<p>Hi, I was just wondering, when doctors get sick do they diagnose and treat themselves or go to other doctors? If they don't treat themselves, why not? </p>
<p>Also, is it the norm in other cases of similar nature with other family members involved, such as a pediatrician treating his/her child when he/she becomes ill? Or what about a male gynecologist treating his wife, etc.? </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>You don’t have to be a doctor to diagnose and treat yourself. If you have a cold, you can go to the supermarket and buy some cold medicine. You can do this whether you’re a doctor or a truck driver.</p>
<p>I think your question is whether doctors prescribe medicine to themselves and family members. Legally, they can do that (as long as it is a non-controlled medication). Ethically and emotionally, I personally think it’s better to let family members have their own separate doctors. Yes, the pediatrician can treat her son. But, is she going to be as objective about it as with her other patients? Probably not. Treating family members can cloud your judgment.</p>
<p>And of course physicians still see other physicians for their healthcare needs. If you’re a urologist, you still need a primary care physician since you will likely have forgotten a lot of primary care since med school. Plus, it’s hard to do a rectal exam on yourself.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I knew that for example a urologist would have to go to a Primary Care doctor and all of that but I meant in the same specialty. So would a dermatologist for example, go to another dermatologist to get treated, things like that.</p>
<p>We don’t get sick, and our kids better not either*! (jk…sort of…)</p>
<ul>
<li>kid’s of doctors say "what does it take to go to an emergency room around here?? "</li>
</ul>
<p>I could only imagine the child of a trauma surgeon. </p>
<p>“Broken leg? Quit crying!”</p>
<p>My dad is a doctor and he prescribes us medication, examines us when we have a problem, etc. but we still have our own doctors. He is an emergency room doctor, so he knows if we have a foot problem for example, we would go to a podiatrist for better care.</p>
<p>You’ll be able to find doctors at all ends of the “treating self and family spectrum” but my school told us it is not a good idea to treat family for the reasons norcalguy mentioned. They also told us doctors typically make the worst patients.</p>
<p>^ What!?! No way we are the “worst”. At least we’re usually “full pay”.</p>
<p>Actually I hate going to a doctor who is a family friend…awkward seeing them at parties…uh…how’s that rash?..it’s fine, Dr. Embarrassing, thanks for asking in front of everyone.</p>
<p>^ Or husbands co-worker…Surgeon who could NOT get over the density of my … alrighty then… .</p>
<p>As a physician, I do draw the line at treating my own family (much to the occasional displeasure of my wife). Sometimes, I will call in a refill of a prescribed (by some other doctor) medicine and can save a family member the trouble of going to the ER for minor issues. But the main reason that I draw the line extends what norcalguy wrote. I may be capable of diagnosing or treating something, but emotionally, I recognize that I could be wrong, too. It would be extraordinarily difficult to live with myself if I misdiagnosed or incorrectly treated my loved one. One is emotionally involved with that person and judgment, which can often be difficult in medicine, is colored with family. So, No, I do not do this.</p>
<p>I don’t treat my family, but I do prevail on colleagues to squeeze my family members into already full practices (one of the few perquisites left for MD’s).</p>
<p>Doctors are notoriously bad patients: they don’t follow directions, they won’t take time off work, and rarely seek formal medical attention. Most of the care I receive is obtained from curbside consults in the PACU. At the hospital I worked at in Nevada, a civic-minded internist insisted on checking lipid profiles and creatinine once a year in the MD lounge since she knew we would never take time to see a doctor.</p>
<p>As a pediatrician, I always can fall back on the “I don’t do adult medicine” or “you’re too old” (which my parents especially enjoy hearing), whenever people start spouting out their health issues to me.</p>
<p>That said, when I do end up with children of my own, it really is going to be a serious illness for them to end up in the ER…if only because I have so many little tricks of the trade for the common things that show up in the ER at 230 in the morning. Of course as a future peds intensivist, I have a long list of things that my children will never be allowed to do - ride a bike without a helmet, ride an ATV or motorcycle ever, jump on a trampoline, etc.</p>
<p>so there are a lot of accidents from trampoline jumping?</p>
<p>yes. (10 char)</p>