General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat would you do if gradually, over a long period of time...
you found out that your medical provider was a hard core Trumper?
Let's say you have been seeing this provider over a period of years, and you have become very conversational and friendly with each other, occasionally sharing personal information on a reciprocal basis...information that has nothing to do with practicing medicine. You have known each other for so long, that you greet each other with a friendly hug (pre-Covid).
Then, let's say that every once in awhile, the provider says something in the midst of a conversation that you don't really think about until you are driving home from their office, and you go...HUH???
Then you start putting 2 and 2 together, and you realize that this provider is not just a Trumper, but a serious hardcore supporter because you come to understand that while you both are making an effort to avoid political discussion, this person has made veiled and very subtle comments about immigrants, race, class, etc. that are not direct enough to make you respond at the time, but after putting together everything they have said to you over the years...it suddenly hits you....OH SHIT!
If you get along well with your provider, would you switch to another under these exact circumstances?
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)I do my best not to do biz with them.
LuckyCharms
(17,425 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Not smart to burn bridge with dr.
But I have with others.
ProfessorGAC
(64,995 posts)I'd have no issues. I'm not one who feels a relationship with my doctor.
He helps me, keeps me informed, remembers I'm educated and is a pleasant guy. But, if he were rabid right wing, I'd find someone else.
Plenty of doctors around.
Skittles
(153,147 posts)I would question the thinking / decisions of anyone who supports Trump. And what kind of care *I* was receiving would not matter, because I would very much doubt they'd treat, say, POC as well, or gay folk, etc.
Ms. Toad
(34,062 posts)I have no idea how my right wing doctor treats POC - but, as a lesbian, his treatment has been exemplary and respectful.
And since I can assess how he treats me (a person his faith tells him is an abomination), I'm not likely to abandon him based on how he might treat POC.
qwlauren35
(6,147 posts)I might start shopping around. Asking friends if they have a good doctor, finding reviews. Even maybe interviewing if they will let you.
As an African-American, I don't think I would ever be in that position, so it's hard to say.
If your provider has gotten you through cancer, or something equivalent, then I might stick with them, BUT challenge them on the Trumpisms. Maybe do some educating. Wear a blacklivesmatter t-shirt to your next appointment.
malaise
(268,930 posts)but it is a really difficult decision given age and the cost of switching.
Still I'd ask around and see if others can deliver the same options at a similar cost
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Do they provide the services needed? If the answer is Yes, then stay with them. Politics isnt everything.
LuckyCharms
(17,425 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)cayugafalls
(5,640 posts)He tries to listen and will concede some points. I have only done tele-health since all this started, but he has always be a very compassionate, smart and genuinely kind person to me and the care he has provided has saved my life. I can tell him anything and he always shows me compassion.
I think it has to do more with the deep relationship you have than just politics. There are so many facets to life and there used to be a time when we could all talk and have conversations without falling in lock step with each others political beliefs. That is the kind of relationship I have with my Doctor and I appreciate that we can talk without resorting to disrespectful or damaging words.
The question for you is, do you like the care your Dr. gives and have you tried to maybe have a respectful conversation to feel out if the Dr. will respect your opinons without damaging the relationship.
kimbutgar
(21,130 posts)I would not trust his judgment if he has the poor judgement of being a mf45 supporter.
torius
(1,652 posts)His rw opinions is offputting. You could try asking him to not talk about politics and see if that works. If he persists, you could leave and tell him you tried but you need a provider who respects not only others, and health care, but science itself.
brooklynite
(94,502 posts)sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)CTyankee
(63,903 posts)doctor. He knew I worked for Planned Parenthood and said he'd learn to do abortions if our right
to choose was threatened by having too few gyns doing abortions because of harassment. He was strong and fearless. I miss him terribly.
My current pcp is from India and we have no conversations even mildly political. He is very formal and keeps boundaries and I am fine with that.
Initech
(100,063 posts)I used to have a good relationship with my doctor. But then he retired and sold his practice. And now my insurance provider sends me to a giant, ungodly medical corporation and I barely spend any time with my doctor for even a general visit.
Crunchy Frog
(26,579 posts)when I had a kidney stone that I was getting no meaningful pain management for.
