Columns

Hi everybody,

People often approach me on the street and say “Dr Nick, you sexy pseudonymous beast of a man, why do you spend all your columns pissing on healthcare users and never on healthcare providers?” This unsolicited pedestrian reflection has a point – whilst there are many issues with the attitudes of healthcare consumers, there are also a number of issues with healthcare providers that have thus far gone unmentioned. Consider this column a Unipol urinal then, in that all that metaphorical piss will be reflected back on us healthcare providers.

After sitting in the Student Health waiting room for 45 minutes trying not to look syphilitic, it’s easy to feel pretty meek and powerless when the doctor calls you into his imposingly sterile office. We’re always on the backfoot when we ask for help, as we’re giving people control over our wellbeing. While the doctor will intrinsically have some power over us, we should never give absolute authority and power to them. Not only is this BDSM-esque relationship a bad one to have (outside of my private sex dungeon), it also relies on doctors not (intentionally or otherwise) abusing this power difference. Which many will.

In any consult, you have several cuntingly-explicit rights that doctors must legally respect. You have the right to be treated decently – not only with a medically competent doctor, but also with dignity, respect and privacy. You also have the rights to not be discriminated against, harassed, or exploited; the right to open, honest and clear communication which allows you to make a fully informed, uncoerced choice; and the legal right to complain.

And you know what? We should complain more. In this year alone I’ve Overheard @ Otago two or three instances of serious breaches of respect, communication and confidentiality. Particularly in a town like Dunedin, where a person’s gender and hall of residence is pretty much “identifying information” (which cannot be shared for non-essential medical purposes to people like employers or the University), it is important that we hold our healthcare providers accountable for their actions – particularly when their actions negatively impact our lives.

If you feel you’ve been slighted by a healthcare worker, don’t ignore it because they have that intrinsic power and authority. Instead check out the Health and Disability Commissioner (hdc.org.nz), a service that is set up to support you, the consumer. It outlines your rights and has a very simple process for talking to advocates and lodging complaints. If you feel unfairly done by, I’d encourage you to complain unashamedly and unapologetically. As the pedestrians point out, sometimes doctors deserve a bit of pissing on.