Doctors today lament that patients don’t respect them anymore! Or at least not as much! Instances abound where patients have beaten up doctors and burnt hospitals. Have we ever thought “Why?”. In a country where doctors were akin to God, why such did-respect? As always, no studies in India, let us see what our western colleagues have to say…

Why Do Patients “Disrespect” Doctors?
Dr Gerald Chodak from Medscape and his previous mentor Dr Harry Schoenfeld, talked about ways in which medicine has changed and not necessarily for the better.

Many patients now see physicians in different ways, with increasing mistrust and concern. As if the noble profession is now a business first and patient care has taken a back seat.

Dr Schoenfeld’s article in 1996 in the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons had raised some of these concerns.

Few points which a doctor needs to introspect are:

1.When patients are scheduled for a new visit, how long are they asked to wait? Clearly, running a tight schedule is something that is a must these days, but is it reasonable to have patients wait for 30-60 minutes? And if they do have to wait, is an explanation given to them to lessen their concern or anxiety?

2.When a doctor is meeting with patients, is the conversation easy to understand and using words they understand or is it a medical jargon that is confusing? Certainly, it’s reasonable to explain why certain treatments are not good or why some are better than others, but withholding the information because the doctor doesn’t offer that particular treatment is less than forthright.

3.Few queries – If you’re going to order tests, how long do you make the patient wait before the results are available? We know that a biopsy is ready in 24-48 hours. X-rays are done the same day or the next day. Blood tests don’t take very long, either. However, patients are asked to wait much longer. It’s simply unacceptable, and it shows disrespect.

4.If a doctor sees patients in the hospital, he should talk to them directly nor to family members and ignore the patient, sit down and make eye contact. These are also reflections of a lack of respect that doctors have toward patients.

5.If you are going to be away, tell the patients ahead of time, before a treatment given or a procedure done? If a surgery is schedule, do not allow the patients to reschedule, knowing that you’re going to be unavailable for a few weeks?

6.Availability – People don’t want to bother their doctor unless there’s something wrong. They’re either frightened or something isn’t working.

To summarise there should be a mutual respect among doctor and patient. To treat the patients the way we expect them to treat the doctor.

Reference: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/734158