I had an appointment at the GP a couple of weeks ago which went terribly. I saw a male doctor in his 50s who I had seen once before. When I arrived at his office, I was happy, smiling, and self-assured. When I left 20 minutes later, I was frustrated, defeated, and in tears. His bedside manner was atrocious. I left angry about how I was treated and how much it affected me. Several days later, I realized my experience at the doctor was a perfect metaphor for 2020.
Credit: Shutterstock.com/smolaw
To make a long story short(er), I went to the doctor to get a prescription for routine blood work. A few weeks prior, I had gone to the ophthalmologist and he wanted a copy of my most recent blood work for his records and since I hadn’t had any blood work done recently, I had to see a GP to request it.
While there, I figured I’d mention something that was bothering me. I get exercise-induced headaches about half the time when I do high-intensity exercise so I just wanted to rule out anything serious and see if he had a solution for me. Without asking me any follow-up questions beyond my short explanation, the doctor exclaims that I have exercise-induced migraines, end of story. I could either stop working out or I could take medicine but no big deal. It wasn’t serious for him and didn’t warrant any further discussion. Case closed.
I was a little confused at how he arrived at a diagnosis so quickly without even getting any details or reviewing my history, so I calmly asked him if there was a need to check electrolytes, minerals, see a specialist, etc. I was coming from a place of wanting to understand and have always been a strong advocate for myself and others. That’s when things took a turn for the worse.
He proceeds to tell me he’s the doctor and he’s been doing this 30 years and that he’s not sure how it’s done in my country but he’s the boss here and only he decides if I need certain tests or a referral. It was unnecessarily dismissive and rude. I was embarrassed by his outburst and felt myself getting warm. I said I didn’t mean to offend him at all, that I respect the fact that he is the doctor, and I apologized for any misunderstanding between us. I explained that I was trying to understand how he automatically concluded I have exercise-induced migraines without investigating anything further.
To spare you the details of the rest of our useless conversation and his tantrum — that went on for far too long — he then told me I was a hypochondriac and that his medical style doesn’t mesh with mine. I was stunned. Then the kicker, he told me not to come back. Yup! I was too worn down and shocked to give him a piece of my mind — something I wouldn’t have even hesitated in doing back in the USA.
He held the door open for me as I left, tears streaming down my masked face. It was bad.
Credit: Shutterstock.com/Alena TS
One thing before I continue: I don’t want to use my bad experience to make a statement about French healthcare as a whole. Terrible bedside manner can happen everywhere so this is not a story about how this exists only in France. But for now, I exist only in France and this happened to me here. There are old school doctors with huge egos in every country who don’t want to be asked to explain themselves by younger women who want to advocate for their health.
Now that I’ve gotten some distance from that joke of a doctor’s appointment and it’s something I laugh at now, what I do want to say is that my experience at the doctor was a perfect metaphor for how we’re all coping during this uncertain time. There’s a lesson in it somewhere.
Despite the craziness of 2020, I wake up happy to start the day pretty much daily I go about my routine that has some semblance of normalcy, and then bam. Something happens, a thought crosses our mind, we see something that reminds us that nothing is normal about what we’re going through now. We get news from friends and family or the media and our mood is affected. Maybe we worry or are just so frustrated by everything and are wondering when things will get better.
Emotions are running high and many of us have wound up in tears — either because of a loved one’s death, feeling overwhelmed, and feeling all the feels of the pandemic on top of everything else life throws it us. Sometimes it’ll just hit me. I find myself on edge a little more than before. I feel pressure in my chest and my heart pounding. I feel like I’m holding it together but I’m easily startled. If someone turns the corner as I’m getting out of my car, I jump a little inside, not expecting them to be there.
Then this nagging thought enters my mind: When will we see our loved ones again in person? It’s the uncertainty of it all that’s the hardest for me to deal with. I like having a plan and scenario in my head. It makes me feel in control. But nothing about the pandemic feels safe and under control. I’m suspicious of people who are seemingly fine through it all.
Adapting and rolling with the punches comes with the territory of living abroad. We get quite skilled at being chameleons, listening and learning and going with the flow. But sometimes it would feel good to be still and stop adapting. I want to feel like everything is easy and under control.
Credit: Shutterstock.com/KieferPix
When I think back to January 1, I remember the goals I had set for myself and how I was cautiously optimistic about starting a new year. Like me walking into the doctor’s office earlier this summer, January was also smiley and confident, full of hope and self-assured. Then as the year went on, most of that faded away. This year has been a shitshow.
