Study offers shocking insight on how little doctors listen

Oct 9 2018      On Behalf of  David M. Duree & Associates, P.C.      Personal Injury

When you’re dealing with a medical issue, especially before you know exactly what is going on, you think about it constantly. You talk to loved ones. You look up information on the internet. It just grabs your attention.

You know that your doctor may not be as emotionally invested as you are, but you still expect the doctor to listen to you. By the time you get to the office, it is clear that this has become a very big part of your life.

What you may be surprised to learn, then, is that studies show that doctors listen for an average of just 11 seconds.

That’s it. That’s how long you have to talk about everything you have been thinking about for weeks or months. That’s how long you have to give the doctor the initial information used to make a diagnosis. Eleven seconds.

If you think that is bad, you should also know that research showed that a mere 36 percent of people actually get the chance to “speak up about why they came in for their visit” when they meet with a primary care doctor. With a specialty care doctor, that number plummets to just 20 percent — that is how many of these medical professionals asked people what was wrong.

It is clear that doctors and patients are not on the same page. If your doctor will not listen or does not give you a chance to speak, does that make mistakes more likely? Remember, victims of medical malpractice have a right to seek out financial compensation for their