State of America's Health Care system

It is just my opinion, but I think it does not reflect well on today's medical system where people have to resort to going to a web site for medical help.

I guess the fact that we can communicate faster and at a much broader scale is progress. Too bad it takes 4 days or more to communicate with a specialist, and even then it is oten times a rushed affair.

Wish you all well.

[Nancy T]

I agree totally. In an ideal world, doctors could take all the time needed with a patient to listen thoroughly and thoughtfully, do a complete exam, do any research and testing needed, then explain the diagnosis and treatment plan to the patient and answer all the patient's questions.

In a less-than-ideal but acceptable world, doctors could take a minimal amount of time to do all these things.

In the real world, some of those aspects will fall completely by the wayside.

You are right that professionals other than physicians are often better sources of information than the physicians themselves. Speaking of audiologists...

one of my most impressive visits was with the audiologist who did my ABR testing. Although that lab was so busy that it took them weeks to call me to even schedule the appointment--and I ended up having to call them--once I was in with her, she worked in a very thorough, unhurried way, listened to and documented my history carefully, explained everything she was doing as she went along, explained to me what certain results might mean, and even walked me out to the elevators to make sure I wasn't dizzy afterwards.

It IS sad that people have to seek information online that they can't get from their five-minute visit with the doctor. But we do what we have to do. You can gain a great deal of background knowledge and perspective from reading online, given the very large number of people with different experiences who are posting information or their own experiences. Of course you have to learn how to read that information, what is trustworthy, and how to act (or not) on it.

Thanks for your participation here. It's great.

Nancy