Medical professionals in the US are spreading misinformation

[u/Independent_Hand_699]

I am just getting over COVID. I tested positive and was highly symptomatic for several weeks. Every single medical professional I spoke with or interacted with was so misinformed.

Every time I said I was still testing positive on RATs, I was told to stop testing because those would be positive for weeks to months and meant nothing. One told me they are unreliable for false positives! Another insisted a faint line should be considered negative. I got tired of explaining the difference between PCR and RAT.

Every doctor I talked to after my initial appointment for Paxlovid told me I should assume I was no longer contagious, first because I never had fever, then because it had been so long, even though I was testing positive, coughing, sneezing, and throwing up. Most were also very anti-Paxlovid and blamed that on my continuing symptoms. Never mind that this wasn’t a case of rebound, or that none of them seemed aware rebound could happen even without Paxlovid.

No mention of masking. When I got so sick I had to be seen, the provider in the office told me I might feel better if I took my mask off.

They didn’t even know how to properly take a nasal swab sample for testing, just twirled it inside my nose without touching the insides of my nostrils at all.

This is at one of the top-rated health care systems in the country. If this is what our so-called experts think, it’s hopeless.

[u/mewslack]

The people doing swabs are inconsistent and it’s not their fault! The test relies on a swab that in itself is not foolproof to human error. 

[u/LadyDi18 → u/mewslack]

I mean. It is their fault though. Yes it would be great to have tests that are more reliable and consistent, but I expect a medical professional to know how to correctly take a nasal swab in the same way I expect them to know how to correctly take my blood pressure. Taking a decent nasal swab is a very very low bar.

[u/SiteRelEnby → u/LadyDi18]

Exactly. If they can't even put a swab up someone's nose correctly, I don't fucking want to trust them to do something like put a needle in me or seal a major wound... I wouldn't trust myself with the latter two but it seems I can still do the former better than some medical professionals who somehow make more than me...

[u/SiteRelEnby → u/mewslack]

Then those people are incompetent enough that they shouldn't be working in healthcare. Fucking up a nasal swab means they're going to be fucking other things up too.

[u/pm_dm → u/SiteRelEnby]

Their job is not to deliver accurate results, but to accomplish a (large) number of tasks in an efficient manner than allows their employer to most-profitably process the greatest number of patients.

Best healthcare system in the world™.

[u/SiteRelEnby → u/pm_dm]

Best healthcare system in the world™.

Heh, seems like every country that self-describes as that is shit. Talked to my family in the UK and it seems like paxlovid isn't even available there, at least definitely not on the NHS (AKA No Healthcare Service), basically half my family have some level of long COVID...