What you should know about firing your physician

This is a topic I don't often talk about because frankly, I don't like confrontation. However, it would be unrealistic of me to share life as a patient without mentioning this often uncomfortable situation. 

Firing your physician.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have had to remove myself from a physician's care. For someone with scores of doctors and nine years of constant medical care... that is a very small number. I am one of the lucky ones, truly. A doctor-patient relationship should be a partnership, never a dictatorship. Often new patients are blissfully naive, they honestly believe a doctor can do no wrong. They hand over their autonomy and let doctors make all the final decisions. This is what the system was built on. This is what the media shows us. This is what the providers are used to. The naivete makes the jobs easier - no questions, no interjections, just a followed treatment plan utilizing the drug companies that are likely funding them or their clinic. Often, this is a win-win scenery, the patient improves, the doctor gets paid, and everyone is happy. That is... until it doesn't. Until you have been a patient long enough to lose those rose-colored glasses; long enough to have experienced the negative side of medicine. The neglect. The disrespect. The dismissal. The inflated ego which put your life at risk.

Medicine is built for patients who take orders, not for patients who want a synergistic relationship in which they can exercise their right to choose without fear. Personally, I take a very active stance in my care. I want to be well educated on my conditions, their treatments, and the medical options available to me. I may bring potential new treatments up in office and request to review their pros and cons. When prescribed a new medication I may return home and read accredited medical journals and browse clinical trials to get a better idea of a drugs potential benefits and adverse reactions. I always ensure I know what is being prescribed and why. The knowledge necessary to make my final decision will come from open communication between me and my doctors as well as my own personal research. Both parties must be actively engaged and willing to see from each other's perspective. This can only be achieved through mutual respect.

Please note that many, in fact MOST medical professionals are good, honest people who genuinely want to help others. Or at least, many of them start that way. I have many doctors on my team who I would consider family at this point. Heck, I have added some of them to my Christmas list! I know my desires for autonomy and quality of life are respected at their practice. I also know I am profoundly safe and genuinely heard while under their medical supervision. However, that is not what this blog post is about. 

I want you to know that you do not have to stay in a negative relationship with a physician. While finding a new doctor is frustrating and often exhausting, it could save your life. You deserve to be with someone you trust - someone you feel safe to bring up your concerns with. While yes, the physician holds the expertise, training, and knowledge in theory, YOU and only you are the one that must inhabit the body in question. If a medical professional disregards your symptoms, uses derogatory remarks, or acts fictitiously during your appointments you have the right to decline further treatment with that provider. Your medical care is about you, your comfort, and your quality of life. You and your doctor should be a team with the same outcome in mind. While you of course should accept and head proper medical expertise... if that expertise comes at the cost of emotional abuse or repeated physical negligence you have every right to fire your physician.