Is a Doctors Culture, Gender, Sexuality, or Religion Important?
Is a Doctor’s Culture, Gender, Sexuality, or Religion Important? Wednesday December 5, 2007 While getting my hair cut today, my hairdresser Tom and I got into a conversation on how people choose their doctors. Tom, who is gay (and who gave me permission to tell you about this conversation) shared his experience with one of his doctors. At an appointment for a checkup, the doctor asked Tom, “These records say that in 1987, you claimed to be homosexual. Is that still true?” Tom was floored by the question. But he realized that the doctor, who was catholic, could not get beyond his religion to understand Tom’s sexuality. Tom changed doctors and now sees an internist who is also gay. Tom says he is much more comfortable and trusting of this doctor. However, it raises the question about any of the issues that might make a doctor different from us, and whether those differences should influence our choice of doctors. Society tells us we should either be blind to, or accepting of, the differe
Is a Doctor’s Culture, Gender, Sexuality, or Religion Important? Wednesday December 5, 2007#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) While getting my hair cut today, my hairdresser Tom and I got into a conversation on how people choose their doctors. Tom, who is gay (and who gave me permission to tell you about this conversation) shared his experience with one of his doctors. At an appointment for a checkup, the doctor asked Tom, “These records say that in 1987, you claimed to be homosexual. Is that still true?” Tom was floored by the question. But he realized that the doctor, who was catholic, could not get beyond his religion to understand Tom’s sexuality. Tom changed doctors and now sees an internist who is also gay. Tom says he is much more comfortable and trusting of this doctor. However, it raises the question about any of the issues that might make a doctor different from us, and whether those differences should influence our choice of doctors. Society tells us
#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) While getting my hair cut today, my hairdresser Tom and I got into a conversation on how people choose their doctors. Tom, who is gay (and who gave me permission to tell you about this conversation) shared his experience with one of his doctors. At an appointment for a checkup, the doctor asked Tom, “These records say that in 1987, you claimed to be homosexual. Is that still true?” Tom was floored by the question. But he realized that the doctor, who was catholic, could not get beyond his religion to understand Tom’s sexuality. Tom changed doctors and now sees an internist who is also gay. Tom says he is much more comfortable and trusting of this doctor. However, it raises the question about any of the issues that might make a doctor different from us, and whether those differences should influence our choice of doctors. Society tells us we should either be blind to, or accepting of, the differences among our fellow (wo)man —
