Seeking a second doctor mid treatment. Am I being unreasonable?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been having issues with ankle pain lately.

I go to see my podiatrist, only to find out my regular doctor has retired, and now I’ll be seeing “Dr. David”. Nobody bothered to tell me this when I made the appointment. I just found out when I came to the office. (I didn’t like that, but that’s not my main gripe)

Now I’m in the examination room. Dr. David comes in, and proceeds to ask me what the problem is. Before I could even get three words out, he shifts his focus to the chart in his hand, and then starts to give directives to the nurse in the room. All while I’m trying to speak to him.

When he finally focuses his attention to me, he begins to ask me specific questions. The answers to which he would know the answers to had he been listening to me in the first place. Ugh! I f’n hate that.

He then tells me he wants to put a boot on me until he gets the results back from a $1200 MRI he wants me to get. I tell him a boot is a no go for me because I need to be mobile to work.

He then starts to question me why can’t I be put on light duty. And like a dummy I answered him instead of telling him to mind his own business.

By the end of the visit, scans were made for orthopedic inserts for which I have to wait three weeks. In the mean time, I’m supposed to go get an expensive MRI and report back.

At the time this all happened, I just told myself yo shrug it off. But the more I think about it, the more irritated I get. I mean, when you’re speaking to your doctor about your health, you deserve 100% of their focus right? And the thing about expecting me to justify me not wearing a boot (I did agree to an ankle brace) irritated me too.

Oh forgot to add: During the course of conversation, I told him I bought some Dr. Scoll’s foot inserts the evening before the appointment. To which he immediately shakes his head letting me know the product is crap. And after telling me so he asks: “Do they work”? I responded: “I don’t know, I JUST bought them”. (Again he’s not listening!)

Where I’m at now: I’ve cancelled my appointment with the MRI place and now I have made another appointment with a different doctor.

Reasonable?

2

IMO: Reasonable? Yes. A doctor you don’t like is no good, a second opinion is always a good idea.

3

Yes, reasonable.

4

Absolutely reasonable.

5

Entirely.

Also, username checks out.

mmm

6

Nothing at all wrong with it. And it sounds to me like you don’t need a second opinion, you need a new first opinion from your new doctor.

7

In general, doctors guess the answer. Given any set of symptoms, there are a myriad of possibilities and doctors tend to gravitate towards the most likely answer. If the treatment you are seeking is for something simple, then this approach carries no risk. However, if the treatment or diagnosis is at all complicated, getting a second opinion is usually better.

Moreover, the efficacy of the treatment depends on a patient’s adherence to the treatment, which requires doctors to listen and patients to trust the doctor. If you are not comfortable with the doctor, you are completely within your rights to change doctors. In fact, you are likely better off finding someone whom you can respect and who respects you.

8

I changed doctors for a similar reason. I went in for pain, and without even examining me or asking any questions, he prescribed pills. I tore up the script on the way out the door and never went back to that practice. And as it happened, the pain cleared up in a few days without any intervention.

9

YES!! You have to be comfortable with the person with whom you entrust your health, and you have every right to do whatever it is that you deem necessary in a search for just that kind of doctor.

10

Completely reasonable. If you are not comfortable with the current doctor, you are less likely to follow his treatment regimen, meaning even if his treatment would have worked, it might not for you.

Also, how goes it with the inserts?

11

Very reasonable.

Some docs seem to hop on the MRI wagon whether or not it is called for because MRI give great images. But the doctor doesn’t have to pay for it. I had a podiatrist call for one to measure the length of my legs (one is two millimeters longer than the other) but he never discovered or helped to resolve the real problem. He told me to get a custom insert for the flat foot on the shorter side. Not a solution to what turns out to be a twisted pelvic bone and scoliosis. But I paid up for his shot in the dark resolution and haven’t returned.

12

Perfectly!

Dan

13

Entirely reasonable!

Now, his advice (wear a boot, get an MRI) may not have been out of line, or it may have been overkill. If he seemed like someone who would LISTEN to you, he might have suggested conservative treatment at first, then an MRI in a few weeks if it didn’t resolve.

14

One more vote for “reasonable.”

15

Frankly, I find the “not listening” part alarming.

16

I already answered but someone should póp in with a negative answer to make it a realistic Dope thread.

@Grrr, you aren’t going back to that doctor are you?

17

One small tangent: if you have insurance that will cover it or most of it, it might be worth keeping the MRI appointment (though maybe that ship has sailed).

I say that only based on the fact that for some significant injuries/medical care we had to deal with in my family last year, no one could/would do anything without an MRI, and the process of waiting for an appointment with the specialist for him to put in the request an MRI, plus waiting to get into the MRI took a loooong time. Maybe this feels like it can wait some, but my takeaway from a year of scheduling nightmares was: “get as much imaging and diagnostics done as quickly as you can, because any treatment plan will depend on that information.”

18

If you don’t feel comfortable with a doctor, you should try another doctor

19

No. I’ve already seen another doctor and he was much more pleasant.

He thinks we should wait on the orthopedic inserts to arrive and give them a chance to do their magic before getting the MRI.

20

Oh wow, that sounds crazy to me. The MRI place I go to accepts walk ins. (It’s a shorter wait if you make an appointment though)