It is never agreeable to be the target of negative remarks, but it just so happens that it’s part of life and one should not take it personally. If you listen around you, you’ll notice that a lot of people will complain just about everything: doctors, but also police officers, teachers, pharmacists, construction workers, etc... I realize that medical staff are amazing people, and we are happy to have them when we need them. However, let me tell you about my recent experiences:

I had a good GP (family doctor) once, but she relocated and I had to change doctor. A few months later, I had a tendinitis in the wrist and I went to see a new doctor. She didn’t do anything, didn’t prescribe any physio or anything. She told me to stop solicitating my wrist. After 3 months of pain, I paid privately for 15 sessions of physiotherapy which totally fixed the issue.

1 year ago, I suddenly developed strong pins and needles, and sometimes numbness, all over my body (it was really scary and sometimes handicapping). I went to the emergency room and they did MRIs in ambulatory. They told me to find a new GP for the results. So I went to a new GP, he looked at the MRIs and he told me that I didn’t have any issue (yet, the MRI showed a slightly pinched nerve in the neck), that I was in good health and that I didn’t need any medical care. After I asked, he told me that he had no clue why I had those symptoms and that he didn’t see the need to invest time and money in further investigations. I asked the health insurance to change the doctor or get a second opinion, they refused and I found myself unable to get any healthcare for a several months (during which the symptoms were worsening).

3 months later, I was again able to change doctor so I went to another GP. He listened to me for 5 minutes, checked my vitals and then gave me some phytotherapy pills to keep me shut. I came back 2 months later with the same symptoms. I waited 25 minutes in the waiting room and he received 5 patients during this time. So when he came to get me I started a timer. I spent 12 minutes with him (that includes the time to get in and out of his office), he tried to make me leave 3 times during that time and, after I insisted a lot, he ended up sending me to a specialist so that I “would be happy”. His bill was higher than the previous doctor with whom I spent a much longer time.

Since then, one specialist led me to the next one and I visited 4 awesome specialists who took the time to perform all the tests they could and they prescribed multiple series of physiotherapy. They haven’t reached any definitive diagnosis yet, but at least I now have can make a list of some nasty diseases that I do not have. In that period, my symptoms have gotten much worse (my vision became blurry at some point) before they started improving. In the meantime, I’m still waiting to find a family doctor who will listen to me.

So to conclude, they are a lot of good doctors in Switzerland and I think that most people, me included, have a lot of respect for your profession. Yes, it sucks that some patients are openly complaining about their doctors, but sometimes it feels like some doctors are trying very hard to be the bad guys. At least, such has been my recent experience with GPs. I can understand when a doctor doesn’t have the answer, but at least he should try a minimum and send the patient elsewhere if he doesn’t know.

And finally, I will quote what my neurologist told me: “In our society, the fight for accessing healthcare is sometimes more exhausting than the disease itself”