[net.women] Choosing a Doctor

charlie@cca.UUCP (Charlie Kaufman) (02/04/84)

1)	I also prefer doctors and dentists who are women;
1)	women should patronize other women.

2)	I suggest that it makes more sense to patronize professionals
2)	who are best qualified to give you the service you want, at the
2)	price you are willing to pay.  ....  Going to a woman doctor
2)	simply because she's female strikes me as being as irrational as
2)	going to a male doctor for the corresponding reason.

3) Not necessarily.  One might compare it to buying a product from a
company which makes extra efforts not to pollute the environment even if
its products are indistinguishable.  Going to a woman doctor simply
because she's female is a way to support (albeit in a small way) the
training of woman doctors, and more generally to better the position of
women generally.  One could argue that the tiny benefits of one
individual's choice should be dwarfed by more important issues in
choosing a doctor, but you can hardly call such considerations
irrational.

                          --Charlie Kaufman
                            charlie@cca
                            ...decvax!cca!charlie

tims@shark.UUCP (Tim Stoehr) (02/09/84)

 > Going to a woman doctor simply
 > because she's female is a way to support (albeit in a small way) the
 > training of woman doctors, and more generally to better the position of
 > women generally.

I'm glad to hear that.  I'll make sure in the future to only patronize
male doctors.  But this, you must understand, is only to better the
training of male doctors, and better the position of men in general.
I feel more rational already.
Also, I am extremely happy to see that women would not consider
discriminating against men.

aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent) (02/14/84)

I (male) chose a female doctor with some deliberation.  Remember that medical
schools probably still have on their faculties a bunch of crusty, aging men
who don't believe that women can make good doctors.  As a result, if a woman
has in fact made it through med school despite that, she's likely to be pretty
good, especially if (as in this case) she has elected to become not just a
doctor but an internist.  This may not be true in all cases, but my doctor is
certainly very sharp and very well qualified.

-- Jeff Sargent/...pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq