Having a chronic and/or complex health issue is a good way to find out just how many doctors don't deserve to be practicing medicine. I've had doctors tell me they don't treat conditions that their own practice's website says they treat. I've had doctors read letters and notes from my other physicians and claim the letter said the opposite of what they did (and then when called out on this discrepancy, refuse to acknowledge it and tell me I can either accept what they're doing or leave. I left.). I've had doctors prescribe medications, and then when when I encountered the very same side effects listed in the "stop taking this right away and call your doctor" was told I can't be experiencing that side effect because "it never really happens". I've had doctors tell me to do one thing, and then when a different doctor called them to ask about what they said, claim they never said that at all (despite having the written prescription for what they said).

I've had phenomenal doctors too, ones who a lack of coverage for is reason enough for me to turn down a job or to choose a more expensive insurance plan. But finding those "golden" doctors in the sea of average and below average doctors has been a nearly decade long process. And it's been really easy to see how people with complex medical issues can get suckered by snake oil salesmen and grifters. When you spend so much time fighting with the medical system and getting no relief, finding someone who will pretend to give a damn is a form of relief in and of itself. And I have never once in all the times I've filed a complaint with a hospital, or office or even state medical boards gotten any response other than "We've investigated ourselves and determined we did nothing wrong".

It's a definite problem and there really needs to be a better process. The state medical board claime they don't dispute physician diagnosis, just evaluate the care of the provider within the scope of that diagnosis. So if your doctor says during your 10th visit for severe stomach pains in 3 weeks that you have gas and gives you Gas-X, and it turns out that you had appendicitis, the medical board doesn't intervene, because Gas-X was the appropriate treatment for the diagnosis. And the hospital patient advocate/experience folks aren't in the business of pissing off the doctors they work with every day. And too often doctors are unwilling to criticize the work or actions of another doctor, even when blatantly wrong. There badly needs to be an independent patient advocacy and dispute resolution that is aligned with the interests of the patient, not the doctors.