Patronising or worse

This is not intended to be a personal attack on anyone in particular.

Recently I have come across blogs which give the impression that some doctors appear to have a very low opinion of their patients. There is a self-congratulatory tone from some which I find disquieting. There is something of an echo in this in Papillon's most recent post when she went to see her anaesthetist, Dr Icecube.

I come from a medical family. I have known doctors socially, have worked for many of them, and have even consulted them. Some of them are idiots (oh, sacrilege) and some of them are wonderful people.

I am capable of understanding quite a lot. I am capable of reading a newspaper report and thinking that it's rubbish, or only partly true. I am capable of finding original research where appropriate. I am not the only one: don't treat us, your patients, like some sort of idiots just because our backgrounds are not the same as yours.

Please treat others as you would like to be treated. Controversial, I know.