Finding the
By Jovita Rodas Zimmerman
right doctor
can be painfulIf you are shopping for a doctor, treat the process the way you would search for a lifetime roommate, a prospective spouse, a durable friendship or business partner and/or maybe a lover.
But if you are one of those hapless persons, desperate with pain, who chooses a doctor without too much checking on who you are entrusting your life to, you might end up losing your faith in western-trained doctors.
Or worse, you could end up in the hospital because the specialist gave you the wrong medicine. He or she could, of course, kill you or cripple you for life.
Having suffered at the hands of three local specialists, it became important to learn if my experience was unique or whether others had equally hoary tales to share.
The first friend I queried had an unbelievably long series of medical mishaps. She chose a doctor -- recommended highly by a friend -- who submitted her to innumerable lab tests, came up with a wrong diagnosis and then charged her a huge fee.
That was when she decided to consult medical booklets issued by the federal government on Hawaii's doctors. She discovered the man had been on the list of suspended doctors.
She confronted him and he dropped his bill. It was the same doctor I was sent to by my internist, who apparently was not aware of the doctor's history.
Sometimes you must rely on your instincts (two visits and several odd lab tests made me drop him). Sometimes you have to study HMSA's statements to find out if the bill is being padded.
Another specialist recommended by a friend had an expensively furnished clinic with beautiful floral arrangements, large paintings and private treatment rooms featuring the latest in push-button treatment chairs to make the patient sit up or recline.
The medical equipment, the most sophisticated in town that I have yet seen, all added to the impression that his bill would not spare the patient what it costs him to cure -- if one can call the treatment as such. He recommended a pain clinic.
My friend was eventually diagnosed with cancer. Not being the panicky type, she decided to go to Mayo Clinic armed with a suitcase of MRIs, CAT scans, doctors' reports -- every piece of information she had gathered on herself during the last few years.
She was stunned when Mayo's cancer specialists refused to look over the documents. Hawaii, she was told, is considered the backwaters, medically.
Distrust drove me to seek help from the top specialist in New York City. The good doctor spent almost an hour with me, looked over carefully all the documents I brought (which may have given him a certain advantage), and gave me his diagnosis.
He recommended certain things I can do physically, but he warned against surgery. If doctors I had consulted in Hawaii had given me the time, had made an effort to understand how a holistic treatment can melt resentment and lift one's spirits, writing this piece would have been unnecessary.
Hawaii's top doctors (according to Honolulu magazine's annual list) in the area where I needed treatment will only grudgingly grant an appointment if you have not been recommended by a peer. It may take a month or more to gain entry and a nurse or medical assistant will interview you. You are lucky if you see the doctor for 10 or 15 minutes.
When you enter the office, look over the doctor's sign-in list. Thirty to 40 patients a day is a typical number for some. But what if you're the 40th patient?
Is his judgment as sharp after he has treated so many people? Or are you just a number?
While we may yet become serious about setting up an advocacy group for better treatment of patients, my girlfriend -- whose sense of humor is intact -- made this parting shot:
"Do you know what doctor so- and-so told me? He suggested I see a certain doctor. I asked him why he was recommending the fellow. His reply was, 'Well, he's a golfing pal of mine.' "
Is there any wonder why alternative medicine is gaining ground?
Jovita Rodas Zimmerman is a
local author and freelance writer.