Article: The darker side of being a doctor — Dr. Eric Levi

[V.R.T.]

I understand that we've all had difficult experiences with doctors,

Agree with the approach of seeing the humanity in others, and agree that we put doctors under inhuman pressure.

But I'd like to gently push back on the use of the word difficult. Being gaslit over a period of years by countless different doctors that there is nothing wrong with you except depression until you follow their advice and push through your symptoms over and over, ending up severely disabled and being thereafter treated as a contemptible freakshow curiousity who just doesn't want to get better by the same doctors who kept encouraging you you could get your life back if you'd only listen to them - this is an experience of a far more negative stripe than merely 'difficult'.

This is a common experience in the MECFS world.

I’ve always thought that it makes perfect sense that medical professionals don’t have much empathy for people who’s primary complaints are exhaustion and inability to perform at a normal level because that’s exactly the sort of thing they’re expected to push through. Especially hospital staff. This isn’t to say they’re not morally responsible for it but it’s a bad situation not only for the patients

Yes, I think this explains why we come in for such extreme vitriol from some doctors and nurses. It doesn't let those medical professionals off the hook in the slightest though .

 

[PageofME]

Interesting discussion. I wasn't surprised to hear that the doctor who died by suicide was the child of two psychiatrists. Having grown up with two doctors as parents myself, I realized when I was just five years old how much hospital work messed them up. That was the moment I decided my first choice of profession would be anything but medicine.

 

[Axel]

Postmen are not dealing with the impossible pressure that hospitalists and surgeons are.

The issue was clearly that administrative red tape and work algorithms linked to performance targets (without taking the human factor into account) were grinding workers down. In and of itself. Regardless of the depth of the task.

It is also very much the case that, because we do not fit into the algorithm’s categories, we go undetected.

 

[Xenodica]

But I'd like to gently push back on the use of the word difficult. Being gaslit over a period of years by countless different doctors that there is nothing wrong with you except depression until you follow their advice and push through your symptoms over and over, ending up severely disabled and being thereafter treated as a contemptible freakshow curiousity who just doesn't want to get better by the same doctors who kept encouraging you you could get your life back if you'd only listen to them - this is an experience of a far more negative stripe than merely 'difficult'.

This is a common experience in the MECFS world.

Yep. I know. I didn't have the energy to go back and ensure everyone would understand that I get it, once I finished writing the comment. Hoped everyone would understand 'difficult' as a shorthand, but fair enough that that didn't cut it.

Not going to go into it, but I've experienced what you're talking about my whole life. I have an enormous well of resentment towards the doctors who have pushed me into housebound/bedbound ME. The absolute rage that lives in me and that I don't have the energy to process or express. I get it.

Anyway. Thanks for taking the time to ensure that everyone feels heard. Apologies for any hurt caused.

Is there a way to save a comment as draft so we can come back later and fix up issues like this when we have more energy, before posting? Because I often want to get my thoughts down before they disappear, but then by the end of writing I'm too tired to go back and clarify to prevent misunderstanding.

 

[bobbler]

Yep. I know. I didn't have the energy to go back and ensure everyone would understand that I get it, once I finished writing the comment. Hoped everyone would understand 'difficult' as a shorthand, but fair enough that that didn't cut it.

Not going to go into it, but I've experienced what you're talking about my whole life. I have an enormous well of resentment towards the doctors who have pushed me into housebound/bedbound ME. The absolute rage (at the world) that lives in me and that I don't have the energy to process or express. I get it.

Anyway. Thanks for taking the time to ensure that everyone feels heard. Apologies for any hurt caused.

Is there a way to save a comment as draft so we can come back later and fix up issues like this when we have more energy, before posting? Because I often want to get my thoughts down before they disappear, but then by the end of writing I'm too tired to go back and clarify to prevent misunderstanding.

there is a save that is in the right hand top corner next to preview (floppy disc icon with a dropdown) - I don't know how long it saves it for etc

 

[forestglip]

I don't know how long it saves it for etc

We have it set to save for 7 days.

If it's something you've spent a lot of time on, I'd recommend also saving it as a file on your device, just to be safe.

 

[Sean]

Yep, never rely on forum software for your backups. Best solution is to just have a dedicated text file on your computer for doing drafts of your comments.

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As to being regarded as difficult, in denial, uncooperative, bastard malingering patients who just don't want to get better, blah blah blah.

To the people with that view (not you, @Xenodica) I simply ask what is the appropriate response to the appalling situation we have been placed in, through no fault of our own, and the persistent stubborn refusal of the medical profession and broader governance to deal with in any meaningful productive way, and instead just endlessly perpetuate and compound the whole brutal catastrophe, while pretending they care and are doing something about it?

How should we respond to this situation in a manner that is both effective and 'acceptable' to those in power?

Please do enlighten us.

Because nothing has worked so far.

That cannot be entirely our fault.

 

[Ash]

It has always boggled my mind that we've decided on a system where the people making the most important life and death decisions for others are as stressed, overworked and sleep-deprived as possible.

Capitalism kills.