How To Tell Your Doctor’s Just Not That Into You

The OB/GYN practice Kristina has been using has 5 different doctors. They insist you see every doctor before you deliver, which means we never see the same doctor 2 times in a row. It also means you might meet a few nice doctors before you meet a real jerk! Unfortunately, that’s whom we met most recently.

Kristina would like to have as natural of a birth as reasonably possible. She’s not against pain drugs and c-sections if necessary, but she doesn’t want to be pressured to have these unnecessarily. In particular, she’s concerned that the doctors and hospital will make decisions based on the doctors’ convenience or the financial interests of the hospital rather than based on her welfare or that of the baby.

These concerns aren’t unfounded. She’s done research that indicates these things happen again and again. So, she brought a list of questions and concerns for the doctor. She stated her concerns about the chain of events that can occur once interventions begin. When she asked him about Caesarian, induction, and intervention rates, he became very defensive.

He said that he (and the others in the practice) doesn’t believe in home births, and if that’s what she wanted she should go elsewhere. Where did that come from?! She didn’t even mention home births. He flat out told her he “wasn’t going to debate” with her and “didn’t care” what she had read. He didn’t want patients who would question him and would not work in a situation where he would be limited in what he could do.

Well, we’re not going to debate it either. We’ll be looking for a practice that is a little less arrogant and more open to discussion with their patients.

Christopher