# Fuck you, doctors **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 20, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923 "2005-11-20T11:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/101 "2005-11-21T18:05:52Z")
> [@Epimetheus](#): > > Yeah? Do you warn every customer that peanut allergies can kill? Do you warn them about gastrointestinal distress that milk may cause to those with lactose intolerance. Do you give fair warning that the cleaner they are buying needs to be used in a fully ventilated room, kept away from children and animals, and never, every to be drank? Maybe he’s that guy who chats up the shopper at 3am with a 5 minute discussion of item B that the shopper wants to just take, pay for and go home. Yesterday I was tempted to say that he wants his doctor to be his mommy and make everything all better, but then I realized that his doctor _was_ just like mommy…when was the last time mommy explained that the icky purple cough syrup was going to cause you to sleep for the next 12 hours. Seriously…who takes medicine without a second thought to its potential problems? I was on a medication that is **PURE EVIL** ™ to unborn children. I had to listen to about 4 lectures a month on the subject every time I got a refill. I don’t want to hear it again…really…I’m informed…I promise I am not and don’t plan to be pregnant. I get it. I also get that my rescue inhaler is not to be used recreationally and that Flonase is _not_ an oral or anal medication, but is to be used in the nose. Has the OP ever said if he _asked_ his doctor or pharmacist about side effects? He is the person whose complaints make me listen to all the cautions and warnings when I am refilling a prescription for the thirteenth gazillion time. Honestly, this is the same type of arguement as suing McDonalds for you being fat. Do some homework and take some personal responsibility for yourself. And for Og’s sake, not on Wikipedia! You know not everything you read on the internet is true…right? You also know that you don’t _have_ to take a medication just because your doctor prescribes it…right? It is your choice to take the medication and accept the side effects, if you are in the 0.01% that might get the side effect. Are you going to pit yourself when your heart _doesn’t_ melt into a bowl full of jelly? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/102 "2005-11-21T18:31:06Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > 😃 I turned that one around on your asses, didn’t I? 😉 Uh, yeah. You done told us real good! :wally ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/103 "2005-11-21T18:37:23Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > finally, if I rung customers up for apples that were controlled substances known to cause heart disease, and oranges that can cause incredible weight gain, and Milk that can cause memory loss, even though I’m not the manager (the doctor who prescribed it) but am just the cashier/bagger helping you get it (the pharmacist), I’d still fucking warn you, my customer So presumably this is exactly what you do whever someone purchases cigarettes from you? How’s that working out for you so far? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/104 "2005-11-21T18:37:34Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > \<\\> > > I’ve been doing my best to fight ignorance here since 2000, but frankly, the OP really makes me feel like it ain’t worth it. > > Look for me in the Tolkien threads in Cafe Society. I hope you’re not serious. I’ve certainly learned a lot from your posts. For one thing I drink less OJ than I used to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/105 "2005-11-21T18:52:26Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > \<\\> > > I’ve been doing my best to fight ignorance here since 2000, but frankly, the OP really makes me feel like it ain’t worth it. > > Look for me in the Tolkien threads in Cafe Society. You can’t escape. You’ll probably find that Denethor has shit his fat pants after looking into the Palantir, which was not labelled corectly to AndrewDT’s preferences. -Cem ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/106 "2005-11-21T19:00:44Z")
> [@Cemetery Savior](#): > > You can’t escape. You’ll probably find that Denethor has shit his fat pants after looking into the Palantir, which was not labelled corectly to AndrewDT’s preferences. > > -Cem Oh, that’s what that odor was. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/107 "2005-11-21T19:10:03Z")
> [@OslerKnew](#): > > I’ll be damned. It is now apparent that on the SDMB there are two grade-A, piss drinking, pathetic, computer-lurking, emotionally and intellectually stunted losers who have decided it is a good idea to post on this forum with pure, unadulterated chipmunk shit. These two will never amount to more than isolated, socially inept, stuttering wackjobs, jacking off in the isolation of their dark, sparsely furnished studio apartments, sucking off the tit of society that pays for their disability. You two are bile-swilling, impotent, stunted creatures who give a horrible face to the human race; damaged losers who have absolute gall breathing the air the rest of the world enjoys. Take a look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? I didn’t think so. Do us all a favor, TAKE YOUR FUCKING MEDS…when you don’t, the rest of society suffers. Your dark, twisted, misinformed view of the world should engender sympathy from me, but you know what? I have no sympathy for you at all. You bitch about doctors, lawyers, anyone who might be called upon to help your sorry ass, and yet if one of those people should decline to help you, you are the first motherfuckers to cry foul. Get off my world. That was funny and all, but essentially just name-calling. The