When you go to a doctor for help, all they really need to do to help you is have a spine and have time.

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IF THEY KNOW WHAT YOU NEED-- and you think you need something else, they need to have the spine to tell you so and the time to hear you out and convince you. (An MRI will distract from the real problem here. You don’t need antibiotics and they could make you sicker.)

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IF THEY THINK THEY KNOW WHAT YOU NEED BUT THEY'RE WRONG-- because they didn’t listen to you enough the first time, they need to take the time to listen, review, read (ask ChatGPT), and try again.

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IF THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU NEED-- they need to have the spine to tell you that instead of deluding you. If they have no clue, they also need to take the time to use their vast medical connections to find you who you do need, and refer you there.

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Doctors must HAVE A SPINE to stand for truths (even inconvenient ones) and TAKE TIME to hash things out with patients until all their questions are answered.

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So simple, yet so elusive.

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Both integrity and time are under assault by the minutes-per-appointment-whittling, prescription-peddling, over-standardizing, cost-cutting, lip-servicing, medical-industrial-complex.

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I don’t have a magic wand to make the whole health care honor patients’ right to as much time they need with doctors. But I can protect Carte Clinics which funds doctors to take as much time as clients need, and to watch out for the bad actors and steer clients the heck away from them.