How To Get A Straight Answer From A Doctor

(Part III of Straight Answers From Doctors)

The answer is really very simple:

Don’t accept a non-answer answer from a doctor on a question that really matters to you!

If you get a dodgy, vague, or useless answer don’t take it lying down. Politely insist that the doctor elaborate and clarify until you get a reply that you understand.

We doctors are totally scary, but if you have to have the guts to ask the question a second or even third time most docs will do their best to insure you get an answer that makes sense to you. Force the issue!

"Okay doc, now I need you to explain that again in plain English."

Sometimes the doctor will have to look something up and get back to you. Sometimes the doc will have to work to explain something complicated in a way that you can understand. Sometimes if there is no definite answer available your doctor can help you understand the nature of the uncertainly.

Most doctors will work hard to get you an answer, but if your doc blatantly dodges your question after multiple direct inquiries you might just be stuck with a god-complex prick. This is good to know so that you can find another physician ASAP who works well with you.

A few tips for truth-seekers:

Be Ready: Medical decisions and predictions can be really complicated. Add the amount of uncertainly that we work with and the straight answers can get really difficult to grasp. Most of the questions we dodge have difficult answers that might leave you with a headache. Don’t assume that the full answer is always going to make things more clear.

Be Reasonable: You shouldn't use the nuclear I-won’t-leave-till-I-get-an-answer option for every question that pops into your head. Doctors don’t mind giving the full answer from time to time, but if you have an insatiable curiosity you may want to do your own research with Dr. Google. You don’t want to be that patient your doctor groans to see because he knows he’s going to end up running an hour behind every time he sees you.

"Doc, suppose my pancreas was a sentient being trying to assassinate me.
How would that change your treatment plan?"

Accept Disappointment: Some patients confuse "a straight answer" with "the answer I wanted." Sorry! You can ask till you're blue in the face but your doctor still has to say, "Your runny nose doesn't need antibiotics" and "90 year-old Aunt Ethyl probably won't recover" every time. Persistence won't change facts, but it may force exasperated docs to tell you a white lie just to make you quit badgering them. You don't really want to force doctors to be dishonest with you.

Consider yourself warned! Use the "nuclear option" with caution. Now go forth and find out what your doc is really thinking!

What do you think? Have you every forced the issue till you got the answer? Tell your experience in the comments!

Doctor D has typically been on the doctor side of this interaction, and can say a patient dedicated to answers always gets them from me.

But do you as patients think this approach works?

Why Do Doctors Dodge Your Questions?

Part II of How To Get A Straight Answer From A Doctor

Before he tells you how to get a straight answers from physicians, Doctor D is going to stall for time by explaining why doctors give vague answers.

Why Would A Good Doctor Give Useless Answers?

1) There is an answer, but your doctor doesn’t know it. Don’t be hard on doc for this one. There is no MD in the world that knows the entire breadth of medical knowledge. Some docs pretend they do. Trust me, they're faking it. While it may not help you "I don't know" is a refreshing answer to get from a doctor. MDs don't often admit this.

2) Your doctor knows the answer, but it is too complicated to explain. A lot of the physical processes doctors think about are pretty complex. Translating all the technomedical concepts into layman’s terms to sensibly explaining it would just take a lot of time and bore you to tears, so the doc just gives you a vague answer instead.

3) The answer depends on a lot of variables. Predicting the course of an illness or recovery can be tricky. A lot of things that are in our control and out of our control can make a straightforward “here’s what to expect” answer impossible. Doctors are busy. It would take a lot of time to explain all the variables. So they often dodge any answer that asks they explain the future.

4) There is no answer. You’d be surprised how many of your questions just don’t have have answers. Doctors have no idea of the answer and no good way of finding out. Sorry! Most patients (and quite a few doctors) get unnerved at the amount of real uncertainty in the world of medicine. We often cover the uncertainty with total bullshit. We make up things that sound intelligent. For example: “Probably a virus...” is secret doctor code for “I have no idea why you feel this way, but it probably isn’t serious.”

