Study: Pain Patients Have Desire to Kill Their Doctor
Would you believe that 1 in 20 pain or physical rehabilitation patients have wanted to kill their primary care provider? I'm stunned. I'd have thought the number would be much higher.
If you can't relate to this at all, you're lucky! Far too many of us with fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS) have had doctors dismiss our symptoms, say our pain is in our heads, or tell us we're depressed.
Some of the reasons people gave for wanting to kill their doctor include:
- Perceived incompetence
- Perceived harmful treatment
- Being forced to see a doctor they don't trust
If you think about it, all of those reasons actually hinge on trust. To me, that's the sad fact of this study - it points out how profoundly we've lost trust in the people who are supposed to help us. And too often, insurance companies take away our freedom to find a doctor we can trust.
I'll explore this problem more in the next 2 posts, first by looking at the doctor-patient relationship, and then by examining a predicted change in the healthcare system that I believe could be a turn for the better.
Meanwhile, if you want to vent about your doctor, post here or in About.com's Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome forum, where I can guarantee we all understand your frustration!
Suggested Reading:
- Find a Fibromyalgia Doctor
- Find a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Doctor
- How to Find a Complementary/Alternative Provider
Comments
I actually do not think it’s that profound. That leaves other 19% who do not feel like they want to harm their doctors. I do think that some insurance companies enforce guidelines for getting referals…I enjoy going to the doctor of my choice. Basically, 5 out of 100 aren’t happy. That’s probably a good rate if you compare it to other things that people can gripe about, lol.
I do agree that there is a lack of trust with physicians; we’ve been around in circles most of our lives. Lots of time, pain and $$$.
I expect the results would have been higher if the wording were different.
If you ask people if they’ve ever mis-trusted or felt negatively toward their primary care doctor, you’d probably get a higher response. Or even if you’d ask patients if they’ve ever felt their doctor had been negligent, dismissive or callous in his treatment — or if they’ve ever considered sueing! I expect the moral implications of the word “kill” have something to do with it.
It’s a shame because the idea that so many patients would want to “kill” their doctor could be misconstrued to say that patients, who are in fact merely expressing frustration, are likely to have psychiatric disorders. That puts the PATIENT at fault rather than the DOCTOR.
I’m going to have to move because I can’t afford to live where I am, but one of the main things I’m dreading is finding new doctors, because I think I have such good doctors now and really trust them. I don’t know if I’ll find such good doctors somewhere else.
Maybe that’s silly to think like that, but when it’s so hard to get a diagnosis in the first place and you see all these other doctors in the process that only lead you to dead ends or don’t do anything, or tell you it’s all in your head.
Well, I don’t want to go through that all over again. I know I have the diagnosis now, but we might not be done diagnosing everything. Last week my PCP confirmed I had TMJ/TMD, and I see a neurologist next week to make sure I don’t have anything neurological other than fibromyalgia.
What if I move and the new doctors just think I’m crazy or something? I’m really dreading finding new doctors again.
Okay, so kill is a strong word.
Maybe bopping them in the head.
Or screaming:
“you don’t have a clue what you are talking about!”
“shut up and listen to me!”
“do something! I am in pain!”
“if you don’t know send me to somebody who does”
In other words anything less than kill to get their attention.