Apparently it was because I had requested cough syrup a couple of times over a nearly ten year period.
I didn't have the option of switching to a different doctor in the practice until she finally quit.
I basically hate dealing with doctors.
Ms. Toad
(34,062 posts)And, no, I did not seek another primary care doctor. He's been our family doctor for close to two decades.
We fired our last 2 doctors. One misdiagnosed a classic fungal infection - leaving our daughter with permanent scarring on her hands. (He also wanted everyone to keep a Cipro prescription on hand to self-medicate for anthrax poisoning.) When my daughter fractured her leg near the growth plate, the only doctor in-network to treat this particular fracture was an adult orthopedic surgeon. When we suggested she needed a pediatric one (because of the involvement of the growth plate), she said "He is willing to treat pediatric patients." I insisted on one of two things (1) she estalish not that he was willing to treat pediatric patients - but that he was competent at it OR (2) she intervene with my insurance company to seek approval for treatment by an out-of-network pediatric orthopedic surgeon. She refused both. (Again, that was not the only conflict we had with her, but it was the last straw).
We asked our insurance agent to recommend someone other clients were generally happy with - and he recommended our current doctor.
Because our family is uncommon (an adult same-gender female couple with a {then} preteen daughter), we made an appointment to check him out to make sure he would not let any personal bias interfere with medical care. He indicated there was no problem. In the course of conversations, I learned that he goes to the same church as a partner in a law firm that offered me a job and insisted on "Christian" mediation. I didn't have to be Christian - but I had to agree to start there for resolution of any disputes. I didn't take the job - but this doctor has been our doctor since then.
The only time his personal bias has come close to interfering with medical care is when my daughter needed counseling that included dealing with sex addiction (I don't think he knew the details - I believe she just told him it was depression). He referred her to a Christian counseling service. I checked them out, told my daughter who they were - and let her make the decision.
Nearly every visit we have political conversations. I get the impression that, although he is unlikely to change his mind, he is genuinely interested in what I have to say. The most bizarre conversation I had with him was when Palin was the VP candidate - that one took place while he was giving me my annual pap test. It was just odd.
I figure it's good for what ails him to be in regular contact with our family. He sees a stable lesbian family. He respects us (and that's not just lip service), and genuinely likes us. Exposure can't hurt.
That may not be your gig - it is ours. We've always seen ourselves in teaching roles because we can afford to be public, when many in our circumstances. It has always been our position that same gender marriage (for example) would be welcomed once no one could any longer say, "I don't know any lesbians or gays." We reached that tipping point more quickly than I imagined - but that is what did the trick when Edie Windsor became a beloved, grieving, grandmother figure - rather than a deviant.
On the other hand - if I discovered he was incompetent, or unwilling to work with our insurance company to obtain appropriate care, he'd be gone in a heartbeat.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)I would.
sarisataka
(18,600 posts)Over the years she has proven to be skilled at medicine. I have no idea what her politics are nor does it matter.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)... he had a hissy fit about the Affordable Care Act.
Prior to that, he was constantly pushing me to have extra eye tests there that I already had done by an actual eye doctor -- a retinologist! I went along with his OCT scans for awhile, to be nice, which cost me extra money each time. Despite how I already had it done about two weeks prior by the eye doctor and told him that. (I finally put my foot down and declined the senseless extra charges, which clearly made him upset each time.)
He often talked about how he majored in astrophysics, but he became an optometrist just to take over his father's optometry business. I majored in math and physics and thought we had a lot of similarities, but the guy seemed more like a borderline sociopath the more I got to know him. Seemed a bit robotic with an obsession for technology, while people were like a painful nuisance in his virtual world.
Anyway, he had previously praised Obama and said that he was so thankful that we had an intelligent President again. So we had discussed politics too, which might have been foolish.
After the ACA passed and I saw him again, he was actually shouting at me that HE would have to help pay for the insurance of his employees! He was yelling like it was all my fault because, as he knew, I had expressed my support for Obama and the effort to expand healthcare! (And he agreed originally, but apparently only when he thought that HE wouldn't be affected.)
It was weird as heck, like I was the center of all his scorn. So that was my last time seeing that freak.
His employees all acted like they walked on eggshells around him, which made more sense to me after our last interaction.