2020 is an election year. A year full of promise, we told ourselves. Then March rolled around and we started to feel the ground shift. We snowballed into where we are now. Like my doctor’s appointment, many of us can’t quite find our footing and sense of calm. 2020 has left us feeling defeated, unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and in tears.
I don’t have any answers but I think talking about anxiety and fear and disappointment is a vital part of getting through it and emerging stronger, or at least feeling more capable than yesterday. In my personal life, I can’t ignore things and hope they’ll magically get better. I need an outlet and and this post is acting as that. Sometimes I write things down in one of my many notebooks. Right after my disastrous doctor’s appointment, I left messages for three family and friends in succession and explained what had happened.
While telling people didn’t change what happened, it left me feeling a little lighter. It let me detach the experience from my physical being. By talking, I sent my words out into the ether to break down and dissolve instead of weighing me down. How I was treated had nothing to do with me and everything to do with him. Doctors aren’t immune to handling things badly, especially not now, when stress and anxiety are at an all-time high. I forgive how he handled a routine appointment. But that doesn’t make it right.
All we can do is control how we react to the things that unfold in our lives and that’s where the power lies. In a way, that’s how we take back what the pandemic stole from us. The lesson here for me — one that appears often in my life — is that we can only control our reactions to what happens in our lives. If someone acts like a fool, that’s on them. If 2020 wants to throw us some curve balls, great, then it’s an exercise in resilience and growth. I have to believe that’s the lesson and we’ll all get through this together.
***
How have you been feeling lately?
Dear Diane,
First of all thanks ever so much for your YouTube videos, site/blog and anything else I find of yours on the internet!!
Merci beaucoup!!!
Adore reading all that you write about SO much, and wish I had known about you when you started on the web.
(also your dog is adorable!)
Just now read your entire piece on your experience at the doctor’s office.
I just do not know where to start!!!
(by the way I am writing you from the USA and I am an American, that obviously adores France being that I read/listen to all that you have on the web)
I have never been to a doctor over there, but, maybe, just maybe, choose one that is more international, or from a English speaking country if you can find one, ask expatriates for such information.(not that your experience can not happen with them but just maybe the chances are lower).I am sure your husband was also beside himself about it all. So sorry to read your experience, but also definitely enlightening. Thanks for posting it.For if there is somewhere you could post his name without posting yours about his awful behavior,that would be great. Also not knit picking at you at all,as you have had enough happen to you with this doc, just in case you can go back & edit your piece, “Then the kicker”. (he told me not TO come back) Sure you meant to type “TO”. Just in case someone that reads your piece that is not totally fluent in English misunderstands.
Diane all the best to you overall,sorry for your doc visit,just think, you do not HAVE to go back to him(I take it he was French).I adore all that you present on the web, most appreciated & I always look forward to your next postings of any news.Loved the food postings, including that visit to the supermarket & street market.Big MERCI BEAUCOUP! P.S. I once had a doc here in NYC that was not as interested as I thought he should be and all I did was found another one and I definitely did not ignore what I needed help with.I did find out that he was like this with other patients.
Hi Tamarra! First, thank you SO much for pointing out the typo. Corrected! Please continue to point them out. I don’t take that personally at all. I always know what I want to say in my head and then when I proofread, my eyes skim over the errors! Ahhh, I never see my own mistakes.
OK, so next I really appreciate your reply and so glad you enjoy my content. 😉
I’ve already left a review for this rude doctor with my real name. I did nothing wrong, he did, and others need to know because I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I’ve had enough time now to process the experience and through forgiving his behavior, it was kind of freeing. Was the only way to move forward because I was pissed and sad and all the feelings dwelling on it for days. Sad to admit that but it really affected me on top of everything else we’re all feeling.
What nags at me is that doctors get away with this rudeness and imagine if I had been at the end of my rope and it had taken every ounce of strength to get into the doctor. I don’t want to imagine how that could have gone. Doctors aren’t above a base line politeness and how out of line he was almost seems like a joke when I think about it because of how crazy it was. What I was most mad about is that I was too stunned to react and tell him how out of line he was in the moment. As I mentioned, back in NYC I would have cut him off mid-sentence when he started having his tantrum but here I try to listen more than I talk and be respectful of how things are done in France. So I shut up, let him talk, but wish I had done more in the moment. Next time I guess, but hoping there won’t be a next time with any other doctor.
