Tag human behavior

Let The Doctor Rest

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

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One of the biggest grievances I have as a physician is the fact that people assume that I am on call all the time for every random medical question. People will ask me questions at the gym, the grocery store, and via email. Many people have even contacted me on Facebook with detailed medical questions which they expect me to answer, and some will even cop an attitude when I very nicely tell them that I cannot address their question via Facebook message. No other profession deals with the same amount of queries. Would you ask your tax person a detailed question via Facebook?

I have even gotten texts in the middle of the night (thank goodness I turn my ringer off while I sleep) with medical questions. Sometimes the questions don’t even pertain to the person asking, but to a friend or relative. That is when I get annoyed, because it isn’t my responsibility to dole out free medical advice to everyone.

I realize that by putting my foot down and setting boundaries, I will cause some individuals to seek diagnoses on their own, which is also quite frustrating. They will go online and attempt to find a diagnosis, despite the fact that they have no medical expertise whatsoever. These are the people who infuriate doctors, because they will march into doctors’ offices and behave as if they have all the answers. This type of attitude is not only frustrating to medical professionals, it can be downright dangerous when the wrong diagnosis is made.

Please understand that I will not diagnose your niece’s boyfriend’s strange skin condition, even if you send me five images of the condition, taken at different angles and at different stages of the flareup. Such requests take unfair advantage of all of my schooling and post-doctoral training, which I have every right to charge for. As a matter of fact, it would be irresponsible of me to respond to such requests.

If the medical malady is of an urgent or emergent nature, then I suggest that you avail yourself of the appropriate service. Urgent care centers and emergency rooms exist for a reason. I am not a stand-alone urgent care center, nor am I a doctor on call 24/7. Please respect my time off.

For those of you who are physicians or surgeons, I welcome responses to this post.

Inappropriate Things People Do

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

o-EXCUSE-ME-facebook

There are times when I am completely flabbergasted by the things people do which clearly overstep the bounds of professionalism and decency. It seems like more and more individuals seem to have lost their social filters, perhaps because they are so fed up with all the stress which modern society flings at them. People seem more desperate these days, like they are grasping for meaning in their lives. What is odd is that my observation of human behavior in general these days has been a collection of unpredictable, risky, peculiar, and sometimes just plain psychotic behavior.

Here are my top three out of the latest collection of gripes against people who have done and said inappropriate things:

1. The man with whom I had a business interaction who decided that there was no problem taking my contact information which was submitted for business purposes and sending me an email asking me out! MY GOD. I berated him for his utter lack of professionalism and for being so presumptuous. I am NOT on the market, and at no time did I make any indication that I was, nor did I send any sort of flirtatious vibe. Though he apologized, he went on an on about how he had perceived a connection, and about how he should have asked me out in person. To the man who stepped over the line: You are delusional. There was NO CONNECTION, but I guess in your desperate mind, you wanted to believe there was one so you made it up in your messed up head. Just because a woman is nice and engages in conversation does NOT mean that she is interested in you! Also, mister, if you had asked me out in person, I would have openly scolded you right in front of your co-workers, so that would have been a horrible idea as well. My suggestion is for you to understand how unprofessional you are!

2. The disgusting people who repeatedly post disgusting porn images on my Facebook fan page. What sucks is that I cannot block them since they are doing it on my fan page. I am shocked that Facebook fails to protect the fan pages of users, allowing scumbags to post whatever they want. This is harassment and abuse, and it should be a reportable offense! There was only one time I was able to find one of the people when I went to my main personal page, and when I did, I blocked that jerk immediately.

1. The guy who boldly wrote to me via my landing page, trying to persuade me to open the lines of communication with him. I am not stupid, and I my “oh shit, this guy is hitting on me” radar went off. I wrote to him and asked if he was inquiring about training or nutrition programs, or if he was trying to establish a “social connection” as I put it. I also made it clear that if it was the latter, I was NOT interested. He had the gall to send me a photo of himself, stating that I should see what he looked like! Sorry buddy, the answer is still and always a big, fat NO! As a matter of fact, the fact that he was stubborn enough to send a photo of himself (thank goodness he was fully clothed in it!) angered me. When I say I am not interested, nothing can change my mind. So let it go already!