# What kind of questions should the doctors be asking??? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971 "2014-08-06T18:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971/21 "2014-08-07T17:30:11Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > That not how the healthcare works :eek: if you go to doctor for cold it is not his or her responsibility to check for other health issues you may or may not have.You make a physical exam appointment. > > Doctors don’t care if you sleep or not or eat very little or too much .They get paid to fix you not chat with you.You want a sleep specialist or doctor that deals with eating problem or registered dietitian than make a appointment to see those specialist. It’s not a “chat”. It is a questionnaire that it takes the doctor ten seconds to read and digest, and will give him guidance with respect to the potential efficacy of the treatment he prescribes or some insight into a possible cause of the symptoms I present. My doctor is my hired agent – I pay him handsomely to make judgments and perform procedures as needed on my behalf that I am not competent to do myself. I may not have a right to expect him to take a personal and knowledgeable approach to my complaints, but I am certainly edified if he does of his own accord, which is all I said in my post. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971/22 "2014-08-07T18:29:58Z")
If someone is overweight, smokes, doesn’t exercise, etc. is there really much chance that they are completely unaware that a doctor would advise that they change their behavior? It’s the patient’s responsibility to ask questions and request referrals. It takes very little to alienate a smoker or overweight person into switching doctors for someone that does not nag/lecture/grill them about their unhealthy lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971/23 "2014-08-07T18:37:59Z")
Does anyone have any experience with enlisting the services of a patient care advocate? It sounds like an organization like this: [http://www.caremanager.org/why-care-management/what-you-should-know/](http://www.caremanager.org/why-care-management/what-you-should-know/) may be able to refer you to someone that can serve this role, since you live far away. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971/24 "2014-08-07T20:05:31Z")
It’s true, there are a lot of failings in our health care “system”–and the way we care for patients with multiple chronic illnesses is one of its worst features. Coordination of this is virtually non-existent in most places. If I were you, I would seek a gerontologist as a primary care provider for your in-laws, and make sure they are getting regular checkups with them, even if they are also seeing specialists. Specialists are not as good (statistically) at managing the whole patient. And someone who is a basic family practice doctor will not have the time or expertise it takes to properly manage a patient with complex issues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-questions-should-the-doctors-be-asking/694971.md?page=1)