{"id":32094,"date":"2014-08-04T15:32:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T14:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=32094"},"modified":"2014-08-04T15:32:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T14:32:40","slug":"richard-smith-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2014\/08\/04\/richard-smith-i-hate-going-to-the-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Smith: I hate going to the doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"richard_smith_2014\"<\/a>I hate going to the doctor. Don’t you? My statement is unsurprising as I’m a man and a doctor (of sorts), two groups who are known to dislike going to the doctor.<\/p>\n

Like most Londoners, I don’t have a doctor. I belong to a practice, but take pot luck on whom I see. Last time it was a locum who was mainly interested in global health; he did some general practice to provide some income. Neither he nor I were much interested in the consultation.<\/p>\n

So far I’ve averaged a consultation rate of about once every five years. I wouldn’t dream of going to the doctor with a cough, a cold, a fever, or most aches and pains. Something has to persist for a while before I contemplate going, and even then I usually don’t\u2014because I don’t expect much value from the consultation. The doctor usually says: “It might be this, or it might be that. Or it could be something else altogether. We might run some tests.”<\/p>\n

Some of the this\u2019s or that’s might be alarming. A close friend of mine went with a persistent cough, and their GP mentioned a condition that terrified this friend when she looked it up on the internet: death seemed close. After many tests she was referred to a consultant, who said that she had a sensitive respiratory tract and to forget it. Lots of cost, but little benefit there.<\/p>\n

One good reason for going to the GP is to get referred to a surgeon\u2014because surgeons can add value, at least when they stick to the simple stuff. Twenty years ago I had a left inguinal hernia repaired. Now I need a right one repaired. I don\u2019t want it to reach my knees.<\/p>\n

The operation that added more value than any other\u2014because it stopped me populating the world any further\u2014was my vasectomy. But I didn\u2019t bother my GP with that. I paid my \u00a350 to Marie Stopes, climbed up on the operating table, confirmed that I knew my vasectomy was forever (even though I know they can sometimes be successfully reversed), and had the snip.<\/p>\n

I also take the polypill to avoid having to go to the doctor. I don\u2019t know my blood pressure or my lipid profile (and am pleased not to), but I know that because of my age I have about a 10% chance of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. That seems like enough risk to me to justify taking a pill each night, which seems for me to have no side effects, comes through the post, and costs me \u00a312 a month. But if I had to go to the doctor every three months to have my blood pressure measured, I\u2019d rather take the risk of the heart attack or stroke. It\u2019s all I can manage to go to the barber\u2019s, and I don\u2019t dislike that as much as I dislike going to the doctor\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Then there is the whole feel of a consultation. I know doctors\u2019 lingo, and I was editor of The BMJ<\/em> for 13 years. Indeed, I have a medical degree. But I still feel like a little boy when I go to the doctor, even though most of those I see are at least 20 years younger than me. Odd, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

I suppose that one day with my coming multimorbidity, I may have to troop along to the doctor every week, but I think that I\u2019d rather be dead. Wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Richard Smith<\/strong>\u00a0was the editor of The BMJ until 2004. He is now chair of the board of trustees of icddr,b [formerly International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh], and chair of the board of Patients Know Best. He is also a trustee of C3 Collaborating for Health.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate going to the doctor. Don’t you? My statement is unsurprising as I’m a man and a doctor (of sorts), two groups who are known to dislike going to the doctor. Like most Londoners, I don’t have a doctor. I belong to a practice, but take pot luck on whom I see. Last time […]<\/p>\n

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