Anonymous Doctor

[A bunch of people left comments on my post from Tuesday saying my post was fine but useless if I didn't say HOW to tell if their doctor is good and HOW to find a better one. Those comments are correct. I consulted with a couple of friends for help with an answer here. Knowing if your doctor is good, or how to find a better one, isn't necessarily easy. If you know people in the field, that's a start-- recommendations from doctors or nurses who you know, recommendations from people who are medically savvy and plugged into the field. Where they trained can be an indicator, although it's not perfect. Rankings of programs exist (U.S. News, etc), rankings of medical schools exist. One commenter accurately points out that judging foreign medical schools is more difficult. Many states have online databases where you can type in a doctor's name and see where they trained, what specialties they're licensed in, and whether they've been sued for malpractice (not always an indicator, but, hey, I'd probably avoid a doctor with a long list of lawsuits). And you ask questions and see if you're happy with the answers. It's often pretty clear if someone knows what they're talking about or they're faking it. If you think your doctor is faking it, ignoring your questions, brushing you off... maybe that's a signal.]