OP here was retarded, but **VCO3** still brought up things that I agree with. The fact that neither of them presented it rationally doesn’t change the fact – well, let’s not say _fact_, but somewhere between fact and pulled-out-of-ass – that the insurance companies, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies are involved in one giant circle jerk. A massive, medical INDUSTRY where higher prices typically mean higher margins for everyone of them, and they will immediately, and as one, shout down those who bring it up, usually in a style like **Osler** chose. And, don’t doctors like to play the card that they’re above it all. They’re just poor poor pawns in the game, beseeched from all sides by lawyers and malpractice companies. Oh yes, they like to toss around sentimentts like “oh, but you loooove us when you need us.” Yeah, sure we do. We just resent having _need_ manufactured, having small deviations in personality marketed as flaws that require medication, and for some of us, having to pay $2500 a year for our fellow citizens who are too stupid to see through it. Think the government wants to help? Think again. Because they might not all be in the hands of insurance and pharmaceutical, but they’re a lot closer to it than being in the hands of John Q. Healthy who just happens to be paying for the wife of the jerk in the next office to eat her prozac every day. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/108 "2005-11-21T20:05:20Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > The fact that neither of them presented it rationally doesn’t change the fact – well, let’s not say _fact_, but somewhere between fact and pulled-out-of-ass – that the insurance companies, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies are involved in one giant circle jerk. You know, I agree with you. The OP is a flaming ignorant idiot, but I’m also a little sick of the “doctors can never do wrong” and “they’re always looking out for my best interests” attitudes that show up on this board all the time, and which IMO are no less ignorant, even if they’re usually phrased a little better. People are way too eager to take medication for every little thing (be it physical or mental), and not critical enough of the system that propagates it. The preeminent question on a medical consumer’s mind should be: who profits? Yet when (a hypothetical) you find a pill that works, you act like you should be grateful it exists, and don’t even question the reality behind the situation. Why are more people being diagnosed with mental illness than ever before, and why are the guidelines for MI being slackened to include behaviors considered normal only twenty years ago? Why do doctors prescribe pills for gastrointestinal disorders that could be just as easily “cured” by a changed diet? Could it be because there’s no profit in making a patient change their diet? Who profits? I know I’ll get piled on for this from people who think anything but a blanket condemnation of the OP means that I’m siding with him, but really, some of y’all need to be a little more critical of the medical industry. Because it IS an industry, and there ARE things wrong with it. Think critically. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/109 "2005-11-21T20:16:44Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > You know, I agree with you. The OP is a flaming ignorant idiot, but I’m also a little sick of the “doctors can never do wrong” and “they’re always looking out for my best interests” attitudes that show up on this board all the time, and which IMO are no less ignorant, even if they’re usually phrased a little better. People are way too eager to take medication for every little thing (be it physical or mental), and not critical enough of the system that propagates it. The preeminent question on a medical consumer’s mind should be: who profits? Yet when (a hypothetical) you find a pill that works, you act like you should be grateful it exists, and don’t even question the reality behind the situation. Why are more people being diagnosed with mental illness than ever before, and why are the guidelines for MI being slackened to include behaviors considered normal only twenty years ago? Why do doctors prescribe pills for gastrointestinal disorders that could be just as easily “cured” by a changed diet? Could it be because there’s no profit in making a patient change their diet? Who profits? > > I know I’ll get piled on for this from people who think anything but a blanket condemnation of the OP means that I’m siding with him, but really, some of y’all need to be a little more critical of the medical industry. Because it IS an industry, and there ARE things wrong with it. Think critically. The OP is acting wacky, but of course there are things wrong with the medical community. There are things wrong with every community. Many have acknowledged that gee, not all doctors are perfect and that some are actually bad. I have stories about condescending pricks that thought Dr. meant God. Most doctors are good. They go through the worst training of any field I know of to get the right to be fried as an Intern & Resident. Then they finally get to start paying back all those loans and as the bonus, unbelievable amounts of malpractice insurance. This whole process in many ways will dehumanize some Doctors. I would love to see bedside manner be a larger part of training and the current resident system made less destructive. I have also heard that residency prepares a Doctor for Emergency response and how to handle decision making when you don’t have all your wits about you. I have also heard that without the current residency system, our hospitals would not be able to function. Jim ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/110 "2005-11-21T20:51:09Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Most doctors are good. Yes, but even good people can be taken in by profits and self-aggrandizement. The difference is that they can affect the health of other people when they give in to those things. The real evil lies in the pharmaceutical companies who stand to gain the most when a new disease is publicized, and who rush their inventions through FDA regs so fast that they can’t work out the kinks in them beforehand, basically making paying consumers into guinea pigs. (Last night I saw a commercial for the class-action suit against the makers of Zyprexa three times in two hours.) Not to mention the fact that tried-and-true therapies are eschewed in favor of new drugs which, coincidentally enough, are so new that they can’t be sold generically, meaning bigger profits for the companies and the doctors who, being human, sometimes can’t look objectively at a case what with all the dollar signs flashing in their eyes. And there are lots of people who think doctors are always right; I’ve seen it over and over on the boards. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/111 "2005-11-21T20:59:17Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > Yes, but even good people can be taken in by profits and self-aggrandizement. The difference is that they can affect the health of other people when they give in to those things. The real evil lies in the pharmaceutical companies who stand to gain the most when a new disease is publicized, and who rush their inventions through FDA regs so fast that they can’t work out the kinks in them beforehand, basically making paying consumers into guinea pigs. (Last night I saw a commercial for the class-action suit against the makers of Zyprexa three times in two hours.) Not to mention the fact that tried-and-true therapies are eschewed in favor of new drugs which, coincidentally enough, are so new that they can’t be sold generically, meaning bigger profits for the companies and the doctors who, being human, sometimes can’t look objectively at a case what with all the dollar signs flashing in their eyes. > > And there are lots of people who think doctors are always right; I’ve seen it over and over on the boards. \*\*First, thank you for addressing only the shortest part of my post and out of context. \*\* Why do you assume Doctors are making more from new non-generic drugs? Where are Doctors making money on the prescriptions? They don’t sell the drugs. Are you implying a mass kickback scandal? I had a Doc who I honestly thought belonged to the Drug of the month club. He was doing HMO and charity work in one of the poorest towns in my county half the week. I didn’t like his method of prescribing drugs and he was guilty of not answering questions. Guess what I moved on to a different Doctor. Jim ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/112 "2005-11-21T21:15:54Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > \*\*First, thank you for addressing only the shortest part of my post and out of context. \*\* > Why do you assume Doctors are making more from new non-generic drugs? Where are Doctors making money on the prescriptions? They don’t sell the drugs. Are you implying a mass kickback scandal? How was it out of context? I was agreeing with you that doctors work hard and that most of them are decent human beings. What I am saying is that they are human beings too, and human beings have often been known to be greedy and think of themselves first. Yes, I am implying a kick-back scandal. More than that, I’m stating a kick-back standard practice. It’s common knowledge that drug companies pamper doctors who push their drugs, sometimes springing for conferences in Hawaii or other lush places. This isn’t just conjecture; it’s a known practice that has gone on for decades. [Here’s an article](http://www.coreynahman.com/whistle_blower_law_qui_tam.html) that talks about how Pfizer gave $250,000 in “unrestricted educational grants” to HMOs that pushed Lipitor. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s known standard operating procedure. Some people don’t have the option of seeing another doctor, either because they live in an area without a lot of doctors or their HMO limits them. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/113 "2005-11-21T21:23:05Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > Doctors and Pyschiatrists aren’t saints and they’re not heroes, they’re just priviledged opportunists like anyone else. There is no difference between a doctor and a lawyer, a pyschiatrist and an insurance salesman. > > Most Doctors I’ve encountered have been ego-fueled and have kept the bottom line in mind the entire time, hastily pushing whatever medication they were under pressure from the pill company salesperson - who was leaving just as I was entering the office - onto me. They’ve told me to take more of the medication when I complained of unbearable side effects that they lied about or tried to downplay or conceal in the first place. > > They’re crooks, stooges for the pharmaceutical companies, practicing sick-care, not healthcare. The entire infrastructure should be torn down, the doctors imprisoned, and a new system brought up to rpelace it. > [@featherlou](#): > > I will (somewhat hesitantly) add my opinions that doctors and psychiatrists need to work on their skills treating problems that aren’t completely physical in nature (anxiety, depression, etc.). I have had some pretty sub-standard care in these regards, and from more than one doctor. I’m not going to come into the Pit and call out all doctors, especially any Dopers that I’ve never even met, but there is a grain of truth to andrew’s rant, and it’s not just about side effects. > > I have a direct question