"If I tell you it's a virus will you stop bugging me?"

5) The answer went right over your head. The doctor did answer your question. Doc just said the answer in technomedical jargon that made no sense to you. While you may have technically gotten a "straight answer", the doc replying in a foreign language you don’t speak really doesn’t count.

6) The answer doesn’t matter. "Look, you silly patient, I give out info on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need this answer!" This is probably the root of all vague, dodgy answers given by doctors. We don’t think the answer is important for you to know. It won’t make a difference. Answers take time and energy that might be spent on something productive. "Trust me, if you needed to know the answer I would have told you already!"

All doctors dodge questions!

Doctor D does it too. Some questions really aren’t as important as others. We are busy and if we took all the time to answer every question we wouldn’t be able to actually help many people with with what’s wrong.

And not everyone wants the full answer:

As a young physician, Doctor D actually tried to fully answer every patient’s question. He looked up answers. He explained complex medical processes and variables. He educated people on uncertainty. And you know what... nobody liked it! Patient’s eyes would glaze over. Doctor D was constantly running late. His patients didn’t always want to get the full answer.

When he switched to need-to-know answering his efficiency improved and his patients were happier. Yes, a lot of people are very satisfied with vague meaningless answers. Not everyone needs the full truth. Some people just needed to know I heard their concerns.

"You want my real answer, or the answer you want?"

But, obviously not everyone is happy with non-answers from doctors. Doctor D’s email is full of desperate patients complaining that their doctors really aren’t answering their burning questions.

So we have a problem:

Full, straight answers to every question would take so much time and energy that the medical system would grind to a halt, but some of your questions need full answers.

Doctor try their best to help filter what answers you need most, but in the end it is only you who can say what you really need to know.

Next Week: Doctor D will teach you how to extract real honest-to-goodness straight answers from an MD!

What do you think?

Are you okay with an MD giving you vague answers or dodging your questions?

Medical People: Do you think it is possible to honestly and thoroughly answer every patient question?

Doctor D always loves to hear your opinions!

How To Speak Doctor

Question from a reader:

My heart sinks when I realize the vast difference between a detailed medical appreciation of my disease and the incredibly simplified version my doctors tell me. Do doctors feel like they are speaking baby talk to patients? Do patients ever really understand our illnesses, tests, and treatments?

First of all, any doctor who implies they have a full understanding of your body is bullshitting you! Some specialists may know a little more about a particular organ or disease, but in the end your body is a mystery and doctors are all just making educated guesses. Doctors know some useful things, but things we don't understand far outnumber the things we do.

Patients are nervous about doctors working with limited knowledge, so MDs learn to sound more knowledgeable than we really are. One of the easiest ways to sound really knowledgeable is to use a lot of technical jargon. We can really impress non-medical people by throwing out some dense multi-syllabic pseudo-Latin with a lot of acronyms mixed in. It just sounds so darn smart!

Doctors are also used to talking with each other in medical jargon and sometimes forget that patients have no idea what the heck these words mean. It's not that "MI" or "Raynaud's phenomenon" are too difficult to for you comprehend; it's just that they sound really complicated if you don't speak Physician.

If a doctor says something that makes no sense the best strategy is to frankly ask, "What does that mean?" When it comes to understanding your prognosis or making a decision it is important that you understand what is being discussed.

A wise teacher once told Doctor D, "If you think you understand something, but you can't explain it in a simple way you probably don't really understand it." This is true for medical knowledge. Your doctor should be able to explain these things in plain English when you ask for it.

Listening to a simple explanation in plain words it may become obvious that your physician doesn't fully understand everything either. Don't panic! We don't have to understand everything about a body or a disease to treat it well. We may not be good talkers, but we are great guessers!

Have you ever had a doctor that just couldn't speak simple English to explain your condition? Doctor D would love to hear your stories in the comments.