Pain

Sherpas Wanted

9 Comments / Health Care - How it's Broken

 People are quick to accept non-answers from specialists, to be misconstrued by ER doctors, and to spend a week in the hospital without knowing what is going on.  Other doctors are far too willing to accept fragmented care, not knowing the context of the current hospitalization or outpatient consultation. 

Doctors aren\’t Healers

2 Comments / Being a Doctor

I\’ve heard many doctors refer to themselves as \”healers,\” as if we have some special power to bring about healing in our patients.  This idea confers some sort of a higher status and originates, to some, from a \”higher calling\” to a more noble life.  Again, this is a logical step, in that we have opportunities on a regular basis to help and even save the lives of people.  It\’s natural to believe that somehow the healing power comes from our touch, or even from our knowledge.

It doesn\’t.  I am not a healer.  

My Turning Point

2 Comments / Being a Doctor, Personal Musings

As an incurable compulsive introspect, I tend to brood, ponder, contemplate, and (of course) muse on \”big ideas,\” such as:

  • What makes people choose things which cause themselves harm?
  • Are some people better people than others, or are they just more skilled at hiding their problems?
  • Is pain really a bad thing, or is our aversion to it a sign of human weakness?
  • Do dogs watch Oprah?
  • Does God ever wear a hat?
  • Why is \”big ideas\” in quotes?

Tough questions.  

Lately I\’ve been contemplating the nature of human awareness:

  • Is self-awareness (the ability to think of ourselves in the first person) a uniquely human trait, and is lack of self-awareness the essence of mental illness?
  • Is empathy, or other-awareness the highest of human traits?  Is this what the biblical idea of being \”made in the image of God\” really means?

Yeah, that\’s a lot deeper than about dogs watching Oprah.