Patients may not have it easy, but neither do docs
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As a patient, sometimes it pays to be difficult. Michelle Mayer, a research professor in North Carolina, knows this well -- and shares it proudly. When her hands began to swell more than a decade ago, she was diagnosed with Raynaud’s phenomenon even though a blood test suggested the possibility of a more dire cause.
She writes in On Being a ‘Difficult’ Patient:
‘During the next six months, I accumulated symptoms. I’d been an avid cyclist, and suddenly I had difficulty getting out of bed each morning. When I returned to the rheumatology clinic for a followup appointment, the doctor attributed my symptoms to stress, irritably dismissing me with, ‘You just have Raynaud’s.’ I knew that physicians often blamed stress for the ‘inexplicable’ ailments of young women; I refused to be dismissed so easily.’
Ultimately, her suspicions were proved correct. She was diagnosed with scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, an incurable, sometimes fatal autoimmune disease.
And as a doctor, sometimes it’s hard to help those who need it. Tony Miksanek, a physician in Illinois, describes his battles in dealing with difficult patients. His side of that reality isn’t pretty either.
He writes in On Caring for ‘Difficult’ Patients:
‘Willy is a great guy even though he’s a lousy patient. The thirty-seven-year-old salesman was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes fourteen years ago. He has been my patient for three years. I treat his father and mother; they asked me to accept their son as a patient. They said that he was looking for a ‘good doctor.’ Little did I know that ‘good doctor’ meant any physician unfamiliar with his history and naive enough to take him as a patient.’
The essays, published in the September/October issue of the journal Health Affairs, offer a glimpse into the frustrations that can sometimes define modern healthcare. Ultimately, both authors agree that what patients and doctors need is more time. Together.
-- Tami Dennis