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Of course many doctors are very concerned with their patients’ welfare, but this is by no means always the case. Sometimes a doctor becomes “bad” through years of overwork and burden caused by simply having too many patients. Nevertheless, you deserve to have the very best health care, and so does your family. Here is a list of things to watch for to determine whether or not you are seeing a bad doctor.

You notice that his communication skills are not good.

If your doctor doesn’t seem to want to communicate with you, this should act as a real warning signal. If you want to be sure of getting the best in medical care, it is imperative that you have excellent communication with your doctor.  This means both give and take. Communication is a two-way street. When you choose your doctor, you should be able to feel confident that he will want to know about your symptoms and that he will want to talk with you about your concerns. Your doctor should listen to you thoroughly. He should not interrupt you while you are explaining your symptoms and concerns. That’s the way misdiagnoses occur or completely missed medical problems happen. Any good doctor will have enough time to listen to you and ask you questions about your symptoms, no matter how busy his schedule may be.

He just gives you a prescription without really knowing what the problem is.

If your doctor just writes you a prescription and doesn’t even think about exploring natural and alternative solutions, he is probably a bad doctor. A good doctor always weighs all the options and chooses the safest alternative. Of course, sometimes a prescription is the answer to your problem. However, prescription medications should not be the only solutions your doctor ever proposes. There are quite a few medical conditions that can be effectively treated with lifestyle change. Slightly elevated blood pressure is an example of this. Double check to be sure your doctor is telling you about all possible options before you agree to take a prescription.

Your doctor tells you to do one thing but does another himself.

A credibility gap is when your doctor tells you that you need to get more exercise and watch your diet, while he is quite clearly a junk-food-loving couch potato. Of course your doctor probably doesn’t have a lot of time to work out. Nonetheless, he doesn’t need to have a bunch of junk food wrappers and overflowing ash trays sitting around his office. Of course, a good doctor will lead by example. It is his obligation to model proper health behavior for you.
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