Absolutely, QUESTION, QUESTION, QUESTION!
Craig and Rose, you are 100% correct to stick to your (respective) guns and question, nicely but firmly, if you feel you need or want more information from your doctor, if there is anything that seems unclear or confusing, or if you disagree or would like more info on which to disagree. If a doctor is not on your side regarding the giving of information - if they seem impatient, patronizing, soothing but not helpful, they may still be right but they may not be, and their attitude is not acceptable. My reaction to medical professionals who are patronizing-but-unhelpful is to ask how they would appreciate being treated in a similar way if they went to, say, an attorney, or if they were out of the picture and a family member was being treated by a physician the way they are treating you.
You probably won't link me to my other recent thread, but the reason I have much grist for my mill is that my husband was misdiagnosed by two neurologists in the fall and in January) both of whom were convinced he had ALS (or one was - the other was convinced it was at least a MND). In fact, he has oral cancer, has had it for at least six months, and had he been diagnosed correctly at the outset, would not now be in an advanced stage with a very different prognosis. He lost at least three months of early treatment. The neurologists have each not contacted me (probably too busy conferring with their lawyers) but their arrogance and patronizing care is making me so angry I am literally shaking. I had been saying since the outset of my husband's symptoms that MND did not add up, but they put me in the "wife in denial" category and never questioned themselves, despite good reasons to.
This background is just to give at least one anecdotal reason to question. A good doctor really listens to the patient and internalizes the rational questions to their medical treatment and diagnosed. A good doctor looks outside the box and asks not only, "do any other tests need to be done," but "were the correct tests done correctly and were they in addition read correctly?" All these tests are only as good as the person conducting and reading them.
Don't ever let a medical professional allow you to feel silly for raising a point, getting angry if they are not listening and disregarding your questions. As Dr. Spock said about child-rearing, I say here about our own cases or those of relatives; you know more than you think you do. Trust your instincts to question.
Many of the posts I read are those of people with atypical cases or symptoms, conditions presenting atypically, or unclear-as-yet diagnoses. Which tells me doctors are not omniscient and have no grounds on which to ignore patient input or queries.
Keep up the good cheer, do good research, and ask any questions you like - of them and on these posts.
All the best,
Perplexed