I think that insurance ought to not pay for encounters for colds–that would cure alot of our patients’ propensities to come see us for this, even if it would also hit our pocketbooks.

I grew up in a communist country where there medicine was much worse than in the US and where there had been shortages of drugs. But one thing that I learned from my pediatrician is that antibiotics come with potentially bad side effects and should only be taken when absolutely necessary. Which in my case was when I was 15 and had a severe two-sided pneumonia.

The first impression I got of US doctors was that they’d prescribe antibiotics for anything. One time I had a really bad bronchitis. Normally I don’t bother going to a doctor when I get a cough, but this time it was really bad and I had high fever which used to be a bit unusual for me. The doctor examined me, told me it was bronchitis and gave me antibiotics. Well, I trusted the doctor knew what he was doing, so I took them. A week later, not much improvement, but diarrhea. I went to a doctor again because I still had high fever. I said antibiotics didn’t help, he said it was because it was viral. Then he proceeded to give me another antibiotic prescription. I asked him “will it help?” He said “not if it is viral”. So, I said, “no, thanks, why would I take something that isn’t going to help?

This was about 20 years ago before US doctors started to be more careful with antibiotics. But I can’t help wondering if doctors past practice has anything to do with patients’ expectations.