lecture us, saying that she was too young to be on the pill, it would 'ruin her insides', basically out the fear of god into dd.

I got a little on my high horse, said dd had been prescribed a pill by a fully competent GP, and I accepted this diagnosis, what the medical basis of saying her insides would be messed up, that would be something a witch doctor would say, and was he prepared to prescribe dd an alternative pill or was he going to refuse to, in which case we would ask for a second opinion. He just blustered that dd should try mefalnic (that is SO not the word) acid (if he had looked at the notes he would have seen that she had taken it for 4 months with no effect).

Went out, wrote a letter of complaint, recieved a ridiculous response, changed practice.

I now have a dd who is mortifyingly embarassed about seeing a male doctor re period problems.

oh dear - do you feel like you've been patted on the head.I hate their attitude.

complaining is a pain isn't it - i make a point of letting someone else know about these sort of attitudes (hopefully someone higher up or equal) - just to get it out of my system.I am sure that other people they work with are aware as I have been asked several times if I want to make a complaint when I raised it.

The Surgeon who worked with my Mum before and when she died was a real arsehole who treated me like a child and then didn't even have the decency to tell us why my Mother had died.... he had his own pen he carried around in a Mahogany box and refers to himself with all his letters after his name...

My sons consultant however and all the Pediatric consultants at our local hospital (old and Young) are all really lovely.

I had a pretty unpleasant hospital experience this week. Thinking back on it, I realised it was their complete lack of respect for me as a human being that was so offensive. And specifically, the nurse not closing the door while talking me through the tests I would need and when I am and am not "allowed" to have intercourse.

DH wants to complain on the grounds that demonstrated a complete lack of respect for my privacy. Bless him, he's outraged on my behalf.

hi pagwatch
My DD has a rare condition and we are in hospital at least once a month...The peads are usually very good at the hospital but my gp on the other hand has dillusions of being god..

However because dds condition is so rare an I have done extensive research on it i looooooove going to my gp to baffle him with words and conditions he knows nothing about and to ask his opinion on them...:)
a bit diffiult for him as if he can't prescribe amoxicillin for it he appears a bit stumped...(seems to be his answer for everything)

p.s i'd like to point out I don't just go to the gp to tease him LOL but if i have to be there I quite enjoy the look of resentment on his face..He tends to give whatever I want with out really chatting nowdays..Makes up for years of godliness ...:)

I work in a big teaching hospital and there is definitely a mix of Gods and really lovely, normal consultants-not always age related! I am currently a patient at another hospital and I can't believe just how wonderful the consultant is. He is fantastic in every respect. I think that in every profession there are awful people. You would just hope that in healthcare they would treat patients appropriately and with respect and compassion as I hope I do.

Retrain as a lawyer. I find that doctors don't have that attitude with me when I tell them I'm a solicitor :)

A1980

You get this in any profession - not just the medical one. There are arseholes everywhere. However, medics usually catch you at a time when you are particularly distressed, tired, ill etc etc.

If you don't like someone's manner, say so. Would you let someone you knew talk to you like shit? No. You'd tell them. But why don't in general people feel able to tell someone they don't know to mind their manners? I can tell you from my own experience, most snotty consultants, if they even slightly think that you are likely to complain about their bedside manner, will bend over backwards to be extra nice to you.

So, in answer to your question - they behave as if they are god because we, as the poorly public, allow them to.