Anyway, I appreciate you being here. Thanks again for commenting!
Bonjour Diane!
Thanks ever so much for your reply!!!
(most appreciated!)
Adore your Facebook, YouTube/blog etc..Look forward to your next input like crazy as I am a
incurable francophone. I have been there many times as I just LOVE it!
(have visited, not just Paris but several other parts, and still look forward to seeing
all the other places there I have not seen and I would LOVE to see the area that you are in)
Thanks for posting that gorgeous scene of Le Mont St. Michel!!!
(I was there only once, but not long enough, understatement that its amazing)
I have attended the R.I.Photographie in Arles for many years.
Diane, thanks ever so much for all that you post!!!
Best to you, get a new doctor and continue to enjoy that lovely country.
(great to read that you posted something about him!!!)
Bonne Chance, merci beaucoup!
I’m so sorry for your terrible experience with your former doctor. I do think that we have a right to expect good behavior from people in certain professions, especially those in health care and especially during hard times.
It’s my husband’s and my 50th anniversary. Instead of the gala our son had planned for us, we’re taking a few groups of 4-6 friends at a time to restaurants for small dinners. Two nights ago, the young girl (with a cane) seating us refused to put 6 at the same table, despite my reasoned and kind explanations. I was so rude to her that it embarrassed even me, went back to apologize, and found her in tears. It was the first week on her new job, she explained. I’m so ashamed and regretful. Perhaps your doctor is, too.
Thanks Mary, it’s OK now but took me longer than I’d like to admit to get past the rudeness. When someone is worried and vulnerable, the last thing they need is a dismissive and majorly rude doctor. To be honest, I don’t think that egomaniac gave me even a second more of his brain space the minute I walked out the door.
Thanks for sharing your experience about the restaurant and happy 50th anniversary!!! It takes a strong person to admit they were wrong and even though you messed up, you owned it and apologized, so good on you for that.
Hiya Diane,
So horrific!!! That doctor doesn’t deserve your forgiveness. You handled the situation way better than I would have.
Hi Claire, I would have handled it differently back in NYC, I’m sure of that. I don’t know why I give French people a pass as much as I do. In the moment, I don’t call out bad behavior as much as I would have back in the USA. Living abroad is weird sometimes. Hope you are all doing ok!!
I understand your frustration perfectly. On one hand, we are told to pay attention to body changes and then when you try to discuss it with a med “professional”, you are dismissed or worse. I had food poisoning and was very sick for 24 hrs. A Dr came to the rental property but did not pay attention to electrolytes or anything else. Hours later, I passed out when standing up and broke and dislocated my ankle. I was in a hospital for a week after ankle surgery in Cavaillon. Hd the Dr. paid attention to my electrolytes,I would have been at the lavender festival and not have ruined the second week of my vacation. I am only telling you this because it really is important to find a Dr you can communicate with and one who will be attentive to your concerns and observations. You have expressed many times how important exercise is to you, you must find out the source of the headaches and how to avoid them. Also important because dehydration can result in brain blood clots which I have also lived through…. Get the answer you need. Thanks for sharing. Love the French culture and travel posts and observations. MERCI! et Bonne Sante!
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry to hear about the food poisoning and broken ankle. What at terrible mix of ailments. I know how important it is to have a doctor that we can trust and communicate with but it’s been more difficult than expected to find that where I live, in my experience. This was just a stand-in GP I was going to for a blood work prescription. I didn’t think it would have gone so downhill so quickly.
Coincidentally, the headaches after intense exercise are much better after I started taking Nuun in my water bottle.
The French have an expression for what you should have said at the time, in this case to the Doctor.
L’esprit de l’escalier or l’esprit d’escalier ; lit. ‘”the staircase mind”‘) a French term used for the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late. or repartee thought of only on the way home
Regards
Nobby
Oh, man. My sister’s had a few unsatisfactory run-ins with doctors in her 50 years in France that sound very familiar. Never, though, with nurses. Huh… .
I just remember when I lived there that almost every medical appointment ended up with an offer to prescribe suppositories for nebulous ailments that I really didn’t think I needed anything for. Even vitamins.
And that’s my entire experience with the French medical profession: educated people always telling me to put things up my butt.
The end <– no pun intended
That made me laugh. Thank you!!
