More about the Pediatrician's visit

Further to yesterday's entry about the dumb-ass pediatrician, which you should read here if you haven't already.

First off, I forgot to mention one of the other brilliant things Dr. Graybeard said about nursing vs. bottle-feeding. After watching Gwen nurse for a minute and declaring that I was a bad nurser, we moved on to discussing the gassiness and accompanying unhappiness. Dr. Graybeard said that he could hear her being a lazy eater, taking in lots of air, and this would cause her to get bubbles in her gut, which would then make her burp or fart, and possibly spit up if the bubble was under the food. "And I bet you'll find that when she drinks from a bottle, she's a quieter eater, way less fussy, and gets less gas and spits up less." Chris and I exchanged looks. "Actually, no." I said. "It's way worse with a bottle."

His response? "Oh, well she's just a fussy baby who gets a lot of gas."

ARGH!

Anyway, I have gotten a LOT of response to yesterday's post. I changed my Facebook status to say that I had written about Gwen's pediatrician visit at this blog, and coincidentally I had just added a bunch of the other moms from the Healthy Beginnings drop-in I go to, so a few of them read it and commented on it to me today, which then caused other moms to overhear, and I even ended up discussing it with the nurse there. In addition, I got a lot of comments here, and some private emails as well.

The reaction is unanimous - everyone is appalled.

The first response was from my best friend, Mike, who sent me the link to a site I really wish I'd known about before - Rate MDs.com. Brilliant. This site allows you to rate the doctor on a scale of one to five, for several different criteria - Punctuality, Helpfulness, Knowledge, and so on. The idiot we saw the other day? His highest rating on this site is 1.9. And that was for Punctuality.

Reepicheep asked why I was protecting his privacy. I just couldn't even bring myself to type his name, because putting his name next to the 'Dr.' title shows respect, and I have no respect for this man. But I'm not trying to protect him, so here's the link to his rating. We are not the only people he has treated this way. If you don't have time to read the comments from other patients, I'll hit the highlights for you:

"Dr. Hales called [my son] retarded, that in his day and age kids like that were mental retards. He was only to do a physical exam, all he checked was my son's ears and palms. "

"I would recomend seeing a vet before I would allow your child to see him."

"He was rude, belittling and said some comments to my teenage daughter that were unacceptable." (I can only imagine!)

"Worst we have ever met. "

"Our visit with this Dr. Hales was easily the most unpleasant doctor's visit we have ever had. "

"He was arrogant, patronizing, and at few points more than rude. He only checked our daughter's ears (the reason for the consultation) after we asked him to."

Everyone is also urging me to write a letter, submit a complaint, and so on. After talking to the nurse at today's drop-in, I'm convinced I should do so. We only saw Dr. Graybeard because the doctor we were technically referred to was on holiday, and he was filling in - so the 'real' doctor needs to know how this moron is treating her patients while she's away.

So I have some work to do. A letter to Dr. Arruda's office, a letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, and a rating on Rate MDs.com.

Not for my sake, but for the sake of the mom who isn't as well-read and well-supported as I am, and goes in there with a brand new baby and all the vulnerability of post-partum hormones, and gets treated the same way. Nothing changes if we don't place these complaints, so though I'd rather move on from the negativity I will get my bitch on and do what I can to get rid of this jerk-off.