Doctor's Suggestions

Trust Your Doctor???

This past week my four year old son swallowed a metal jack (yes, one of those from days past) and it warranted a trip to the emergency room. After careful inspection of the x-ray, it was discovered that the jack was lodged in his esophagus and needed to be removed through a procedure that was best performed by a pediatric doctor. Thus, my son was transported to a pediatric hospital where I was asked the same series of questions by 5 different nurses.

Unfortunately, the suggestions from the doctors weren’t always the same, like the series of questions were. Since I am well versed in different procedures and mentally kept track of what was done and what wasn’t done in light of the situation, I questioned nearly everything. I wasn’t going to take a chance on my son’s health and well being and you shouldn’t take any chances on your health and well being either.

If you are ever in doubt of anything your doctor tells you, please get more information on that subject. Doctors, yes, even myself, are only human and miscommunications can occur. Be very clear on what you expect of your doctor and what your doctor expects of you and the reasons why.

If I didn’t question what the doctors were doing to my son, he would have had blood drawn twice for the same reason, he would’ve had an additional set of x-rays that would’ve been unnecessary, and he would’ve been given an unnecessary prescription that could’ve done more harm than good. Don’t be afraid to find out what you need to in order to get the best care possible!

Some questions to think about asking for any procedure you are unsure of…

· What are you doing?

· Why are you doing this procedure?

· What are the benefits of this procedure?

· What are the side effects/complications of this procedure?

· What will happen if I don’t get this procedure performed?

· Are there other ways to obtain the benefits of this procedure?

Use the answers to these questions to determine if you think the procedure will be beneficial to you or not. Please take your own decision seriously!