What Ever Happened To The Patient-Doctor Relationship?

I have spoken about the importance of successful relationships in our lives. We are social animals. One thing that has been neglected in recent years is the patient-doctor relationship. Over 30 years, there has been a gradual deterioration in that relationship, and the past three years with COVID-19 have accelerated the disconnect between the public and the medical profession. In fact, the relationship has been supplanted by the medical-bureaucratic state.

When you try to tell people how to live and follow some rules arbitrarily created by a medical bureaucracy, you will infringe upon freedom. That is why the medical-bureaucratic state must be separated from the patient. Once the bureaucracy seeks to control the patient, the doctor and the patient lose their freedoms.

Many patients don't realize the subtle creep of bureaucracy into medicine to the extent that patient care suffers. Patients are aware that their doctor spends more time typing away into their computer instead of making eye contact with the patient. The doctor has to follow specific rules and protocols according to algorithms that have infiltrated medical practice.

Instead of being treated for individual concerns, people were treated the same way. Everyone got the same vaccine, the same medication, and basically the same protocol. The personalized, individualized relationship has gone away in many cases. Since the 1990s, there's been a massive shift in medicine from solo practitioners or small groups to larger multi-specialty groups.

The old family doctor would make house calls and knew all your family members and about your children and parents, but all those things have gone away; now, you are treated by multiple practitioners. On each visit, you might see a different doctor in the same multi-doctor practice, so you cannot establish rapport.

To some degree, all licensed professions, even chiropractic, have been restricted in how they conduct their practices, all in the name of better "evidence-based" practice. Unfortunately, other than diagnostic technology today, care by individual doctors is the same as before. The concept of a bedside manner is long gone in many practices.

So what can you, as a patient, do about it? Some doctors and other professionals, such as chiropractors, still believe in personalized care. Remember, ultimately, you are the patient; if you are not satisfied, you can demand the best care.

So, what are some things you can look for?