Rubbing your hands together is standard practice for bankers, lawyers, politicians and used car salesmen. Why wouldn't it be for doctors too?

@Silverwolf @Humpleupagus @beardalaxy @matrix @cereal Also keep in mind that doctors are used to dealing with retards and neurotic women who google "headache" and WebMD tells them they have cancer. I'd expect most people here are the opposite, the type who avoid interacting with the medical system until it is absolutely necessary. If you are one of those people, don't let the doctor fob you off on a therapist or recommend "wait and see", firmly advocate for yourself and make sure you are getting the medical care you need.

@InceptionState @Silverwolf @Humpleupagus @beardalaxy @matrix @cereal The "retards and neurotic women" are the "You remember that patient you sent home last week? Died this morning."

Doctors just suck, intentionally. The entire incentive structure and their work environment is for them to have as little personal connection with the patient as possible, ignore your symptoms, and get the appointment over with ASAP while giving you as little actual medical care as possible.

You suffer for months, finally call the doctor, get an appointment 8 months out, drive an hour, wait an hour, sit in the exam room for an hour with a nurse popping in to do very basic shit, then finally see a GP nurse practitioner for 15 minutes who has 20 other appointments that day, and MAYBE get a referral to go through the same bullshit again with a specialist who's also going to dismiss your symptoms and gatekeep you from health care as hard as possible. People with symptoms of a thing should be checked for that thing, even if the shitty, minimally-invasive tests suggest otherwise. Even ERs in America don't really care unless you're literally currently dying - think cardiac arrest or heart attack, not unstable angina, coronary artery spasm, arterial dissection, or cancer (even though those things will all kill you and need to be found and treated ASAP).