I've read about the ways that 'patients' are disempowered by caregivers, but I don't think I've been on the receiving end of it until recently.
A couple days ago, I had a second asthma attack bad enough for the emergency ward. (I sure hope this doesn't keep on happening.) Anyway, while in the emergency ward I experienced two different kinds of disrespectful treatment, one from a nurse and the other from a doctor.
Firstly, the nurse came up and asked how I was doing. I gasped out 'not very well' and he replied 'nonsense! You're fine!' I tried to explain that I was most definately not OK, but he just continued saying similar things. I understood that he was trying to calm me down, but I found it really disrespectful and patronising to be contradicted about my experience, and it left me feeling really scared that I might not get proper treatment because they might think I was faking it.
After he left, I overheard an interaction between him and another patient which made me realize that rather than just being hypersensitive, I was reacting to a real problem in this man's behavior. He was talking to someone who'd just had a stroke. First he cajoled them to 'give him a smile', and then said 'I knew it was hiding in there somewhere'. Later he said 'come on, big strong girl like you, you can push against my hand'. I found it really offensive how he was treating this other patient, and I would not be surprised if that patient found it demeaning as well.
Awhile later the doctor came. We told him about how I had another asthma attack about a week or two ago and had taken three days of prednisone and been using Symbicort 2-8 times a day (at least 2, more if I had trouble breathing). He first said 'why did you only take three days of prednisone?' in an accusing manner, and later lectured me about overusing the Symbicort, saying I should only take 2 a day. In both cases, I'd been following the doctor's orders - the emergency ward had given me the prednisone and arranged for my regular doctor to see me just as I finished it to decide on a more permanent treatment, and my regular doctor had told me to take the Symbicort at least twice a day and more if needed, but not more than 8 a day. I thought we'd made that pretty clear, but he seemed to think I'd done something wrong.
When he told me what to do (take Symbicort twice a day and use a regular symptomatic as needed), he said I should do as I was told so I wouldn't end up there again, which is pretty ridiculous since I did what the doctors had told me and still ended up in the emergency ward.
A couple days ago, I had a second asthma attack bad enough for the emergency ward. (I sure hope this doesn't keep on happening.) Anyway, while in the emergency ward I experienced two different kinds of disrespectful treatment, one from a nurse and the other from a doctor.
Firstly, the nurse came up and asked how I was doing. I gasped out 'not very well' and he replied 'nonsense! You're fine!' I tried to explain that I was most definately not OK, but he just continued saying similar things. I understood that he was trying to calm me down, but I found it really disrespectful and patronising to be contradicted about my experience, and it left me feeling really scared that I might not get proper treatment because they might think I was faking it.
After he left, I overheard an interaction between him and another patient which made me realize that rather than just being hypersensitive, I was reacting to a real problem in this man's behavior. He was talking to someone who'd just had a stroke. First he cajoled them to 'give him a smile', and then said 'I knew it was hiding in there somewhere'. Later he said 'come on, big strong girl like you, you can push against my hand'. I found it really offensive how he was treating this other patient, and I would not be surprised if that patient found it demeaning as well.
Awhile later the doctor came. We told him about how I had another asthma attack about a week or two ago and had taken three days of prednisone and been using Symbicort 2-8 times a day (at least 2, more if I had trouble breathing). He first said 'why did you only take three days of prednisone?' in an accusing manner, and later lectured me about overusing the Symbicort, saying I should only take 2 a day. In both cases, I'd been following the doctor's orders - the emergency ward had given me the prednisone and arranged for my regular doctor to see me just as I finished it to decide on a more permanent treatment, and my regular doctor had told me to take the Symbicort at least twice a day and more if needed, but not more than 8 a day. I thought we'd made that pretty clear, but he seemed to think I'd done something wrong.
When he told me what to do (take Symbicort twice a day and use a regular symptomatic as needed), he said I should do as I was told so I wouldn't end up there again, which is pretty ridiculous since I did what the doctors had told me and still ended up in the emergency ward.
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