Do doctors really care about healing people?

My husband is a doctor (internal medicine). He does ask about lifestyle, diet, weight, smoking, but he says the patient rarely if ever is willing to change any of these things. Several say they'd rather die young than give up their bacon, their cigarettes, or their alcohol. Others are in denial about their lifestyle choices. He has patient after patient every day argue that they "don't eat that much", but they weigh 250+. They will swear up and down that all they eat is water and wheat toast. Personally, I know I'm a little overweight, but I also know it's due to the second helping at dinner. If he pushes too hard, the discussions invariably end up with the patients just seeking a new doctor.

I think most doctors would be thrilled if their patients would follow their advice and improve their lifestyles. Too often the patients refuse to follow the doctor's advice and then wind up blaming the doctor when they have a stroke or a heartattack or when they lose a limb to diabetes.

After a while, I think older doctors just give up even trying to change lifestyles because they are so rarely successful in getting their patients to change.

As far as job security, pfft. At least in my area, there is such a shortage of doctors, even if everyone lived perfect lifestyles, my husband would still be overloaded with patients. A perfect lifestyle doesn't guarantee immortality after all.

Doctors care about dollars! I hurt my back at work and got reamed...

After 45 minutes of waiting and a 9 minute doctors visit I was sent to a neurologist, a heart doctor, physical therapy, prescribed pain medication, and given a heart monitor.

They all had no explanation for my pain. I did not do the physical therapy, I did not get the pain pills, and I took the heart monitor off after about 20 minutes. I began doing stretches suggested by a masseuse that my girlfriend works with. I feel better than ever now! I have continued my routine and I have not had any pain. I found out my hamstrings were too tight and since I do so much lifting at work it was straining my legs. None of the doctors took the time to check this out. They just took my temp and sent me somewhere else. Its a shame...

There are many Biblical verses that speak of using "medical treatments" such as applying bandages (Isaiah 1:6), oil (James 5:14), oil and wine (Luke 10:34), leaves (Ezekiel 47:12), drinking some wine (1 Timothy 5:23), and salves--particularly the "balm of Gilead" (Jeremiah 8:22). Also Luke, the author of Acts and the Gospel of Luke, is referred to by Paul as "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). God created us as intelligent beings and gave us the ability to create medicines and learn how to repair our bodies. There is nothing wrong with applying this knowledge and ability towards physical healing. Doctors can be viewed as God’s gift to us…a means through which God brings healing and recovery. At the same time, our ultimate faith and trust is to be in God, not doctors or medicine.

In my opinion, Western doctors are very educated about disease. They are treating a disease, not a person.

Think about specialists: there are heart specialists, oncologists, neurologists, urologists... most patients who come into a hospital with an "unknown" condition end up with five or six doctors, sometimes more. Each doctor contributes their piece to the puzzle. It sounds great, but what happens when they don't coordinate or communicate with each other... ? At best, you've got a very confused patient who isn't sure whose advice to take, and at worst, you've got a patient who ends up even sicker from a toxic combination of prescription drugs.

For example, my grandfather was in the hospital for six weeks awaiting surgery, with a team of what was supposed to be the top-rated specialists in the state. Unbeknownst to any of them, he had an undiagnosed metastatic cancer, and none of them noticed until most of his organs had shut down. At that point, we were told that there was "nothing they could do."

All the while, they were treating each and every one of his new "symptoms" as it occured... with prescriptions to lower his blood pressure, prescriptions to get rid of the random bacterial infection... but without actually stopping to find out WHY it was occurring.

Most doctors treat symptoms. That's just the way it is... sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Some really care for their patients, others don't. Guess it depends on the doctor. I personally only go to my doctor for my yearly exam, the rest of the time I go to my homepathy doctor. Don't find one better than the other, but the homeopathy doctor is a hell of a lot nicer to me and doesn't rush me out the door.

For a start, I can't think of a single antihypertensive that causes gout as a SE.

I think that in general, most doctors do care about healing people, it's a generally unpleasant job - they must be getting *something* out of it.

However, I think we can all sympathise, often doctors just are too busy or tired to care.

If the doctor works in a hospital situated in a rural area, I could believe that the doctor is not after earning money and cares to help the sick especially the poor.

But sadly, the truth is most of them are in for the money.

Some are angles and some think that they are God !

it just depends on whoes lap youre going to fall in !!!

good luck

I think most do and are good people