For the third time since moving to “the real America” patients have confided in me their distaste, distrust, and disapproval of “foreign doctors”. Each time I wonder if they are secretly talking about me but no these are patients who have no qualms putting their doctor in her or his place.
Like the man who within minutes of meeting me in my office told me that “You ain’t God, okay, I know my body, as long as you do what I say and order the tests I want you to order, me and you will be just fine”. Well I did not order the requested test because it was so ridiculously unnecessary and he told me “I’ll give you a pass this time but you are going to order the test next time”. He cancelled his last appointment thank goodness. Are physicians supposed to be afraid of their patients?
Then there was the new office patient who while reviewing his chart I commented on his 4 pack per day cigarette smoking habit to which he responded that he knew his body and he doesn’t appreciate physicians telling him to stop smoking while conveniently letting me know also that he had spent some years in jail. Was that a threat?
That the latter couldn’t “afford” the $4 generic antibiotic (I mean how much is a single pack of cigarettes these days?) and the former patient wouldn’t be paying for his requested test out-of-pocket since he has Medicaid is very telling of the state of American healthcare. Free is more right?
But that is all a tangent. The patients who have ranted to me about “foreign doctors” really seem to think I am one of them, a real American. Fancy that!
One was raving mad. He had a distrust of doctors and hospitals because we “killed his father” when he was a child. I had been consulted for a contagious infection that he did not have which had already been worked up twice and plans were already in place for appropriate follow-up. So I could understand his annoyance at the threat of being put in isolation precautions all over again. I understood. I thought I was going in there to save the day. But boy did he chew my ear out. I heard everything about the goddamn Indian doctors and the fucking Chinese doctors who don’t even know how to speak proper English, who are over-running the place and spoiling American medicine. He even went as far as chin chin chonging me. He was so angry he was close to tears which of course brought me close to tears. I apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, that someone else had made argh!, which made him really cry and apologize telling me he didn’t mean to get on my case because it’s not my fault, I’m obviously well trained…not one of them (the foreign doctors) blah blah blah.
That was an uncomfortable experience.
Then there was the patient who couldn’t understand the intricacies of his infection. He only had a third grade education. How can a 50-odd year old man born and bred in America only have a 3rd grade education? Did he have to work as a child instead of going to school? I didn’t ask. But I did break my synopsis down and in his attempt to tell me that he appreciated that, he went into a tangent about how doctors in general use big words with the worst offenders being those foreign doctors especially the Indian ones who can’t even speak English in the first place.
Today a physician come up to me. “Hey Dr. what country are you from?”. Obviously the doctors must have gossiped about me. “Really?!” he replied when I answered Ghana. “I thought you were from Boston, I thought your accent was from Boston”. Boston?! Seriously though, he obviously has not been to Boston.
So that makes it official right? I have an American accent. I need to start mourning the loss of my unique accent. I’m sure going to miss being exotic.
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