h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Peta,
Good work, I'm astonished there isn't more conversation around this. [Do conversations expire ? I'm a newbie]. The vast majority of medics in my experience [maybe less so for GPs] try to do a good job, but are SO constrained for time & resources that He Who Shouts Loudest [well, maybe in the calmest & most persistent way] is often the only one to get the Healthcare we should. This sucks, but can be used to advantage when you recognise it.
Ambulances - if you have a GP who is adamant that hospitalisation is not necessary, ambulance staff will defer to them. So evict the GP first [they have no right of residence in your house...].

Thank you The Flying Dodo.

There were more conversations around this entry, but they have been hidden pending moderation, all old postings are been put back once they've been checked over by the moderation team, so postings related to really early entries like this one are still hidden, but they'll come back eventually. Postings don't expire, we keep everything posted on h2g2 for posterity.

I agree with you on the 'he who shouts loudest' thought. It's often the very nicest people who try to do things kindly and politely that get overlooked and passed over, which really isn't right, but it's the way things happen, isn't it?

Most medics and docs are totally fab, I have a great deal of confidence in the UK National Health Service, but as you say, they're working under such duress nowadays.

Being a man, I've learnt the annoying and saddening answer to how to get a doctor's attention. Peta's and The Dodo's tips are first class, but I'm afraid the best way to get a doctor's attention is to be a man.


Grime

Oh I don't know. Being a persistant and informed mother seems to work pretty well too! I do know what you mean though. It does help that nowadays many women have entered the profession. Medics seem to be less bias nowadays, which has to be a good thing.

I work with them...there is NO way to get any doctors attention...unless of course you say, sorry, I'm going home and NO I HAVEN't done such and such...

Apart from that...both for the situation Peta...glad it go sorted in the end, and to the GP.

GP's don't listen...especially if you have a slight clue as to what might actually be wrong with you. I've had bad experiences with almost every GP I have ever known. I now no longer bother. It is a sad thing, and I'll regret it one of these days, but it's just easier to get one with it....

Hi Zantic,

Thanks, at the time it was awful, but thankfully she made it through in the end.

My doctor is actually a really good bloke, he's wonderfully supportive now, and he did try and listen then. The problem was because they couldn't identify something specific, like an infection, they went with the 'let's see what happens next' course of action, which in many cases might be fine, but in a very small number of cases, like my daughter's, could have proved to be fatal.

The system is probably never going to be totally foolproof, but hopefully the 'How to get a doctor's attention' entry will help someone out there to know how to fare a little better in their doctor's surgery or clinic.

Just another re-affirmation that "it's not just you" if nothing else.
Thanks..

Hi Zantic,

Did you make it over to this Entry from the Chrohn's Entry? I used to work part-time for CICRA who are one of the children's Chrohn's Disease charities, it's one of those conditions that again takes ages to be disagnosed I believe.

I'm suprised that they don't have some chemical way of measuring levels of distress or illness nowadays, couldn't that be possible? Surely your body reacts chemically if it's in pain or under great duress? Why can't they pick these things up another way rather than relying on patients or parents to be persistent and nag?

I've just been browsing,but yes, I think i did.
I'll answer that one on Monday...I'm just going off to the pre-meet.