Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
On Doctors and Following the Science
Earlier this week, I reached a bit of a breaking point with COVID theatre in medical settings. We brought our two-year-old daughter to a specialist appointment for a somewhat stressful (though non-invasive) test. I brought my husband Seth along because I didn’t want to be faced with the possibility of having to juggle a crying newborn while also comforting my scared toddler during the exam.
It started with the pens. The pens, oh, the pens. There is something deeply disconcerting about a medical provider that is still engaging in the theatre surrounding surface transmission in late-July of 2021. No, we don’t need separate cups of “clean” and “dirty” pens. I intentionally always take one out of the dirty cup in my own quiet little act of rebellion.
Anyone else loose faith in medical providers that do this? pic.twitter.com/rmB4pwDHMs
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) July 26, 2021
But then her name was called, and we all started walking back into the exam room before the nurse stopped us. “We only allow one parent into the room at a time.”
Let’s just pretend for a moment that we all had COVID. We are all of the same household. If one of us has it, all of us have it. But the point is moot because every single adult in the room is presumably vaccinated (me and my husband have and could have proved it upon request). If we all trust the vaccine (I do, and I have real questions if my medical provider doesn’t), why can’t three masked and vaccinated adults be in the same room together?
There are any number of reasons why both parents might want to be in the room; for me, if I’m being honest, I’m a control freak. I know my husband is capable of comforting our daughter, but I wanted to watch the exam to make sure it was done correctly and ask questions along the way. When Seth came out of the room I asked him what happened. “I don’t know, they told me to come back to the waiting room.” Zero information. That’s men, or at least, that’s my man. I’m chatty while I pump for information; he played Baby Shark on his phone for the toddler and did little else, he focused on her and her anxiety and needs. Seth’s grandmother always used to say that good couples are like “pots and tops,” every pot has a top; they aren’t identical but complementary. When we both go to appointments (rarely, but when they’re important we make it happen) we utilize this pots and tops dynamic. We fill different roles; he’s the comforting and entertaining parent, and I’m the parent who makes sure we never leave without every avenue pursued, every question answered.
On Twitter yesterday, I saw another mother express similar frustration with her medical provider over allowing misplaced COVID fears allow essential care to be sidelined.
My toddler's pediatrician's office just called to cancel his 4 year old well child visit because he had URI symptoms last week (Covid negx2, symptoms resolved and he's back at preschool). He hasn't been seen by his pediatrician in 2 years not to mention the vaccines he needs.
— Lillian Brown (@lilbrownmd) July 26, 2021
What are we doing? Why would a vaccinated medical provider fear a sick child? Isn’t treating children, both sick and well, part of their essential job description? We’ve allowed so much medicine to go unpracticed for the last year and a half. We’ve allowed children’s health to suffer in order to appease irrational fears of adults, the adults we trust(ed) to provide them with healthcare. When I was asked to stay in the waiting room I was told, “We feel more comfortable if only one parent comes in.” Why are we allowing the feelings of adults to stand in the way of them doing their jobs, especially when their jobs are taking care of kids?
Published in General
Or maybe not. Maybe they need to question their assumptions.
The “their” is the problem. There are too many theirs out there, and every one of them has a different take. My HMO, Kaiser Permanente, has been strongly supporting the vaccination protocol since the beginning. I have an appointment with my doc next week, I am looking forward to asking her what her opinion is. She is retiring at the end of the month, so I think I might get a less politically correct response. There is so much inconsistency, so little credibility on the part of media or the current administration, and there are some very credible people questioning the current interpretations of the statistics. For instance, how many breakthrough cases have their actually been? I have heard from several sources less than 1% of the vaccinated. What is the severity of illness when a breakthrough occurs? No one has documented that at all. What are the ages of those in whom the breakthroughs have occurred? No data currently available. If we had a media really interested in discovering the facts and reporting them we might actually begin to have an opportunity to question all of the assumptions. Instead, we are left to our own devices and total inconsistencies of reporting by CDC and others, and that is breeding an atmosphere of skepticism toward all “authorities.” I, personally, am not interested in opinions. I want facts, and they seem to be in short supply.
I frankly wouldn’t expect a regular “family physician” to know all that much about vaccines in general, and even less about this new one. It’s not something they study a lot in school, and if someone is a knowledgeable epidemiologist etc they won’t be seeing patients at Kaiser.
I would expect my doctor to be in contact and communication with other physicians in the clinic. I also expect that they are meeting and discussing the various issues. Granted, she isn’t an expert. However, she is a doctor with forty years of experience in medicine. Bringing that knowledge and experience to an issue like vaccine effectiveness and epidemics is certainly within her purview. I would trust her judgment a good deal more than some of the talking heads that appear on the various podcasts and TV shows or fellow members of Ricochet who have nothing but opinions.
It’s entirely possible that some Ricochet people have done more research and have more resources than any given physician or even group of physicians. Perhaps even likely, considering how much time physicians have to devote to other things.
There’s also the possibility/likelihood that whatever your physician might actually believe, they are required to say what Kaiser requires them to say.
I am not a great believer in experts, in general. However, my doctor has been working in large clinic which treats quite a number of patients. Her direct knowledge of what is going one locally in the pandemic is probably a lot more accurate than anyone who is simply reading whatever the media is hyping. You may have noted what I said about her retiring at the end of this month. Having left a few positions in my life, I know that when you are no longer getting a paycheck from a company there is a lot less concern about maintaining the party line. Beyond that, I have known her for a long time. I have always found her frank and honest, not to mention brilliant and highly professional. When she reads an article having to do with some aspect of medicine she brings to her understanding of that article a host of knowledge built on years of experience. Just as I would trust a good friend of mine who is an engineer to read a break down of a particular design above that of a layman, I would trust the knowledge that my doctor brings to the reading of some data about a medical issue before that of a layman reading the same information, no matter how knowledgeable that layman might be. Would not say the same for any physician, but one that I know and respect. I also have a great deal more trust in what Jay Bhattacharya over someone like Anthony Fauci who has likely not seen a patient in many years but claims to be well read on the current crisis. What I am interested in is what is believed by knowledgeable professionals who are actually in the field seeing what is actually going on.