Every six months I have to go to either a nurse practioner or doctor at a local clinic to get my routine prescriptions rewritten. It was irritating, since nothing has changed and they have my medical records in their computer, to have to fill out six pages of paperwork, but the receptionists said sorry, the first of every year all new paperwork must be done.

You know those check off lists of all the illnesses afflicting your father, mother or other close kinfolk, your name written and also spelled out on every form, the page for listing all current meds, the page for all operative procedures in your lifetime, on and on. They keep everything else in the computer, so why not all this stuff? Do they think my deceased parents medical problems have changed?

So after a long wait a doctor comes in and after a short hello, sits down at a computer and starts typing away. He doesn't even glance at those dratted forms I've filled out. He's sitting with his back to me and asks questions and typing it all in the computer. Without doing any testing or for any good reason, he wants to change a couple of my meds. I say no, if everything is working just fine, why rock the boat? I want my meds to stay the same. I'm a nurse--I'll tell YOU when I need anything else.

Now this is the thing. A patient has the right to say what they will allow to be done to their body, their treatment, etc. and have the right to refuse treatment. A doctor should work with the client and suggest treatment options, but a doctor is not God. Only you have the right to say which of those options you will accept, even in matters of life or death. You don't have to accept what you consider un-necessary testing and treatments. Unfortunately, there are still far too many doctors out there with the God complex. Like that jumbo yesterday with his back to me. Get real. You expect me to take your advice??

susil