Originally posted by Capybara Is this a Brazil wide thing or have we just been lucky?

In my (fortunately) few encounters with physicians in Brasil, I do feel they take time with their patients.  Also, no question is a stupid question for them.  I've dealt with doctors in the US regarding health care issues for one of my parent's, and in the small town where they live, doctors are not used to people asking questions, and in fact, get quite irritated.  My PCP where I lived in the US was not like this, but then again, I lived in a large metropolitan area, where people are more proactive as a consumer when it comes to health care.

And a thumbs up as well on MD's in Brasil being more open to alternative therapies and even 'medicines'.  I told an orthopedic I was seeing for a broken ankle that I had acupuncture done twice a month (for a screwed up shoulder), and was considering adding some sessions for my ankle, and he was in total agreement for it!  If I dared mention such in the US, it would have resulted in a big eye-roll, at best.

I concur tremendously!

I've had good and bad doctors in Brazil. But the good doctors that I've had have been REALLY good. My OBGYN was amazing and I cannot stop bragging about him. The dentists that I finally ended up with are also extremely professional and did very good work. I had to pay out of pocket for them, but it was better than the alternative (the dentists on my dental plan).

forgot to add- my cardiologist in the US was Brazilian, from Curitiba.

My dermatologist here did his studies in Chicago.

I imagine the quality of the doctors is probably not much different, but the fact that you get more time with them really does make things so much better.

The few times I have dealt with doctors at SUS it has been very similar to the quality of US insured healthcare (although I was lucky to have really good doctors there, every interaction was no more than 3.5 minutes.)- quick, all business, and no real inclination to give me more information than I really need. 
I know there can be quality issues with SUS (i know from having doctor clients that SUS is often the fallback for new doctors who can't get residencies in better hospitals or specialist areas)  but the times that I had to use it (emergencies) it was much better than what I would have had in the US as an uninsured person-- which would have been nothing.  No frills for sure, but they got the job done.

doctors - for me at least, have had encounter with one doctor - not good. Recommended "quack" like medicine just to make a commission. I had to pay twice for overpriced medication.

dentists - 1 quack worthless dentist. Now I see a dentist that is much better. This second one works soooo much; he is not the "typical" lazy Brazilian. Like I always say, it's 8 ou 80 here.