[Don Plumley]

I don't suffer fools well in any profession. I'm polite, but never go back.

For myself (and family), the answer does depend on the disease. For example, for a surgeon, I want the best technician in the area, the cutter that other docs would go to. He/She might be a flaming donkey cavern, but aside from the obligatory pre-op swing through, I'm asleep when they are doing their work.

However, for an oncologist, they need to be up on the latest stuff and have an amazing patient rapport. I have a good friend that's had four lymphoma (successfully treated) relapses. The first doc he saw was dismissive of questions, gave him the chills, wanted to put a port in and start pumping in nasty chemotheraputics. He then went to see the big deal blood doc in town - he had a to wait a long time in the waiting room because the doc would spend as much time as the patient needed to understand a very complex disease and treatment - then used the latest in antibody therapy for a treatment regimen that was not much worse than getting the flu. Having confidence in your oncologist over a long period of time is so important. And I'm hoping to never know...