What Important Life Lesson Thyroid Disease Taught You
As both a survivor of Celiac Disease and hypothyroidism, and as parent of an adult with cerebral palsy who got that way via medical error, the most important lessons I've learned are:
o American medical care is very inconsistent, and on the average, not very good.
o There are a surprising number of incompetent doctors in America.
o The rate of medical error is astonishing.
o The "litigation explosion" regarding malpractice, is mostly a myth. In fact, a Harvard study showed that most people malpracticed on, don't sue.
o You must research your own care in order to get well.
How Has This Lesson Changed Your Life?
I am very careful about all aspects of medical care. I do not automatically trust any health-care provider until they've proved that they know what they are doing. I strongly believe that the lack of consumerism in medical care (we can find ratings on cars, but not doctors) is a critical shortcoming. I never miss the chance to remind people that misdiagnosis and mistreatment is a primary factor in causing American health-care to be too expensive.
Advice
- Don't put up with guff from any doctor. Change doctors often, if you must. Even though you may feel like hell, you will have to research your condition (possible diagnoses, possible treatments) to get what you need. You will eventually find out that medicine really is an experimental science, and a doctor who isn't willing to try what you suggest, is no doctor at all.
