Why is it that we are supposed to trust doctors, who have a high level of intelligence, and yet, we know that Lupus is so often misdiagnosed? Knowing this, why don’t doctors make a greater effort to diagnose it?
So many people suffer, often in silence. I know that for me, once you are told that you may be crazy, that the symptoms are all in your head, you start to believe it.
I’ve decided that I will no longer remain silent. We are silenced by our pain. We are silenced by our depression. But I refuse to keep quiet!
And hopefully this blog is the beginning to having my voice and my story heard…
Two thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFirst, are you familiar with Steve Epstein's work on AIDS activists and their confrontations with medical researchers in the early and middle years of the AIDS epidemic? It might be interesting to read about some of the organized ways people confront and deal with with medical expertise. I think the article is here-ish: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&cluster=1710293307770310566
Second, more of a quip than a useful anything, one of my good friends is a child of two lawyers and loves to say, "Lawyers would stop suing doctors if doctors would stop killing people." I think there is a growing distrust of the medical profession, in particular when it comes to certain kinds of errors and then financial stuff, that may or may not be good in the long run, but is certainly happening.
Expertise is messy.