Honestly, I think a lot of it is the traditional paternalistic method that has been the status quo for so long. Until this little thing called the internet let people find out a ton of good information very quickly, it allowed patients to communicate freely with each other, usually in a way that doesn’t require a medical degree to understand.

It’s changing because patients are beginning to insist on it, but it a slow change because so many HCPs and institutions are still in that paternalistic mindset.

That is why all of our stories are important. Unless we, as patients/consumers/whatever, speak up, nothing will change

I’m glad you finally got your surgery, but wish it hadn’t taken you so long to get it. Yes, we do have to be our own advocate and if we can’t, we need to find someone who can advocate for us.

I believe that good institutions do want to hear these stories because they do I think they do want to help people. It’s becoming more and more important for them to understand that the public’s perception of them can be be damaged when people share their stories of things such as this. As you say, at the end of the day their ledgers need to balance

I have “fired” medical practices for far less. If a restaurant, grocery store, clothing store, etc treated us like you describe there would be no way we would return to the same location. So why is it that “we” (as a patient community) accept that type of care from medical professionals.

I too am prone to blame myself & feel far more guilt than I should, but I agree that you shouldn’t feel responsible for that person losing their job. Their own actions led to that. No one else’s.

I should have made it clearer that I don’t believe this individual was commenting as a HCP, but instead as a friend of the educator… I’ll update it a bit to clarify that

Thanks!