Annie,

What I was trying to say is that physicians are a reflection of the society they live in. They are not saints, they are people.

There will always be exceptional people who will fight injustice or go against what is seen as acceptable and the norm, those who ask questions, but the vast majority of the people will comply with the rules.

There are more and more studies that raise serious concerns regarding the health risks of GMOs. When a farmer grows them, sells them to companies which put them in cereal given to young children without marking them, he is putting those children at potentially serious risk. But, that farmer doesn't bother to read the studies, he doesn't bother to check how the approval for those foods was given, he doesn't bother to ask himself why they are banned in Europe. Because it is convenient to use those seeds.

This is not much different from a physician that gives a certain medication because it was approved by the FDA, the guidelines say he should use it and he has a laminated card in his pocket telling him what to use and when.

What you describe, regarding your personal experience is a crime. It has nothing to do with the practice of medicine. If a physician hides a pertinent test result which has a significant impact on a patient's well-being and life it is a crime. This is not a medical error, it is dishonesty. I want to hope that it is rare for physicians to behave in that way, just like it is rare for people walking into a bank to rob it. I am truly sorry that you had to go through this.

I personally have never encountered such behavior, even from those physicians who made serious management errors. I have all my charts and test results. Including a chart in which the nurse wrote- "Dr. Aware", in large letters, because she realized the severity of my situation and wanted to cover herself if something happens. She also clearly documented that she called the physician because she was seriously concerned with the rapid deterioration in my condition, but he refused to come because he thought is was "functional". I have a score sheet with a very high MG score, marked with "?!" and "not putting enough efforts".

Thanks to those charts I became interested in this entity "functional" and the way in which neurologists determine "efforts" (and possibly/hopefully) this may have helped other patients.

I did experience physicians jeopardizing my care from others, but this was (I believe) because they genuinely thought what they wrote, and not because they tried to hide something or protect themselves. As you know facts can be interpreted wrongly. They did not distort the facts, they just "fit" them to their own theories.

It is true that the way to hell is full of good intentions, but I do think that intentions matter. There is a big difference (in my opinion) between deliberately jeopardizing a patient's care and non-intentionally doing so.

It's not that I have a solution to all those problems. But, I think that awareness of physicians and patients is the first step. I want to hope that we will go back to the essence of medicine, and not get further away from it.