Hi Diane,
Regarding the blood work we thought the same as you at first, that it was necessary to have a GP order it. However, after years of getting bloodwork every 3 months here in Saumur, we learned the lab will do a standard blood panel for us without a GP ordenance. The catch is that it’s not reimbursable by CPAM. Not a problem for us since we don’t use CPAM and have private US insurance that doesn’t require an ordenance for paymennt. Standard blood panels run about 60e.
The 2 GPs we see here are outstanding and speak English very well. In fact one is married to an American. However, at first, they were a bit surprised and unsettled about a patient doing research on their malady and perhaps having more practical experience with the maladay than the GP. When you’ve had migraines for 40 yrs, you sort of become an expert on them by necessity: causes, triggers, medications, combinations of medications etc, etc. It took our GP probably 2 visits to get comfortable with her patient being an integral part of the team trying to address the issue. And now, it’s definitely a team effort to improve general quality of life as well as to assess potential treatments, both of a pharmaceutical nature and non-invasive nature. And now, we also feel that our GPs spend much more time with us than any US did ever did. Our US doctor experience was more of the ‘pill pushing’ methodology whereas here, it’s a more holistic approach, taking in diet, activities, exercise, non-invasive treatments as well as prescriptions.
Chin up, there’s a good GP in Angers ready to change your experience.
Great thoughts, Diane. You certainly put into words what many of us are feelng as the “Covid fatigue” wears on.
The way you were treated was inexcusable. I’m glad you could work through it to forgive the doctor’s attitude, but I hope you are able to see another practitioner who will give you more information and better answers.
I really appreciate all your posts about life in France!
Take Care!
When a professional starts with “well, I don’t know how it’s done in YOUR country…”, what follows is usually idiotic. I remember being shamed by a Canadian doctor because I was late on a PAP test and she used the line as well. It’s only hours later that I realized I should have said “well, in MY country, we keep up with routine tests because we don’t have to wait for months or years to find a GP!”
Such experiences with healthcare professionals are particularly frustrating because, well, health matters. I met so many rude Canadian doctors that I’m now scared to seek help when I need it. Bottom line is, it’s really an issue with some professionals, regardless of the culture. I met great doctors in France and Canada and had terrible xperiences in both countries as well.
Wow Diane, You must have been on the same wavelength as myself when you wrote this, uncannily mirrors my head at the moment. Your are correct in saying we can only manage how we react to something, good and bad but sometimes we have a yuk day and experiece and it’s ok to kick off about it. Then of course we have to go through it in our head again and calm ourselves, sooth our rattled inner person, takes time but 2020 is teaching us a lot of lessons about time, behaviour and the human race. I do hope we all learn something from these trials and that the future brings more thoughtfulness into our everyday lives. Take care.
I’m so sorry to hear about this horrible experience, Diane! I would’ve also left in tears. It must’ve been even harder to experience in a foreign language. I just feel like it’s more difficult to conduct yourself in these hairy situations (I tend to feel less bold, and less willing to push back).
I agree that the pandemic is really pushing a lot of people on edge. Still, it’s no excuse to make others miserable. It’s really gracious of you to forgive the doctor. I hope you’re able to find a much more understanding one!
Hi Lily, thanks for your comment. I feel like sometimes it’s hard to talk to doctors in general about things that are going on with our health, just that it’s not always easy to feel heard even in our native language. So add in a foreign language and a mask and pandemic and boom, so much more complicated. Especially with a doctor who seems to have a superiority complex. But yah I’m sure it’s hard for doctors too so I won’t hold it against him. It ate away at me for days and figured it was better to just move on and release whatever BS I was still holding onto as best I could.
Since moving to France, I am a much more complacent, timid version of myself in French and I HATE IT. I don’t know why I didn’t rip him a new one in the moment. I guess I already felt defeated. I hope I’ll be stronger next time if someone treats me poorly.
Anyway, hope you’re doing well in Boston. xx
Older male doctors in the US are often a$$holes, too. Since we have little choice over who we see due to HMO restrictions, I’ve found the solution that works for me is to bring my “white” “male” “husband” with me. amazing the difference this makes. The result is respectful consults, and my choice of multiple treatment options. Wish this weren’t the case, but it works.
I have had a few experieces with asshat doctors including one real arrogant and condescending bastard who I will not see again until it snows in hell.
