“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died” is advice that American humorist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) gave to readers of her newspaper column in January 1975. If a doctor doesn’t care about the life of the plants in his or her office, it’s not encouraging that the doctor would care about his patients, either.
 
Bombeck’s advice is sometimes called “Bombeck’s Rule of Medicine.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck (née Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. Bombeck also published 15 books, most of which became bestsellers. From 1965 to 1996, Erma Bombeck wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes-eloquent humor, chronicling the ordinary life of a midwestern suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read twice-weekly by 30 million readers of the 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.
     
4 January 1975, Capital Journal (Salem, OR), “Caveat emptor—especially now” by Erma Bombeck, sec. 1, pg. 4, col. 3:
1. Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
 
Google News Archive
12 January 1975, Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune, “At Wit’s End: Faith, Hope And Suspicion Are Yardsticks For Measuring Trust” by Erma Bombeck, pg. 11-E, col. 2:
1. Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
 
Google Books
Control Your High Blood Pressure—Without Drugs!
By Cleaves M. Bennett and Charles Cameron
Garden City, NY: Doubleday
1984
Pg. 114:
Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
Erma Bombeck
 
Google News Archive
11 June 1985, Wilmington (NC) Morning Star, “Home gardening’s popularity now in full blossom” by Erma Bombeck, pg. 6C, col. 2:
After all, no one wants to go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
 
Google Books
Phillips’ Treasury of Humorous Quotations
Edited by Bob Phillips
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers
2004
Pg. 73:
Never go to a doctor whose office plants are dead. — Erma Bombeck
 
Google Books
Medical Jokes & Humour
By Clifford Sawhney
NewDelhi: V & S Publishers
2011
Pg. ?:
Bombeck’s Rule of Medicine: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
 
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Mrs. Harry Styles
‏@5mrsharrystyles
Bombeck’s Rule of Medicine: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
12:46 AM - 21 Oct 2014