Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Dr. Vivian J. Woodard
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Old 06-21-2015, 06:47 PM
mickey100 mickey100 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnyatlast View Post
I agree it's disturbing and even angering if a doctor or other professional "makes a point of expressing his political views in an attempt to convert" me.

However, that's quite different from having Christian quotes/verses on the wall and having Bibles on the waiting room tables. Those are there to look at, or not look at, just as a doctor's framed medical license, residency diploma, and medical diploma are there on the wall or might be listed in a brochure.

They are there to tell an interested looker/reader some of the main tenets and education/training that are a large part of the doctor's personal and professional formation.

I have had doctors/specialists from India and other foreign nations and my doctor I've had the longest is Jewish. If they have a Hindu or Jewish or other symbol or quote of wisdom/teaching on the wall, I don't get all offended and assume that they are trying to "convert" me, a Christian, to their religion.

Those things are there as illustrations of how they think and what they believe. It's a free country, and if a patient doesn't like what that person believes, the patient can choose to leave and go elsewhere.

So far, I've never thought about leaving my doctors because of their vastly different religious beliefs. I don't fear hearing/seeing opinions or beliefs that differ from mine. My mind can freely accept or decline to accept things that don't register with my beliefs or factual knowledge. That's the beauty of the human mind, unless it's been brainwashed.

On the other hand, if they speak political views in order to "convert" me, I hope I would learn a little more about them to know whether they were trying to "convert" me, or whether they are just expressing frustration with the way they cannot practice the way they were trained to do and want to do, due to the adversarial medico-legal climate, and the growing insurance/government bureaucratic control climate. They might speak those frustrations with politicians as a way of making it known they might soon quit practicing medicine altogether, because they've had it with the ruin they see going on.
Part of it is the extent of religious literature, symbols, paraphernalia, etc. displayed in the office. There was no way to avoid it. In my opinion it was way, way over the top, more than I've ever seen at a doctor's office. I declined to register it for the couple of visits I had to the office, but it really made me uncomfortable. She is certainly welcome to her views, as is anyone who has religious beliefs, but again, as a non-believer, I don't think that religion has a place in the doctor/patient relationship. Also by hawking all that Christianity, how does that make patients feel that are Muslim or some other denomination? Probably as uncomfortable as I feel. I think politics and religion are private. Anyways, just wanted to point out this aspect of her practice to the OP. I did exercise my right to choose, and chose another physician, who I really like. Strictly business, no politics or religion!