Some doctors are like that–they consider themselves demigods. We briefly had a GP, recommended by a friend whose cancer she found. This doctor also quickly diagnosed our kid’s meningitis, calling to the hospital to take us in without delay, which they did. But on another occasion, she blew up when I suggested the wart on my kid’s foot was a wart. No surprise–my kid took swimming lessons and warts were rampant at the pool. But it wasn’t going away despite weeks of wart treatments. “How do you know it’s a wart?” she demanded. “I am the doctor. I am the one who can tell.” But of course I wouldn’t go to the doctor for a wart. Only for one that’s particularly resistant and needs to be burned off. We never went back to that doctor. We found another, very young and very thorough, and we love her. You’ll find a good one, too.
Oh, first of all, I am sorry you had to go through such an experience. I recently had to question my eye doctor for his lack of communication. Luckily, after he got over the shock, he was more willing to explain things to me. As far as the feelings of 2020, what you said is exactly how I have been feeling. This is indeed, a very hard time. I lived overseas for 40 years. I have been back in the US for 5. Until this March I had a good balance of life in a nice small town, and 2-3 international trips a year, along with a monthly trip to NYC. Now, I don’t leave my zip code. It is not easy. I pray we will all make it through this horrible year, and come out better for it.
Everybody has underlying stresses at the moment and they are prone to bursting out unexpectedly. It’s all the uncertainty. And everyone’s Covid19 experience is different, so we have a combination of stuff in common and stuff that is unique to us, making it very difficult to know how to react to ourselves, much less others. I’ve experienced doctors who don’t like patients who have opinions about treatments and diagnoses. My own GP is kind of the opposite. I have to be careful not to lead the discussion too much because if he thinks I’m angling to get a certain medication he’ll prescribe it (if he thinks it’s harmless), whether he thinks its the treatment for what I’ve got or not.
Hi Diane,
What has been helpful to me for getting perspective in stressful situations came from an article I read in the New York Times some time ago. It is a simple recitation of a few phrases that is called a loving kindness meditation. The lines are: May (this person or persons) be safe, may they be happy, may they be loved, may they live with ease. I now add: May they be well, in this time of coronavirus.
I say this meditation silently every night just before I go to sleep, starting with those I love who are closest to me, each by name. Then I include groups I care about and anyone who might need a kind thought.
What the article recommended was to include anyone there was difficulty with in your life. I had difficulty with someone that I wasn’t sure I would survive. I added them into the meditation and found that I had a different perspective about them. At the end of the meditation, you include yourself in the recitation. I then name the things that I am grateful for in my life, and it starts with: I am grateful to have a roof over my head, I am grateful to have food to eat, I am grateful to have the clothes I need. Then I name those I love who have brought the greatest joy to my life. At that point, I am ready to sleep and I usually have sound sleep. I think the meditation helps me feel I have closed off the day.
I think a helpful way to keep perspective is to immerse yourself in something you find restorative as quickly as possible after a stressful situation, something that brings joy to you, and to let that clear your mind and return it to equilibrium. I have seen it recommended to keep searching for a doctor that you can communicate well with. There will be one.
Thank you, Nancy! I love that!
everyone’s Covid19 experience is different, so we have a combination of stuff in common and stuff that is unique to us. it’s a common problem in the whole world. I have to be careful not to lead the discussion too much. I have had a few experiences with asshat doctors including one real arrogant and a condescending bastard. we should save ourselves.
Wow! That sounds awful! How rude! He must not be a happy man. Hope you find a doctor you like.
Thank you, here’s to hoping 🙂
Hi Diane
Thank you so much for sharing this experience. I can definitely relate! I had a horrible experience with a French doctor around two months ago.
I’ve been living in France for 18 months now for work reasons. About 3 months ago, I started getting muscles pains randomly in my back, which would usually go away after an hour or so. One day my back started to hurt quite badly and it lasted most of the day. I booked an urgent appointment with my GP and they gave me an appointment for the next day.
Thankfully the next day the pain had subsided overnight but I was keen to get to the doctor to find out what was happening. I figured maybe muscle knots or something.
The doc was maybe in his 50s and looked Indian (maybe somewhere else in that region), and as soon as I walked into his office, he looked grumpy. I sat down and said nice to meet you, and the first thing he says is ‘why are you late?’. I was startled because I was literally 2-3 mins late (I would have been slightly early but I had trouble finding the clinic) but I said I was sorry and didn’t mean to keep him waiting.
He proceeds to say things like… when one person’s late, it delays appointments for other people and how busy he was, and how it’s disrespectful to be late. I said that I was very sorry and it wouldn’t happen again.
