Guest Blogger

Today's blog is brought to you by my husband. He wrote this shortly after we went to see Under Our Skin. Leave it to a man to compare a doctor to a mechanic. :)


Do you wonder what the differences are between a Standard Doctor and an Integrative Medical Doctor? Here is a quick example to show the differences. This is based on my observations while trying to find treatments for my wife and shows what a Doctor would do if he were an auto mechanic. Unfortunately as funny as this sounds it is a true story.

Scenario:

You decide to go on vacation. You take your car to the dealer once every six months so they keep it maintained and alert you to any thing that seems wrong or out of place. Because of this you know that overall your vehicle is in good shape even though it has 75,000 miles. You fill your gas tank and head out for your trip. Later on as you are driving the engine cuts off and strands you on the side of the road.

Standard Doctor's Diagnosis:
You tell the Doctor that you think you may have run out of gas. The Doctor spends 15 minutes looking at the gas gauge, the one accepted method of telling gas level and says your gas tank is full so that isn't the problem. He then collects his fee and sends you to a Doctor who specializes in transmissions.

That Doctor spends 15 minutes looking at your transmission and says your transmission is fine and collects his fee. You tell him that your gas gauge shows full but you think you are out of gas. He replies "That shouldn't happen," collects his fee and sends you to a Doctor who specializes in On Board Computers.

This Doctor actually spends 30 minutes talking to you. Again you mention that you think you maybe out of gas and he replies that he doesn't think that is your problem since the guage shows full. Just to make sure your computer is functioning, he pulls out test equipment and starts jabbing probes deep into your cars wiring and On Board Computer, but all the tests show the computer is good.

Since your problem is 'not moving,' he attaches a horse to the front of your vehicle, collects his fee and sends you on your way. You are now moving, but still not as fast as you ought to be and you just don't feel like this is the right fix. After you complain on your next visit, which by the way only lasts 15 minutes, he again reassures you that your gauge is right and you are not out of gas. He then sends you to an auto detail shop. You don't understand why and when you ask about it he tells you that the problem isn't your car, but is instead the fact that you think the car is bad. He feels that with a little 'cleaning up' your car will look better to you and everything will be ok.



Integrative Medicine Doctor:
After getting fed up from the above you decide, on your friend's advice, to visit a different Doctor. This doctor spends two hours asking questions about everything that has ever happened to your car and listens to exactly what situation led up to the engine cutting off. He then explains all the possible things that may have happened and theorizes that since you had driven 500 miles after filling up that maybe your gauge is broken. He removes the horse, assures you that the car looks fine and that you are not just thinking it looks bad when it doesn't.
He then decides that a quick test is to add gas so he gasses up the car and it starts. He then replaces your gas gauge and everything now works fine.

You drive home and submit all your bills to the company that handles your extended warranty. They pay the bills for the Doctors who didn't fix anything and then deny the bills from the Doctor who fixed your problem because he used an unapproved screwdriver to fix the gauge.