for the physician members of this Board - when seeing a patient with anxiety and/or depression, do you offer them anything more than an SSRI prescription? > [@Trunk](#): > > The fact that neither of them presented it rationally doesn’t change the fact – well, let’s not say fact, but somewhere between fact and pulled-out-of-ass – that the insurance companies, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies are involved in one giant circle jerk. A massive, medical INDUSTRY where higher prices typically mean higher margins for everyone of them, and they will immediately, and as one, shout down those who bring it up, usually in a style like Osler chose. > > And, don’t doctors like to play the card that they’re above it all. They’re just poor poor pawns in the game, beseeched from all sides by lawyers and malpractice companies. > > Oh yes, they like to toss around sentimentts like “oh, but you loooove us when you need us.” > > Yeah, sure we do. We just resent having need manufactured, having small deviations in personality marketed as flaws that require medication, and for some of us, having to pay $2500 a year for our fellow citizens who are too stupid to see through it. > > Think the government wants to help? Think again. Because they might not all be in the hands of insurance and pharmaceutical, but they’re a lot closer to it than being in the hands of John Q. Healthy who just happens to be paying for the wife of the jerk in the next office to eat her prozac every day. > [@davenportavenger](#): > > I’m also a little sick of the “doctors can never do wrong” and “they’re always looking out for my best interests” attitudes that show up on this board all the time, and which IMO are no less ignorant, even if they’re usually phrased a little better. People are way too eager to take medication for every little thing (be it physical or mental), and not critical enough of the system that propagates it. The preeminent question on a medical consumer’s mind should be: who profits? Yet when (a hypothetical) you find a pill that works, you act like you should be grateful it exists, and don’t even question the reality behind the situation. Why are more people being diagnosed with mental illness than ever before, and why are the guidelines for MI being slackened to include behaviors considered normal only twenty years ago? Why do doctors prescribe pills for gastrointestinal disorders that could be just as easily “cured” by a changed diet? Could it be because there’s no profit in making a patient change their diet? Who profits? > > I know I’ll get piled on for this from people who think anything but a blanket condemnation of the OP means that I’m siding with him, but really, some of y’all need to be a little more critical of the medical industry. Because it IS an industry, and there ARE things wrong with it. Think critically. > > even good people can be taken in by profits and self-aggrandizement. The difference is that they can affect the health of other people when they give in to those things. The real evil lies in the pharmaceutical companies who stand to gain the most when a new disease is publicized, and who rush their inventions through FDA regs so fast that they can’t work out the kinks in them beforehand, basically making paying consumers into guinea pigs. (Last night I saw a commercial for the class-action suit against the makers of Zyprexa three times in two hours.) Not to mention the fact that tried-and-true therapies are eschewed in favor of new drugs which, coincidentally enough, are so new that they can’t be sold generically, meaning bigger profits for the companies and the doctors who, being human, sometimes can’t look objectively at a case what with all the dollar signs flashing in their eyes. > > And there are lots of people who think doctors are always right; I’ve seen it over and over on the boards. > > Yes, I am implying a kick-back scandal. More than that, I’m stating a kick-back standard practice. It’s common knowledge that drug companies pamper doctors who push their drugs, sometimes springing for conferences in Hawaii or other lush places. This isn’t just conjecture; it’s a known practice that has gone on for decades. Here’s an article that talks about how Pfizer gave $250,000 in “unrestricted educational grants” to HMOs that pushed Lipitor. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s known standard operating procedure. > > Some people don’t have the option of seeing another doctor, either because they live in an area without a lot of doctors or their HMO limits them. **VCO3** , **featherlou** , **Trunk** , **davenportavenger** - with these arguments I’ve taken from this entire thread in hand, I say we ditch this burning wreck of a disaster I started and start something new in GD. I really want to learn all that you have to teach me about the medical industry and what they may be doing to their patients for profit- BUT, I promise not to rant or jump to conclusions. Let’s go discuss and debate, shall we? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/114 "2005-11-21T21:29:20Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > How was it out of context? I was agreeing with you that doctors work hard and that most of them are decent human beings. What I am saying is that they are human beings too, and human beings have often been known to be greedy and think of themselves first. > > Yes, I am implying a kick-back scandal. More than that, I’m stating a kick-back standard practice. It’s common knowledge that drug companies pamper doctors who push their drugs, sometimes springing for conferences in Hawaii or other lush places. This isn’t just conjecture; it’s a known practice that has gone on for decades. [Here’s an article](http://www.coreynahman.com/whistle_blower_law_qui_tam.html) that talks about how Pfizer gave $250,000 in “unrestricted educational grants” to HMOs that pushed Lipitor. