If the doctor says this to you, RUN!

This is a recounting of true events, a telephone conversation I had just yesterday. Names have been changed. The woman I spoke with had just lost her husband to a short-lived diagnosis and a painful death. She told me that her husband’s physician encouraged good nutritional habits and exercise. That’s a good thing. However, when her husband continued to complain of ongoing symptoms such as los of energy, loss of stamina and arthritic pain, the doctor’s response, according to this woman, was not to investigate his complaints further, but to say to her husband, “You’re just getting older, George.”

Ageism – alive and well in the medical profession – alive and well in too many of those in whom we place our trust and, indeed, our lives. So yes, if any health care provider uses your age, or the age of anyone for whom you advocate, as the overriding explanation for expressed concerns RUN!! Run to find another physician. Before you run, fire your physician.

AARP The Magazine carried an article addressing this very problem in its August/September 2013 issue. It is good reading and I highly recommend the article: “Is It Time to Find a New Doctor?”


http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-08-2013/physician-patient-relationship.html