Yours not to reason why

I belonged to a small but hopefully growing group of people who dared to take on and defy our doctors. It is therefore comforting for me indeed to come across Ms Lee Soh Hong and her website, where among other matters, she had posted about her encounters with doctors and their attitudes.

I have noticed that the oncologists (surgical and medical, haven't met the radiation ones, so no comment) at NCC, especially the senior ones are a tough bunch to reckon with. They have on an iron mask of a face and the coldness coming from them can chill you into silence and submission. If you so much as dared to venture forth with a question, the shortness and abruptness of the answer will put paid to whatever other questions that are swimming in your head, and whatever plans you have of challenging their decisions. Maybe, to them, we are the difficult patients, and hence the iron face mask, or else nothing can be achieved.

It really takes a lot of guts and defiance to stand up to them. I admit that with all the defiance I had, sometimes, I find their coldness and abruptness too disconcerting that I shelved whatever questions I had and gave in to submission with great reluctance.

The way they answered your questions and dished out their instructions and prescriptions is like :

yours not to reason why
yours not to make reply
yours but to let me jab you with chemo
and yours not to defy, or you die!

My family had been told that if I did not start on chemo straight away, I would have only 3 to 5 months left. When I wanted to stop chemo, I was told, "no bargaining, it's the board's decision".

It's so ironical that every once in a while the counter staff will shoved a survey questionnaire at me asking me to grade the standard of their service. I have no quarrels with the attitudes of the nurses and counter staff, who are usually the subject of the survey, but unfortunately, the attitudes of doctors leave much to be desired.

As Dr Mercola said, "whose body is it anyway?". Perhaps doctors should bear this in mind and that, while they can give advice, patients also have every right to say 'yes' or 'no'. Afterall, it's my body, it's my interest, it's my life, and my money too.

Healing setback

There are some articles in cancerstory.com about doctors and their attitudes which make for interesting and informational reading. I have not sought permission from the admin of the website, so I am unable to reproduce the articles here and have only provided the links instead. I share the author's frustrations about some doctors' attitudes and in highlighting her website, I am not condemning all doctors, but hope that people be more discerning in their choice of doctors, and, more importantly, take on a more proactive role in their treatment.

1. It's about money

2. Are you ready to "take on" your doctor?

3. Can you "fire" your doctor?