You are correct Alexa, we do see things from a different perspective, but thank you for that anyway
My daughter and son in law are both GPs so perhaps I look at it in some ways from their perspective too. But I am a patient too, as we all are, and I expect to be treated with respect. I have had a horrible experience with a very disrespectful doctor once, a few years ago, but I was in hospital, it was not my GP. I was upset and annoyed, but I didn’t take it any further. Nor would I ever take it any further unless there was gross incompetence.
I am seriously worried though about the way in which we are haemorrhaging doctors to other countries, but I understand why they want to work elsewhere. Unfortunately the level of respect given to doctors is unbelievably low (in common with many other professions) as well as the hours being very long, it is not uncommon for GPs to work over 12 hours a day, and whilst they are reasonably well paid, in comparison to what they can earn in other countries, they are not well paid. If they are then to be complained about and shouted at (yes, that happens) and generally disrespected, then should we be surprised if they up and leave. It took my daughter 12 years to qualify as a GP, that’s a lot of training and I know that she was trained to always be respectful and to involve the patients in their treatment. I also hope we brought her up to be respectful towards others.
Although I worked as a teacher for many years, and for twenty years with Muslim families, and got to know many Muslims and was on very good terms with them, I had never heard the expression ‘culturally disabled’ before. I was unsure exactly what it meant. Now I know, I agree that both the doctor and the mother were slightly culturally disabled. But I will always maintain that the most important person in the room was the child, and the main thing is, was the child correctly diagnosed and treated.