giving medical advice to others?

How do you feel about giving medical advice to other people? (family, friends, message boards, people going through a problem in your SO's specialty...)

It's funny how this has changed for us. When DH was in med school/early residency, people asked him all kinds of questions, like it was a novelty, and it did get a little irritating at times. Now people will call if there's something really serious, and that's not so obnoxious. But what frustrates me is when people (especially people who don't know what DH does) spout misinformation, and I feel like my hands are tied to say anything b/c it will come across wrong. (NOT talking about this message board, BTW! This place is an awesome relief, where people can talk openly even if we disagree.)

A lot of times, it seems like the best I can do is say either, "You really need to call your doctor about that."

Do you ever give people info from your spouse's specialty, or do you feel like people take it wrong when you do?

Re: giving medical advice to others?

We do get a lot of calls (mostly from family) about medical issues. It does kind of bother me. The further into his education he is the more likely it seems he might be able to advise, but during 1st and 2nd years I had trouble understanding why people thought it would be a good idea to ask Dh instead of a doctor.

Then again, I'm probably one of those people who will never be able to take DH's medical advice because I've known him for far to long.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

DH really only gets call about his specialty and since its usually a pretty serious condition or question he doesn't mind it. If we had someone that asked a lot of non relevant questions I'm sure he would be annoyed.

If I'm in a situation where I know someone is giving false information I usually just tell them they need to see their own doctor.

[alison]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

The great thing about dh being an anesthesiologist is that people think he's mostly a technician or something.
No one calls us for advice!

Re: giving medical advice to others?

I suppose it's particularly bad in Ob/Gyn, where there are so many old wives' tales, and everyone has an opinion. It would be nice to be in a more... mysterious specialty, like neurology.

I don't think DH minds getting questions at this point - again, because now people are really looking for info, not just trying to "test" the student.

The reason I posted the question is because I got my toes mildly stomped. Honestly, if you're going to mention to an Ob/Gyn's wife that you're craving dirt & chalk (pica), don't start an argument about whether taking iron will help - and especially not if you're going to subsequently mention that you've already been diagnosed with anemia. I don't often try to give straight-out advice - I'm not the doctor anyway - but I found this particularly irritating, so I'm taking my sore toes & hiding out here. :badday:

[MDPhDWife]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

People (mostly family) call DH ALL THE TIME for medical questions and it has began to really annoy me. His sister is the worst about it. She calls at all hours and asks really dumb (at least I think so) questions. In fact this just happened last week. She called right when DH got home around 10 PM because her son (our nephew) who's 14 drank too much water after football practice. Because he drank like 144 oz within a short period of time he was now vomiting it all up. She kept DH on the phone for like an hour for that.

[weeniegeniewife]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

DH's brothers (he has four of them) and other male friends often ask him to bring them "care packages" (samples of Viagra and Cialis). :>

Aside from that, we often have friends and family members that will call DH and ask his advice on someone they know with such-and-such an illness, or whosidoozie with this or that kind of symptom, etc. They'll ask DH who they should go to, or if they should get a second opinion if they are already under the care of a specialist. DH loves being able to provide good referrals to friends and family, as he knows everyone in the medical community here.

Re: giving medical advice to others?

My DH is still in still in school, but still gets a large amount of questions, which most of the time he of course replies....go see your doctor.

What has surprised me about the whole thing is how often people ask me questions. It amazes me how often people divulge a personal medical issue to me and think I might possibly know what to say. I can kinda understand asking a doctor, but asking the wife I just don't get.

[HouseofWool]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

DH's family does call for medical advice, especially FIL's girlfriend. Mostly DH asks if she has been to see her doctor and the basically tells her to go. He will list off some possible diagnoses for her. I do not understand coming to a 4th year for medical advice.

We joke in our neighborhood that all we are missing is a pharmacist and we would have a complete set-up because one of our friends is a nurse on a med/surg floor.

Re: giving medical advice to others?

Ummm, ortho is kind of boring to most people and DH almost always says he needs to see the xrays (no one ever has them in their back pocket)

My mom and sister seem to think that he is their own personal physician and they will call for a self diagnosed bladder infection .....he can't write prescriptions out of province so that takes care of that wierdness....the most annoying time was the time my mom called because the DOG had skin fungus (she was 17) and she was convinced that if DH gave her a prescription for Diflucin it woud cure her....don't get me started

I find it annoying when people ask DH a question that he obviously won't know and it doesn't even occur to them that I might know....our next door neighbour came over the other night in a panic because her 2 yo stuck a corn kernel in her nose....Dh was like..uhhh, I do bones, but have a friend who is emerg peds...I'll call! Then I stepped in and as the mom of 3.5 boys, told her the rick of plugging the good nostril and blowing in her mouth....voila!

[v-girl]

Re: giving medical advice to others?

DH doesn't mind the ped questions. Don't argue with him about vaccines. Don't argue with me about them either. I always stop that quickly with a "we vaccinate on time and will not stop just because someone who is not our pediatrician says we shouldn't do it."

What gets annoying is the dermatology questions. FIL has a weird spot on his arm. Calls DH or shows him while we're having dinner with them. With how many times he's had to check my grandmother and his grandmother he really could do a geriatric specialty too.

We get quite a few calls and emails from family and friends about peds stuff though and he doesn't mind. He'd rather they ask if they aren't sure what's going on than to leave something untreated or make an unnecessary trip to the ER.

Re: giving medical advice to others?

DH gets a lot of calls for medical advice. Family is great for this. With his background, we get calls on wide range of maladies [and I say we just because 9 times out of 10 I answer the phone]

What I love the most is that they seem to like the idea that they have a nephew/cousin/friend/whatever who is a dawkter but they never seem to want to listen to what he has to say
Then please STOP calling us!!