When Doctors Don’t Believe Patients

Individuals feeling the need to reach out to a physician should not have to convince their doctor that something is wrong with them. Unfortunately, this is a problem many patients face.

Most doctors are well-meaning, and they mean no offense when they do not pay as much attention to concerns voiced by a patient as they should. The problem stems from the fact that many doctors are “data-driven” regarding the diagnostic process and possess a lot of confidence in their evaluation skills. These facts sometimes conspire to make a patient’s words less relevant after a simple description of their symptoms.

The Consequences

When doctors do not believe their patients, serious consequences can result for the patient, physician, and medical facility that employs the doctor. Possible consequences for patients include:

• A treatable condition grows worse
• Longer recovery time
• Increased medical costs
• Patients receive unnecessary or harmful medication

When a physician fails to take a patient’s word into account and misdiagnoses an illness, both the doctor and hospital can find themselves facing a medical malpractice suit. Juries are often not very sympathetic to the negligence of medical professionals.

Reasons Doctors Dismiss Words of Patients

Some doctors believe they know more about a patient’s body than the patient. While a doctor may have more medical knowledge, they cannot experience what the patient is experiencing and should not dismiss this. The following are some of the factors that influence doctors’ belief that they are always right.

Patient Age

There are times when the symptoms experienced by young people will be dismissed due to the general assumption that youthful individuals are likely to enjoy good health. The diagnostic errors that can result when doctors play into this stereotype can cause young people problems they may battle for many years.

Sex of the Patient

Women possess health care concerns that do not affect men. A common theme for many of the conditions that women suffer more, or exclusively, is a delayed diagnosis. Women are more likely than men to receive a few faulty explanations before receiving a proper diagnosis. Sometimes these misdiagnoses will even question the mental and physical stability of the female patient.

Racial Bias

African-American patients are more susceptible to several medical conditions than people of other races. However, they are often screened for these illnesses less than other patients, even when the symptoms they describe are in line with the condition.

Tips to Ensure Your Doctor Listens to You

Patients that feel their doctor is not listening to them do not necessarily need to look for a new doctor. The steps below may improve the communication between doctor and patient.

Present a List of Concerns

Patients may not receive much facetime with a doctor. This fact makes it necessary to make the best of the time available to them. One way to do this is to make a list of your concerns and bring them with you to your appointment. Let your doctor know early in the visit that you have questions for them so they can address your concerns.

Stay Focused

Doctors are often working on tight schedules, so make sure you do not waste too much time speaking about trivial things. It is common for patients to get off track when they describe their health problems because these problems often happen in conjunction with other events in their lives. Try not to veer off-topic. Staying on the topic will make it more likely your doctor will listen as you voice your concerns.

Emphasize Important Points

You and your doctor will likely cover a lot of ground in a short time. You can help your doctor understand your position by emphasizing the points you make. You may even want to repeat some things you say more than once to be sure the doctor remembers them.