Wellness

[bebe777]

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@HappyDaze wrote:

I personally go to almost all of my husband's doctors appts because he likes me there as much as possible since he knows I understand their vernacular much more than he does and because two minds are better than one when it comes to remembering what the doc said (taking notes during the appts helps with this too- thanks @bebe777) and what follow up questions to ask.

With that said, I don't think we need to be essentially shaming someone for not going with their spouse to their doctors' appointments. Each couple needs to decide what works best for them and no one really should judge others on what they decide.

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@HappyDaze, thats' so great that you try to go to all of your husband's doctor's appointments.

My parents try to to to each other's appointments as well. I think it really helps to have a second set of ears at these appointments. A lot of the time whoever is the patient tends to get wrapped up in the conversation, so having the other spouse there gives another info source after the appointment. 

Whenever I visit my mom, I always sit in on her doctor's appointments. Frequently I mention something related to her condition that she has forgotten to mention that is helpful with the overall diagnosis. 

HD, that's great that you are taking notes during the visits. I think that really helps to clarify what was said, after the fact. lol, and it also helps to keep the doctor on their toes. 

Several years back, my mom had a really unpleasant interaction with a top specialist. She was taking notes which made the specialist fussy. Then he sort of lost it after he insisted that her previous lab test said one thing, and mom insisted that they had set something else. I guess at some point he must have picked up the lab test to prove his point and only then realized that these were lab tests for a different patient.

At that point, he actually grabbed mom's note pad out of her hand and spoke very harshly with her. Mom maintained her calm in the office, but on the drive home she gave me a call and she was in tears.

Well that did it for that specialist. My sister did some research and found out that this specialist is very good, but he feels he's the king of his castle and he doesn't like to be questioned.

My sister found an equally good specialist and I made a point of being there when mom had her next appointment. The specialist was lovely and very thorough and rather appalled at the prior specialists behavior. -- Mom's new specialist also mentioned that some of her patients like to record the conversation and that she has no problem with that. Although we didn't feel the need to record conversations, that sort of behavior really inspired confidence in mom's new specialist.

My thoughts on this, And my family agreed, was that since mom had been taking notes on the appointment the prior specialist might have worried about his malpractice insurance.

Since no harm was done except to my mother's bruised ego, we just left the matter drop. But if a medical issue had been created the notes she had taken could have been Proof in a lawsuit. 

I feel that taking notes in the doctors office helps keep the doctor on their toes period

-- bebe