Have you ever noticed how the media treats doctors as the only possible experts when it comes to medical problems? Depending on how handsome and charming the doctor is the media may even treat him or her with the ohh uhh syndrome. However, that ooh uhh syndrome does not sit well with us and it is getting old.
Here is the problem. Why isn’t the patient at the table of equality as part of the discussion? I am not saying in the audience, but side by side offering her/his insight as to what has helped them.
Recently I went into my doctor’s office for my 6 month visit and she thanked me for helping a patient of hers who has breast cancer and who has been a friend of mine for years. I had no idea that my friend had told her about my calls of assistance. Now this is a doctor who understands that a patient can be an expert too.
It is time for the media to recognize that women and men can be experts and not treat patients as victims or use them to sensationalize a disease or increase their ratings. There is something called the internet and we women and men will go around TV and the media and create our own place of equality. Tim Russert once wrote on his famous white board during an election “Florida, Florida, Florida.” Well I say—Internet, Internet, Internet.
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