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s known standard operating procedure. > > Some people don’t have the option of seeing another doctor, either because they live in an area without a lot of doctors or their HMO limits them. Your Cite is that Pfizer gave money to an HMO, not to a Doctor. The article mentions a few Doctors took free samples and then charged the government. This is enough to say it is SOP. I don’t buy it. Where do these people live that a limited to a single Doctor? I imagine there must be some places, but the Doctors that service these areas can’t have setup in these locations for the money. Now it sounds like you are besmirching the Doctors that move to the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/115 "2005-11-21T21:34:42Z")
Are you going to start a Great Debate thread, then? That wouldn’t be a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/116 "2005-11-21T21:37:25Z")
Er, my post was directed at **andrew**. But **jrfranchi** could certainly start one, too. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/117 "2005-11-21T21:39:19Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Er, my post was directed at **andrew**. But **jrfranchi** could certainly start one, too. No thank you. I think you are implying I am overreacting. I think you are correct. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/118 "2005-11-21T21:48:31Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > Don’t even get me started on pharmacists… those guys are worthless; all they do is grab your bag out of a little bin and swipe your credit card at the check out. Their CASHIERS for chrissake! :mad: Never, EVER has anyone at any pharmacy ever told me ANYTHING about ANY SIDE EFFECTS OR TAKING THE MEDS. EVER. WORTHLESS FUCKING CASHIERS, and one of them, a young girl, was a rude little bitch in a way reminiscient of a fast food bitch. i wouldn’t get away w/ that at my job, that little bitch shouldn’t get away w/ it at her worthless job. My father is a pharmacist. Unless he is swamped with customers (which is about 75 percent of the time) then he will have no problem spending 5-10 minutes with someone who asks about side effects. Sometimes he will volunteer the information. If he does not have time because of customer backup, he tells every customer to read the information sheet located on the inside of the prescription packet before starting their medication, and to read it thoroughly. You’re an idiot who paints with a broad brush. Please stop posting until you learn how to be anything but a foaming at the mouth jack-in-the-box. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/119 "2005-11-21T22:02:07Z")
> [@Nocturne](#): > > My father is a pharmacist. Unless he is swamped with customers (which is about 75 percent of the time) then he will have no problem spending 5-10 minutes with someone who asks about side effects. Sometimes he will volunteer the information. If he does not have time because of customer backup, he tells every customer to read the information sheet located on the inside of the prescription packet before starting their medication, and to read it thoroughly. Excuse me? 75 percent of the time, he would just tell the patients to read the information packet instead of answering their questions? Is that really what you meant to say? Because it sounds like a total abrogation of the duties of a pharmacist. I don’t care if the line is out the door and around the block, patients should be able to have their questions answered. If it’s that bad, they should be hiring another pharmacist, not blowing off patients. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923/120 "2005-11-21T22:13:37Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > Excuse me? 75 percent of the time, he would just tell the patients to read the information packet instead of answering their questions? Is that really what you meant to say? Because it sounds like a total abrogation of the duties of a pharmacist. I don’t care if the line is out the door and around the block, patients should be able to have their questions answered. If it’s that bad, they should be hiring another pharmacist, not blowing off patients. Hate to tell you this, but that’s corporate policy. He’s gotten reprimanded twice when the district manager has been there and the two pharmacists on duty (and usually at least one pharm. assistant) have not been “serving the customers quickly enough.” I agree, they should hire more pharmacists, or expand the back area, or something. We’re not even talking about day shift, we’re talking about night shift, 10pm–8am. Customers lined up in the store, customers lined up outside in the drive through, nearly all night. I am not saying that doctors (and pharmacists as well) should not be there to advise their patients on side effects, but you’ve got to consider that if you’re in a corporate pharmacy and they’re jampacked, then you’re probably not going to get your questions answered unless you wait until the crowd is gone. 99 percent of customers won’t do this–they either leave or demand he drop everything to spend time discussing side effects with them RIGHT NOW. If he does this, then the other 5-20 people in line and in the drive through start complaining because they’re not getting their medicine quickly enough. So if worse comes to worse, yes, he does tell them just to read the informational packet. Should I have added that he tells them to call him (or whoever’s on duty at the time they call) or their personal doctor if they have questions about what the informational packet says? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-doctors/331923.md?page=7)