It has taken me almost 70 years, but I finally found about three doctors that I really like and respect: my family doctor, my cardiologist and my podiatrist. The others I see are OK - as good as it gets in South Jersey so far as I can tell. Even the doctors I see here, when they are sick, go up to Philly to be treated. Years ago I worked in hospitals and I knew a lot of doctors - good, bad and mediocre. But they weren't my doctors. We did have a truly wonderful one on Long Island for about twenty years. But the best ever was the General Practitioner my family had when I was growing up.
Dr. Lampe (There's an accent over the "e" but I don't know how to do that on a computer.) had his home and office in downtown Philadelphia. We lived in the suburbs. But any time we called, he would come out to us. He was much like the doctor in a Norman Rockwell p
ainting. He wore a three piece, brown pin striped suit, was a bit rotund, wore his glasses down on the end of his nose, and he had an old, worn, brown bag full of medical paraphernalia, plus a tube of pink pills. No matter what else he gave you for whatever was wrong with you, he always gave you a few of those wonderful, pink pills. They worked like magic to make you feel better. He even gave me a few extra for my dolls. He was also a great believer in the power of potato soup. Mother would tell him that I did not like potato soup, and he would say, "Then give her mashed potatoes."When I needed a vaccination or an inoculation, we would go into the city to his office. I've never figured out how he could have office hours when he was always running out to patients' houses. His house reminded me of my Aunt Emmy's house, except that it was not part of a row. Inside, it had dark paneling and dark furniture in the waiting room. He had no receptionist. When it was our turn, he would open the sliding double doors and summon us into the office where we would sit by his desk and discuss our needs, then he would take us through another door to the examining room.
I always enjoyed the trip to the city, and never minded the shots at all. I loved Dr. Lampe.
In the 30's and 40's family doctors knew us inside and out - knew our homes and families and all of our problems, physical and otherwise. They knew us as individuals, which often allowed them to treat us more successfully, even without modern day medicine. Today's doctors are laboring under huge caseloads and constraints from so many regulations it must make their heads spin. They really don't have the time to treat us as they should, even when they dare. I do not envy today's doctors. And, as one of today's patients, I am not too happy living in the Age of the Specialist.
13 comments:
Seems to be the same problem the world over. When I was a boy in 60's and 70's, we knew our local GP's well and the knew us too. There were many occasions when, if a member of the family had not been well, the GP would just turn up unexpectedly at the door just to see how you were doing. It's not as if this was in some rural ourpost, either; we lived in a large city on a large council estate. My favourite doctor from those times was a gentleman called Dr. Finzell, who seemed to be just as you describe your doc, Bobbie. He was an avuncular man who took a genuine interest in his patients.
These days our local GPs are OK but they seem remote and sometimes, sadly, uncaring. The GP system in the UK is on its knees. It's practically impossible to get them to come out to your house to see you and the out-of-hours service is dreadful. If you are unwell outside of office hours this can mean trying to find someone to give you a lift many miles to the nearest out-of-hours centre where you are guaranteed a long, long wait to see someone you don't know and who may speak very fractured English, no matter how ill you feel.
I feel that government interference and ridiculous bureaucracy has slowly destroyed our once excellent National Health Service. Rant over!
Nice post, Bobbie...it just set me off!
With the HMOS taking over, the family, know your patients Dr. is a thing of the past. So sad.
What a great post! It's difficult to find a good doctor. In fact, finding a few lemons to diagnose me some years back, nearly cost me my life, so this subject is near and dear to my heart. I have a good doctor now, but in the past year, the service has begun to slip as her practice grows, so I'm not very happy at the moment.
How sad. We all seem to have the same complaints. And, while too many doctors do seem uncaring now, I can't really blame most of them for not taking time enough of know us or to go into time-consuming processes to make a clear diagnosis. They just do not have that time. They are under constant pressure. Unless they are among the few really exceptional ones who won't compromise, they more or less throw up their hands and give up.
Hello! I agree with everyone who has commented.
I also think that in some cases, the doctors are afraid to get to close and/or go the every mile. Some people today a sue happy and this, I believe, has some doctors scared. Also the cost of their insurance must be unbelievely (I think I spelled that wrong) high.
Health insurance companies are also to blame. My insurance must approve a catscan, mri, etc. Sometimes this takes weeks to get approval and even then they don't approve the test that the doctor requested. The people making these decisions are not doctors. They are just looking at the bottom line. How is a doctor supposed to make a correct diagnosis without the proper testing. Sad. Very very sad. Thanks. Lisa
Hurray! You did away with word verification. Thank you Thank You. Thank you. Lisa
Not much I can add to this insightful post and to all the great comments.
All I can think of is - we are all in this together.
Bobbie, I think that those of us who grew up in the 40's and 50's would all feel the same way about our docs. My doc when I was a child was similar to yours, and I only had one other one like him, and he retired back in the 70's. I am thinking once again, of changing docs - to one I can understand and I don't have to drive so far to get to.
Great post Bobbie. I shudder when I read the facts about the decline of the quality of care in the US. We rank pretty low in world stats...how crazy is that? When my father was dying of liver failure two years ago it was a real eye opener for me. I often would just shake my head over all of the medical bungling by so-called professionals.
Good stuff here. You've accurately discribed my 'Uncle Doc." He was Dad's uncle and he was very very good, and had no bedside manner. Back then that didn't matter. It doesn't to me either.
Nicely done.
Can I just say - podiatrists really creep me out? Something about finding your "calling" in other peoples' feet grosses me out.
Had to laugh at that one, hot mama. I sort of share your feeling. And the first one I went to was creepy. But the one I finally found is a really nice guy, carries on a nice conversation while I'm there, and seems to know what he's doing, and shares information. Being diabetic, I need someone like him.
One of my favorite doctors ever was the one that delivered my children. When a little friend accidentally shut the car door on my 2-year old's fingers, the doctor knelt down in front of her, picked up her fingers and kissed them. I could have kissed HIM! ;-) And that started the regularly drawn pictures she delivered as we visited once a month during my second pregnancy. My, that was a long time ago! (30 years!)
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