Trust your doctor?

Do you usually do what your doctor says? Chances are, if you are seeing a very narrow specialist, you usually listen: who really argues when a heart surgeon suggests you have an open-heart surgery? Or a urologist who suggests a treatment for prostate problems?

However, what do you say when your pediatrician insists on proper disciplinary approaches with your kids? Or recommends a sleep-training regiment that you know you could not live with as a mother? How about dietary advice? My best guess is that the vast majority of people feel that their doctor does know what's best, but find that they fail to live up to the standards necessary to comply. So they go and eat bacon when the doctor insists on brown rice; they have their toddler sleep in their bed because the alternative is too hard emotionally; they know they should punish their kids but continue acting out of intuitive kindness, then hide the fact from the pediatrician.

"Doctors have been saying this for years," said my mother-in-law in a recent conversation about something or another.
"Yes, I know. But I believe they are wrong," was my firm response.
"What reason do you have to say that?"
"Well, there are several. First, it has become obvious to me that the medical profession as a whole is largely incompetent and I have been spot-checking their advice for years. I have been pushed toward a back surgery which didn't help and was only effective in slightly over 50% of patients, as I learned later. I have suffered from constant yeast infections because of a never-ending stream of antibiotics I received to treat bladder infections when the right solution I discovered later was a dramatic increase in fluid consumption. I could go on for hours.  I am not bitter - just learned to be wary of medical advice.
"Second, because I did find a doctor I trust completely. Every answer he gives me contains facts, percentages, references to studies and words like 'proof' and 'evidence'. Yet his most common answer to anything that comes from 'well-established scientific knowledge' is: 'that's just bad science' or 'there is absolutely no proof that this condition even exists or that the treatment makes any difference' or 'this theory came out of an incident in the 70's and has stuck around as truth.'
"Third, because I have recently poked around for what passes as modern science. Research papers that would not be passed by my college professors show up in medical journals and are pumped by the media. Correlations are confused with causality; statistics are abused beyond what is forgivable for inexperienced researches, but suggest willful corruption; key indicators thrown out as irrelevant; experimental controls weak or non-existent.
"Finally, because I learned of and experienced approaches that contradict predominant doctors' recommendations, make more sense and make me feel better!"

When you can trust your doctor in the age of Universal Health Care, corrupt science, bureaucratic insurance policies and a culture that does not believe, ideas matter - you have found a jewel you should nurture and treasure. Me? Oh, I just drive an hour and a half for every prenatal visit and pray that I don't give birth in the car. Similarly, my husband drives across LA to see his cardiologist and I imagine, will continue doing so when our upcoming move will make the trip last over two hours. Thankfully, both of our doctors take phone calls. What would we do without them? Oh, I guess the same thing we did before we found them: be unheard, misdiagnosed, over-medicated and under-treated.

In case you are in Southern California, do look up Dr. Patrick Sutton, an ob/gyn in Pasadena and Dr. Michael Dougherty, a cardiologist in Brea. Do you have a favorite doctor you really trust?