DEGREES AND INCOMPETENCY

A college degree is no guarantee of competency or integrity, especially when you're seeking help medically. Don't just complacently agree to do what doctor tells you to. Their cure could kill you slowly, by degrees. (Pun intended, if you please,)

A symptom misdiagnosed may be the most serious mistake a doctor could make when a life's at stake. So take a doubting view of the advice you follow or the pills you swallow. And get a second opinion or more before running to the pharmacy, and always ask the doc a lot of questions and suggestions, demand in-depth consultation time before you pay the MD a single dime. Never say, "Why should I care? I'll send the bill to Medicare."

Some patients blindly trust, just shrug their shoulders and accept the possibly inept specialist whose advice consists of drugs and pills and tests that run up doctor bills. And don't just be impressed by a crowded waiting room or a look of doom upon the patients faces. They're just the type a quack embraces. Doctors can do no wrong? If they live, the physician was great. If they die, it was just fate. If they cling to life, live on and on, keep breathing artificially even though they should officially be declared dead, it's just like the doctor said and watched survivors nod: "I did my best. The rest was up to God."