Da Curious

choosing the correct doctor. a lesson ive learned the hard way today. it wasn't until i started my first job out of college that i learned how important benefits are and the difference between hmo and ppo and heard for the first time the terms out of network and in network. all this has an effect on which medical plan you use and once that choice is made, you're left on your own to pick a primary care physician or pcp as most people refer to it as and really, when you have no medical background how are you to know which doctor is good or bad? sure you can ask your friends for recommendations but when you're new to the city and so are most of the people you're surrounded by, you're left to your own devices. while perusing through the listing of available doctors, it's easy to come up with some of your criteria but really, how technical can it be? essentially your choice on who you decide to be your main doctor for the next couple of years (assuming you stay with the company of course) comes down to some trivial questions such as female or male? closeness to your home? school attended? age? ethnicity maybe? but really...there's no way to tell if a doctor is qualified or not. this really is a big decision because the person you choose will ultimately be responsible for your health and making sure everything is a-ok. im sure there's ways you can research but i was not one of them.

i was being naive and under the impression that doctors for the most part are qualified and really it was more a matter of whether i liked their personality or not. but after today, i intend on making my selections much more carefully as it seems my history in choosing doctors is not too great at the moment. im batting about a 50/50 right now. one of the doctors i chose turned out to be this old korean guy who essentially looked at me as if i was paranoid each time i came in asking for a prescription. this was during the time when i developed tonsilitis every couple of months so i was getting very good at figuring out when it was starting and would make an appt right away to get some anti-biotics because once it reaches a certain stage, it ain't pretty. but whenever i went in he would sort of laugh and not take me seriously which made me think that he thought i was imagining everything but nevertheless, i didn't really care too much as long as i got my medicine. part of the reason why i stayed with him for so long was because i knew i could get same day appts but beyond that, nada. he was of no help to me.

now i had another doctor that i really liked because she was personable, caring and my only complaint really was that she was too damn busy that it would take months to get an appt. however, with my current insurance ending at the end of this month, i was in a race to get in to see her but with the next available appt in october (ridiculous no?) i opted for another doctor in the same office. and that is where i went today. i proceeded to tell him my history and get him up to date on all that has happened and in so many words or less, he basically told me that i was given incorrect treatment and that my other doctor was incompetent. news that i took pretty well as i was actually more surprised that he made such a bold statement since i never had any doubt about my previous doctor before but really, how would i know anyways? i don't deal with this stuff, im a numbers kind of gal. and as he further proceeded to explain to me, it all seemed to make a lot more sense which made me start thinking that if it wasn't for my health insurance ending soon, i might of never found any of this out. this is probably why people go for second opinions but the thought never even crossed my mind.

in any case, he was pretty infuritated and upset and gave me the advice of, just because a doctor seems sociable or friendly and is warm and fuzzy does not always mean that they're competent. to which i asked, how will i know and of course no helpful response was really given. but on the other hand, what if this doctor is wrong and my other doctor is just fine or it could be that both doctors are incompetent? honestly isn't that a scary thought? because how DOES one find out and really the lesson learned here is you can't always trust what your doctors tell you. they aren't perfect so the next time you're deciding on who you want your pcp to be...you better do your research and not be too trusting like i was.