Curt, I really like the point you made yesterday about how the doctors you talked to really didn’t expect you to follow the directions they gave you.
It’s a depressing turn when you get into health care that they expect people to simply not do as they’re told. Years ago I was going through EMT training and our instructor told us, “The public is stupid.” He ingrained it into everyone like a mantra.

What’s really saddening is that I think health care is the last vestage of this kind of mentality. Every other sector it seems like there’s a DIY-type of sentiment. Blogs about cars, tv maintenance, podcasting, you name it crop up all over and people make good use of it, and I would think that the producers of those materials benefit also.
But with health care, maybe it’s because the healt care professionals are trying to hold onto their All Knowing Guru status that goes against this DIY, be informed mentality.
My experience at the dentist and the eye doctor recently was the same: I’d read up on the issues I was concerned with and came loaded with a ton of questions for them, and they both basically shrugged off what I was curious about by saying “Don’t read so much. Just trust us.”
I understand from the stand point of neurosis, stress, and hypochondrianism why that’s a suggestion, but all too often health care professionals dismiss concerns of patients far too easily.

-peter