Some negative experiences entrusting some incompetent doctors and medical professionals in childhood have made me wary of the many quacks in the medical establishment who have absolutely no understanding of my body.
Concur.
Over the years my trust and respect for the medical profession has steadily declined for all the reasons you listed, earl. I've been subjected to inexcusable negligence and occasional incompetence by medical people who make a hell of a lot more money than me.
I once thought I could trust the doctors and other caregivers assigned to heal me but bitter experience has shown me that I've got to maintain a constant, skeptical watch over
everything they do. I've got to be
my own doctor as much as I am capable. I often feel I have to look up definitions, diagnosis and treatment plans and evaluate them for myself before agreeing. Sad, but necessary.
Why? Becayse medicine, as it tends to be practiced today, is doled out with an "assembly line" mentality by just about everyone involved. There doesn't seem to be much oversight or quality control involved until there's a serious fuck-up, often discovered first the patient.
I'm not sure this is directly the fault of the caregivers (it probably has more to do with HMOs, insurance and liability influcence on costs) but the sad fact remains that I don't feel I can just automatically trust the care I'm getting.