He finally asks me what my issue is that brought me here. After I explained my back pain problems, he points over to the exam table and asks me to undress and lie on it. I asked him how far he needed me to undress, and he said down to my underwear. I really didn’t see why I needed to take my skirt and tights off when the issue was in my back (to make matters worse, because I wasn’t expecting to have to undress my lower half, I hadn’t worn appropriately modest panties) so I asked him why. This is when things got really bad!
He proceeds to give me a full on verbal dressing down! Saying that just because the symptoms were in one area doesn’t mean that other areas weren’t relevant to the exam, and it’s disrespectful to question him when he’s the one with the medical degree, and he asks me sarcastically ‘You know all the parts of the body are connected don’t you?’
I can’t remember the last time I felt so embarrassed or small. I tried to diffuse the situation by saying of course I respect his knowledge and didn’t mean to be rude. At this point I went completely into my shell. He then did the actual exam, which involved things like moving my legs up and down with his hands as I lay on my back, and then digging his fingers into my back muscles as I lay on my front.
He said he wasn’t sure what was causing the problem but a steroid injection would relieve the pain. He then gives me the steroid injection in my right bum cheek. I would have preferred it in my arm (so I wouldn’t have to expose my bum) but I was too tired to argue at this stage.
Like you mentioned in your article, I entered this guy’s office happy and confident, and left embarrassed and feeling small. There’s no excuse to talk to patients that way and be so rude to them!
Joanne
HI Joanna, first let me say I’m so sorry for how you were treated. No doctor — of any nationality — should treat a patient the way you were treated. Stress, the pandemic, someone being late, etc., it’s not an excuse to scold them, belittle them, go on an ego trip and everything thing. UGH. Also, I hope that back issues are all healed and his injection at least worked after all that.
As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think if HE was 3 minutes late and you started off your interaction with “It’s unacceptable to be 3 minutes late, Doc, do you know how that inconveniences the rest of my plans for the day?” blah bah. Could you imagine that? He would have gone off on you for that I’m sure yet it’s OK for him to scold you. So ridiculous. I feel like up to 5 min late is OK on either side. No need for an apology and not a major deal.
The whole thing I walked away with after my experience and after reading yours is that doctors need to learn how to put aside any stress of the profession or life or the day and have good bedside manner. If that’s not the norm 99% of the time, maybe go into pathology or another specialty where you work with the dead or unconscious. Because we’re already vulnerable and having trouble if we’re seeking out a doc for a problem, so they don’t need to make it worse. Now that’s not to say docs should put up with abuse, absolutely not, but they can’t be the ones acting a fool, you know?
In my case and yours, the doctor could have calmly (and not defensively) explained that he’d like to do the exam this way for xyz reason and it’s nothing personal but let’s start like this and calmly explain why. No need to be condescending or go on an ego trip.
And as much as I know this isn’t a France problem per se and there are doctors like this everywhere, I sure have gotten to see multiple ones like this in France. How can that NOT affect your impression of how things work here. Anyway, that’s all to say I get it and I’m sorry, Joanne! Thanks for sharing 😉
Thank you so much for your kind words Diane! Yes the back pains have stopped thankfully.
Yeah I 100% agree with everything you said. I would never scold someone for being a few minutes late.
I think part of the reason for the ego trip from the doctors in your situation and mine, is that some older male doctors don’t like their authority questioned by younger women.
Part of the reason I felt so bad about this experience was that I always found it hard to speak up for myself when I was younger. I’m 26 now and I thought that I’d finally overcome that, but this experience has certainly dented that belief and made me realise I’ve got to stand up for myself more.
It annoys me that I didn’t snap back at him, and I would have felt more comfortable with the injection going in my arm but I’d gone into my shell and didn’t speak up. There was probably a good reason why it had to go in my bum but I didn’t even ask, because I guess I was scared he’d talk down to me again.
Out of curiosity, did you file a complaint about the doctor in your situation? I thought about it, but in the end I didn’t think it was worth the hassle.
Joanne
Hi Joanne, I did not file a complaint because unfortunately it would be my word against hers and I figured it wouldn’t be worth the effort and energy spent on it. But I did leave a poor Google review for him. 🙂 At least that way other patients will know…
And apologies for the typo with your name. I see I put Joanna even though it clearly says Joanne. Sorry I was typing on my phone and AutoCorrect is horrible
No worries lol.
Take care Diane.
Joanne