Actual conversation with an allergist I was interviewing: Me: How many patients do you have with latex allergy? Allergist: well, latex allergy is on the decline since we all use latex free gloves now. Me: actually many doctors here still use latex gloves and the latest studies show that latex allergy has increased from 1% a decade ago to more than 6% now! Allergist: but the severity of your case is very rare. Me: I am a leader for a support group of people with latex allergy, and most of them react as severely as I do, or worse. Allergist: there are about 50 allergists in this area so each allergist would only see 1 or 2 of those... Me: its a national support group... Allergist: (cutting me off before I could mention other support groups) Well there you go; there are just 100 people allergic to latex in the country! I was completely nonplussed. After recovering from my brain screaming WTF?? I was tempted to start quoting research studies and statistics, but I realized A: he didnt have any latex allergy patients and B: it was pointless to continue. I mean seriously, to imply that mine was the only support group and that all latex allergic people would be in it is so ludicrous it sounds like a joke. Except its not. I wish I could say this is just one hilarious isolated encounter with an idiot doctor, but unfortunately I and many others run into similar conversations on a regular basis with medical professionals. How sad is it that a condition that affects 6% of America (abt 18 million people) and abt 18% of health care workers is still regularly dismissed as unimportant and unworthy of keeping up on research and treatment?
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 03:49:31 +0000
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