Medical Options
Friday I accompanied Ginny to Dr. Woody’s office where he gave her a number of options about treating her diabetes. The current treatment she’s been on is not proving as effective as we’d hoped.
So Dr. Woody presented her with several new options to think over before choosing one. We’ll go see him again in three months, so she has plenty of time to decide which path among the several available she wants to take.
Used to be a doctor would hand you a pill and say, “Swallow this; it’s good for you”. Now the rage in
Back on March 30, 2007, (see my archives) I recorded how I made my own decision among six or eight options for treating my prostate cancer.
Ginny faces that same sort of decision with her diabetes.
Here’s one funny incident related to medical options:
Once, quite a while back, Ginny and I talked with Dr. Woody about my erection problem. He outlined for us five or six treatment options then he said, “You two can choose whatever works best for you. I’m flexible about this”.
I replied, “That’s the whole problem. I’m flexible too”.
The three of us broke up. We laughed so long and so hard that a nurse rushed into the treatment room to see what was wrong. She charged in all set to do battle to protect her doctor. That set the three of us to laughing even harder.
My but we have fun at the doctor’s.
Yesterday was not that much fun.
Ginny faces some serious decision making.
When we left Dr. Woody’s, we shopped for a birthday present for our daughter-in-law, then we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, a fast food place, where we lingered talking about options for about two hours.
During the afternoon, Ginny wanted some alone time to mull things over.
I made one suggestion, then left her alone to think.
Whatever she decides, I’ll back her up 100%.
Later in the day, I showed my support for her decision-making process.
Did I encourage her to read the Bible, fast and pray and seek God’s will?
Not exactly.
For her comfort, what I did was put in a DVD movie, Men In Black, a 1934 movie in which the Three Stooges play the part of doctors, for her to watch and enjoy.
That was the most Christian thing I could do.
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posted by John Cowart @ 7:07 AM
2 Comments:
That was funny John.
But seriously, hope Ginny makes up her mind about her treatment. Here the Doc still hands over a pill, so to say.
It's very interesting to hear your perspective, John, on the current trend for doctors to conduct their consultations more as 'partnerships' between doctors and patients, with each playing a role in decision-making. I think this is a backlash from the 'bad old days', when doctors simply told patients what to do, without giving the patient any credit for having a brain in their head; without offering more than one option (if there was one).
However, I tend to agree with you that in some cases it can be more distressing to patients to be given too many options, or to be asked to make decisions when they don't necessarily know ALL the relevant facts (because after all, a consultation is only so long). A doctor once said to me, 'We call it informed consent, but of course there is not really any such thing'. This is because although our patients can be intelligent and informed, they still haven't had the time to do a medical degree. I think you may be correct in saying that part of this endless offering of options by doctors is because they fear litigation.
I hope that you and Ginny are able to come to a decision that you are both happy with for Ginny. If you are still confused, it may help to ask your Dr, 'What would YOU chose if it were you?'. My patients sometimes ask me this, and I answer them as honestly as I can, giving my reasons.
All the best to both of you,
Jelly
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