There have always been bad doctors; and there will always be good doctors. I don't think breast beating abut declining ethical standards helps. Good doctors will remain good; and bad doctors will never improve , just because you give them lectures ! In fact, I don't think ethics can be taught , which is why all our efforts have been directed towards educating patients.
If you end up in the hands of a bad doctor, then even God cannot help you ! However, if you have a good doctor taking care of you, you do not need to worry . The key question is - how can you find a good
doctor ? and how can you ensure your doctor is giving you the right advise ?
Your body is too important to leave upto anyone else. You cannot afford to be lazy and blindly repose all your trust in your doctor - he needs to earn it. This means you need to do your homework, so you can verify that your doctor is giving you sensible advise ! The good news is that it's become remarkably easy to do this, thanks to the internet !
Information Therapy – the right information at the right time for the right person – can be powerful medicine! Ideally, with every prescription, your doctor should prescribe information; and in a perfect world, every clinic, hospital, pharmacy and diagnostic centre would have a patient education resource centre, where people can find information on their health problems.
Our book, Using Information Therapy to Put Patients First is now online at
http://issuu.com/malpani/docs/informationtherapy?mode=window
Information Therapy can help to heal a sick healthcare system – and everyone has an active role to play in making this a reality! Patients are the largest untapped healthcare resource - please don't underestimate your ability . You don't have to get a MD degree to become an expert patient - a dose of common sense is enough !
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