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May 20, 2008
None of your business
Russell Roberts
My wife recently took our 13 year-old son to the doctor for his annual checkup. He's doing fine. At the end of the visit, the doctor asked my son if he wanted my wife to leave so he could talk freely to the doctor about anything he wished. My son said no. If I'd been there I would have asked the doctor why he thought it was appropriate for him to even ask to talk to my son without me there. I told the story to a friend who said he'd had the same experience.
I'm curious to know if anyone else has had this happen. What's the source of it? Is the AMA suggesting it? I'm sure it's justified with some argument about public health.
If it ever happens when I'm in the room, I'm going to ask the doctor when I can talk privately to his son. I want to make sure that his son understands how markets work. In the name of public economic health, of course.
Posted by Russell Roberts in Family, Health, Nanny State | Permalink
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Comments
That irks me too. A while back our pediatrician asked if we had any guns in our home. I told him it was none of his business. I'm confident that they think I'm a caveman. ;-)
For the record, I'm not into guns.
Posted by: Chris Meisenzahl | May 20, 2008 10:39:40 AM
I am fairly certain the doctor is not trying to impinge on your parental perogatives. I am under the impression that this is done is because sometimes children are uncomfortable bringing up certain things (often puberty related) in front of parents.
Posted by: John | May 20, 2008 10:53:07 AM
I am an army medical dude with some experience in this area. Patients lie. No doc I never use drugs, always exercise, am not pregnant, never have stuff leaking out of places they dont want mom to know about. What you realize very quickly as a medical provider is that patients lie a lot more when other people are around. I seperate parents from children as fast as possible to get the patient the best outcome.
It's hard, be honest and find a doc you trust.
Posted by: eric mcfadden | May 20, 2008 10:54:20 AM
I guess the test might be whether you think your son can have private attorney talks.
Posted by: Matt | May 20, 2008 10:58:29 AM
In Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism” he warns that if Hillary were elected she would implement what she proposed in “It takes a village”: put up television screens wherever people gather and show government videos that teach mothers how to breast feed and men how to be good fathers. Here’s from a podcast:
“You're standing on line at the DMV. And there's this Jumbotron with an instructional video running on permanent -- 24 hours a day seven days a week telling you how to raise your kids.”
Maybe she’ll be able to implement this as vice-president?
Posted by: Fabio Franco | May 20, 2008 11:07:19 AM
In all fairness, at age 13, he might have some questions about sex, masturbation, friends using drugs, and other such things, that he would not at all feel comfortable asking in front of his mom.
Now, if I were the doctor, I would have made sure to tell the mom ahead of time about the scope and purpose of the inquiry. As it is, it does seem inappropriate to "just ask".
Posted by: jb | May 20, 2008 11:22:55 AM
They may be planning to ask your child whether you have guns in the house, how much alcohol you drink, and more:
http://www.divorcesource.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=302243&Main=302243
Posted by: Jeff | May 20, 2008 11:27:22 AM
I love your blog. But this is really, really dumb. If you can't figure out why this is important, you need to learn some basic psychology, medicine, sociology, or perhaps just common sense. Perhaps start by reading the comments already left by other readers. Stick to economics. Please.
Posted by: Andrew | May 20, 2008 12:08:40 PM
I agree with Andrew, it seems pretty obvious why the doctor would ask a 13 year old if he had any questions, or if there was anything that he wanted to say without the parental unit around. There might be an actual medical worry, a lot of sexual abuse happens in adolescence, and I doubt that the kid would ever admit that in front of a parent... I also agree that he should have informed the mother that he was going to ask that beforehand.
I have heard both Russ' consternation and now some poster's anger about the doctor asking if there were guns in the house. I would wait to hear what he had to say before I got angry. There is every chance that if you said yes he would tell you the statistics about children dying in gun related accidents at home. I have no idea what those statistics are, but it wouldn't surprise me if many doctors (and parents) would think that any is too high. A little warning about gun safety never hurt anyone, and if it causes a parent to be more careful, all the better. Of course if the doctor says that you shouldn't own guns, that's a different matter. Would you be outraged if the doctor pointed out that seat belts are designed for adults and that a child could die or be seriously injured if they weren't in a car seat?
Most doctors are actually worried about their patient's health, questions are how they find out what they need to tell their patients to help them. There will be busy bodies of course, but most of them just want to tell you your odds...
Isaac Crawford
Blogging in Yemen
www.isaharr.com
Posted by: Isaac Crawford | May 20, 2008 12:38:53 PM
Andrew,
Your comment shows what an idiot you are.
Parents are far more concerned with their children's well being than anyone else, even a loving caring doctor.
Economists study interactions between people, including doctor/patient interactions. Reading even the basics of economics would tell you this. I would say stick to what you know best, but I think being an idiot is what you do best. So all I'll say is: better yourself and think before leaving such a nasty, idiotic comment.
Posted by: Ken | May 20, 2008 12:42:22 PM
I suspect jb above is correct. Check out this article: http://www.naturalnews.com/022764.html
I've read about this new policy for doctors for months on various websites, so it's not news to me. But then again, I prowl websites that still hold anachronistic views about privacy, etc.
Cheers.
Posted by: Libertarian | May 20, 2008 12:49:02 PM
I am closing the comments to this post. I will be writing a new post on the same topic where we can share ideas. But given the vehemence of the response, I think it might be helpful for me to clarify some issues before we continue.
Posted by: Russ Roberts | May 20, 2008 12:59:52 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
