the doctor dilemma, part 2

So, I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Give-Out-My-Address on Friday. I cunningly waited until the end of the appointment when the nurse assistant had already filled out my continued prescription to bring up the matter of his ethical breach of my privacy.

"So...doctor," I said. "Last week when I came home, a couple of missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints were waiting for me. They said you had given them my name and address."

"Yeah," he said. "You had mentioned that you wanted to find a church, and I thought it was something you might be interested in."

"Well," I said, "you mentioned nothing about it at the appointment. And you really shouldn't have given out my address without my permission."

I got a blank look. "Were they awful?" he said.

"No, they were fine, and I appreciate the thought. But my address is unpublished, doctor. I'm not in the phone book and you can't call Information to find me. It was a breach of my privacy to give out my address without my permission. You really should have called me before you handed it out."

"Oh...oh," he stammered. "Well, I've never done anything like that before. I just thought it might help you out."

"Again, I appreciate the thought," I said. "But you really should have called me. I certainly hope this won't happen again."

"Never," he said fervently.

"Great! See you in a month," I said.

He mumbled something and hurried out of the office, either frightened or pissed.

Now, honestly. How can you not know that passing out private information is wrong? And I feel badly for the guy, if he really didn't know, but I still think I'm going to have to find a new doctor and turn him in. What he did was unethical TO HIS PROFESSION, and I'm sure if he did it once he'll do it again.

The thing is, I've always been a loud-mouthed advocate of standing up for yourself and addressing situations that are wrong; otherwise they'll keep happening and you've robbed yourself of what little power you have as an ordinary citizen (and often as a woman). So in this case, although I'm not exactly irate about the situation and not all that worried about the missionaries, I feel that I need to execute a unity of action here and follow my own mandates.

But it's probably going to have to wait until after the Golf Tournament on Monday. This week is going to be crazy.

And I wonder how it is that I'm so terrifying to people. I wasn't angry when I spoke with him, I didn't raise my voice, and I didn't use abusive language. I was simply firm, clear, and reasonable. And it seemed to scare the crap out of him.

This happens a lot. And it can't be just because I'm tall. Maybe because I'm articulate.

I dunno.