Friday, March 26, 2010

My Rage.


Instacare Doctor: So, has your child had a fever?

Me: Yes. When my child woke up two hours ago, he/she was very hot so I gave him/her some Tylenol and he/she has cooled down since then, but still has a mild fever.

ID: What was your child's temperature when he/she woke up.

Me: I didn't measure it because I was more concerned about cooling my child off. I would say over 100.

ID: You can say that, but I'm not going to write that down. I'm just going to write down that your child was warm.

Me: The child was hot enough to concern me. Over 100.

ID: Look. There have been studies done testing mothers of multiple children to see how well they measure temperature. And the mothers failed miserably in estimating temperature. So, it doesn't matter how confident you are, you can say whatever you want, but I'm not going to believe you. I'm going to write down that he/she was warm.

What could I say? He was the doctor. I couldn't argue with the guy.

But if he would have looked at his chart, he would have noticed that my child had a current temperature of 99.5. Considering that and the fact that I had given him/her a fever reducer two hours ago, I think it is fair to say that the temperature was probably above 99.5. Like, I don't know, maybe even above 100.

But what do I know. I'm just the mom.

7 comments:

that raven chick said...

what a jerk. i'd like to know who had the time and money to authorize a test on mothers with multiple children's competence in measuring temperature.

*MARY* said...

Some doctor he is, he doesn't even know your kids gender.
But umm... it sounds like you don't either, that's kinda weird.

Hope your child is feeling better.

Anonymous said...

Physician condescension--one of my biggest pet peaves!

And Raven Chick, I'm sure they received Federal Funding for that "important research."

Sherry Leal said...

AAARRRGGG! Underneath all that, you know what the core of the issue is? He thinks schooling and education are more important and valuable than motherhood. In other words, moms who stay home and don't get advanced education or pursue careers are dumber than him. Someday he'll see.

Brooke said...

Frustrating.

Token Asian Friend said...

This made me more upset than the time a doctor insisted on calling viruses and bacteria "little germ buggies."

MamaBear said...

karma's a bitch. and so am i. i would totally leave the practice, find a doctor who respects the fact that i LIVE with the children and do know them a TINY bit better than he does.

but wait - i already have a family doctor of that sort. i gave up pediatricians a while back as family doctors tend to be more HUMAN. good luck!