The lady doctor
Over Thanksgiving I had a conversation with my mother-in-law about women doctors. She explained that she had to see a woman eye doctor because her regular doctor was unavailable and that this made her uncomfortable. I recognize that some people are uncomfortable with women doctors even today. Comfort with a doctor is an emotional thing, not something you can necessarily address rationally. I expect that with each generation this discomfort will lessen. Still, when I play the very old doctor riddle with my students in class, most can’t solve it. Here’s the riddle:
A man and his son were in a car and had an accident on the highway. The boy was critically injured and rushed to the hospital. Doctors are not allowed to work on their family. After seeing the boy in the emergency room, the doctor said, “I can’t work on this child. He’s my son!”
The answers I get from students are things like, the boy has two dads, it’s his step-dad, it’s his grandfather. The answer, of course, is that the doctor is the boy’s mother. It’s a great example to illustrate male as the default setting for doctors. Even though more and more students get this answer correctly over the years, the numbers who don’t are disheartening. After all this time….
While I was visiting my “lady dentist” this morning, I remembered the conversation. I told my mother-in-law at the time that nearly all my health care providers are women and that I purposely selected women providers. Out of all my providers, I have two males. One is a cardiologist. I couldn’t find a woman cardiologist on my insurance in Baton Rouge. The other is my shrink. I adore my shrink. He’s brilliant.
I seek out women for two reasons. First, I want to support them. I know that many people don’t select them simply because they are women, so I like to counterbalance that. I think of all the years these people spent struggling through a predominantly male atmosphere to get the exact same training as men do only to come out the other side with less respect and credibility.
Second, I do think women providers often (not always) have a better bedside manner. I had a woman shrink for a while who disproves this as a generalization, but my experience holds true for the most part.
So…here’s to the wonderful women in my life. I’m grateful to them. I highly recommend all of them.
1. Primary care physician – Dr. Roslyn Tabor, (225) 757-8185.
2. Dentist – Dr. Elizabeth Guerrero, (225) 275-0666.
3. Gynecologist – Dr. Wendy Holden Parker, (225) 201-2000 (I also see the nurse practitioner, Barbara White).
4. Dermatologist – Dr. Lori Byrd, (225) 769-7546 (I’m a new patient to her so I can’t really say yet).
5. Veterinary – Dr. Elizabeth Eastin, (225) 275-9854 (ok, 0k, she’s not my health care provider but..still she’s a doctor).
6. Endodontist – Dr. Gwen Corbett, (225) 766-3061 (I just saw her for the first time. She rocks).
I haven’t found a woman chiropractor. Still working on it. If you know of one, let me know.
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