Unethical Doctor

[daltong]

Dr. Noel Goldthwaite, a doctor with the SpineCare clinic in Daly City, refused to treat me today because I am fat.

Comments

[urbanbard]

*lots of hugs*
I'm sorry, thats just awful. Good luck finding another doctor, I know how hard it is to fight through the system.

[daltong]

Thanks for your support. I haven't yet started the new-doctor search, but I think I will soon; I've gotten some distance from and perspective on the whole issue.

[sinboy]

*hugs*

I hope you're able to find someone better than that jerk.

[daltong]

Thanks for the support. I'm sure I'll find someone better. In fact, this could be god closing one door to open another...I may find a doctor who will not only work with me, but who will be a bit more aggressive in helping me get better and get back to work. Thank goth for perspective!

[dangerpudding]

Ugh... I dealt with this at Urgent Care a couple of weeks ago- I went in because of severe pain in my foot, and the doctor spent 9 of the 10 minutes talking to me about how I need to lose weight. He ignored most of what I said, including the fact that I *have* been steadily losing weight, because I didn't have an exercise or diet plan to outline to him.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this- it's dumb, incompetent, and so difficult. :(

[daltong]

Sympathy back. I went through that when I had plantar fascitis, years ago...the idiot doctor at the army base said that I had a heel spur because I was fat. When I finally got to a real podiatrist, I asked him about it, and he said that the weight might exacerbate it a little, but that it hadn't caused it, nor would weight loss fix it. (I had surgery for it and have been better ever since, even though I've gained weight since then.)

[cortneyofeden]

Grrr. Is there another doctor, outside of the group, that you can go to instead?

::hugs::

[daltong]

I'm going to have to find someone. Neurologists are somewhat few and far between, but there's got to be someone out there just right for me!

Thanks for your support.

[epi_lj]

*gentle e-hug*

Is there anybody else you can see?

I was posting just today about how overweight people have a lot of trouble getting medical treatment, and how I believe that that is a factor in the mortality statistics.

Here's a story from my life:

A long time ago, while I was a student, I had a summer job at the Ministry of Health. One day, I came to work and I had a new chair. The new chair was terrible. I knew as soon as I sat in it that it would do evil things to me. It violated every ergonomic guideline in the book.

Already by the end of the day, my back hurt.

By the end of the next day, the pain was getting quite bad.

Bear in mind that prior to getting the chair, I had no back problems whatsoever, and never had. I was at one of my lowest weights in some time -- about 265 lbs, which is extraordinarily low for me -- and my self-esteem was also flying, mostly due to unrelated things. (I'd just started a wonderful relationship with okoshunNow, after about a week, I could barely stand up at times, the pain was so

[daltong]

Holy shit. That's amazing.

Thanks...hearing that story helps, and I bet it'll help a lot in the coming hours and days as I process this crap.

[evergrey]

I hate arrogant little prick bastard doctors like that. They expect epople to treat them like gods, but they act like absolute scum.

Makes me feel really prone to violence.

[daltong]

Thanks. That definitely helped. :)