What "I Wouldn't Worry About That" really means when it comes from your doctor

Nearly all the patients that come to one of our practices have done so after leaving another primary care physician with whom they were unsatisfied.  Among the many complaints fairly or unfairly directed at their former physician, one that I hear frequently after explaining some lab or result is: "My last doctor just told me not to worry about that.  They didn't care about me."

Not to worry... is there a more dismissive, potentially condescending way to explain something to a person who is in fear for their health?  What a terrible, uncaring and hurried physician.  But here is the kicker, contained within that phrase is the essence of what primary care, and all honest medicine is all about--balancing risk.

What their quite astute doctor thought, and meant to say was probably something like, "Based on what we know about the uncertainties of diagnostic testing, and the differential diagnosis of that particular abnormality, and the risk associated with further exploring and/or treating tho…