Last night we were enjoying another rare night of having no plans. So I was in the basement playing with my daughter (because my son went to sleep at 7:30…is he really part of this family??? We don’t go to bed until at least 10:00! :) ). We were playing with her kitchen set, and she said she had to call the doctor. So she picked up the phone and immediately said “hello, doctor? Billy threw up and is allergic to eggs” (this is a perfect example of how absorbent children are…my son is allergic to eggs and throws up every time he eats them, so her imaginary friend (another story) seems to have this same problem). She continues on: “we should come in for an appointment? OK. Bye”. I sat there a thought about what was wrong with this situation…first of all, the length of her phone call and the time it takes me to make a doctor’s appointment were very different (I think it takes me a good 5 minutes to actually make an appointment). And then of course there was the fact that she actually got to “talk” to the doctor. When in the world have we ever gotten to talk to a doctor on the phone??? And then her doctor scheduled her appointment for her. Whatever! As if a doctor would EVER stoop to making their own appointments! Speaking of which…my pediatrician made what I thought was a very condescending statement the last time we were in there: My daughter was very concerned about getting a shot, so she asked the doctor (remember, she has no idea the different between a doctor and nurse) if she was going to give her a shot. The doctor’s response was “I don’t give shots”. OK, first of all, that’s NOT what my daughter was really asking, and secondly, what a snooty remark! We all know that it’s the wonderful nurses that have to give that torture, but it just sounded so degrading. I’m going to say something to my sister (who’s in her last year of medical school trying to decide if she wants to go into pediatrics or surgery) about being careful with every response that comes out of her mouth!
The experience just reaffirmed my beef with some doctors…you are not better than the average person! We are all given talents, and your talent was to be a doctor…no, I couldn’t do it if I tried. However! I have been given a financial talent, which I’m guessing 99% of you couldn’t do if you tried (that’s why you have accountants :) ). So just because you went to school longer than I did, that does not make you or your job any more important than the other occupations in this world.
OK, I know that was a total rant out of the blue, but I’ve had some not-so-good experiences with some pompous doctors, and I get mad. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of other doctors that don’t think of themselves any differently (or at least don’t show it outwardly), and I do know that we need doctors…we also need other professions just as much.
Anyway, after listening to her cute little conversation I of course was not going to tell her how her little role playing was no where near reality. Instead I sat back and thought about how much simpler life would be if 3 year-olds were in charge!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment