Since childhood, I have been
a very ill child. Every specialist a person could end up visiting through the
course of their life, was a part of my life within the first 3 yrs of my
life. I am used to eating pills and taking nasty concoctions. Syringes, are
another story altogether. I cannot think of even going for a blood test on my
own. Till date, the pathologist I go to-is used to my showing up with either of
my parents. I usually go early and wait in queue for my turn. The doctor
patiently waits for my parent/s to turn up. After some light hearted teasing, he
would prepare a new syringe for my blood test. He would give me a chocolate after
the test and does so even to this day. Sort of removes the sting off the blood
test!
I have gone to the same
doctor since childhood. You know how you feel when you meet your childhood doctor?
Just by being so sensitive, they make you feel like they will make you better
in no time. That he will make you fit and fine? That he knows exactly what is
wrong with you. Am pretty sure placebo effect is at work when he is involved. I
feel I am getting better just after leaving his clinic.
My point is: I have always had
the good fortune to be blessed with amazing doctors. The type who understand the
fears of the patient and deal with it in a very loving manner. And
somewhere I assumed every doctor would be the same.
Recently though, my
illusions were shattered. My doctor migrated to the states. Since he migrated I
have somehow managed to not fall ill. But I tried a new doctor when I had sore
throat recently.
Just a background: This
doctor is roughly in his early 30s. Has a fancy clinic near my house. Has gleaming expensive magazines stacked in the waiting area. Essentially, a place screaming of
success. However, my meeting with him was a total washout.
After taking my history,
which lasted a total of 10 mins, we had a rather brief discussion. This is how
the meeting went:
Doc: since how long have you
had sore throat?
Me: yesterday
Doc: how badly does it hurt?
Me: hurts when I swallow.
Doc: On a scale of one to
ten, ten being the highest: how badly does it hurt?
Briefly about me: I come from a background in market research. And when
I heard the scale question, I couldn’t stop laughing in my head. And since he wasn’t
anywhere as pleasant as my previous doctor, I decided to be obtuse.
Me: 6.5
Doc says: do you get relief
from hot or cold foods?
Me: hot foods.
And that was it. He didn’t even
check my throat. I am definitely not going back to him.
Are doctors as a breed
becoming more mechanical? just about turning around more and more patients in a single day? Is there no human factor? Am I right in feeling
cheated? Or am I being too expectant?
Or did I go to one who was dead inside?
Either way, the experience left
a bad taste in my throat...errr mouth. I want my doctor back!
Now you realize how one feels for being asked such irrelevant questions ;-), you MR people?
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, hope to read more of your blog.
nice one :) keep writing. and you have 2 options. Dont fall ill at all or come to US to visit your old doc again :)
ReplyDelete@ankush - i understand the irrelevance now...:D... totally...:D... and yeh - hopefully shud be writing regularly now that i have finally managed to write the first one!
ReplyDelete@ anoop - thanks da....really miss my doc... might migrate...!...:D
After a late night till about 3am on Saturday, u post this at 8:47am on Sunday!! Wow!!!
ReplyDelete@ko - i wish i cud accept ur compliment but i posted this at 8:47 pm..:D...
ReplyDeletegood first post dipti :)
ReplyDeleteAgree with you. Everything's getting a little less human. Quality of human interaction has suffered. Your pic is really cute
ReplyDeleteyellow Deepti! Good article ^_^ keep on writing! With regards to the topic, some doctors in SG are also like the one you recently visited. Not sure if it's the "generation"... whatever! But hope you found another good doctor soon :-)
ReplyDeleteIndian doctors are far better at human interaction. Good post and hope you find time to write more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words about me in your blog. I have been seeing you in my clinic since you were a toddler and considering that your visits to our clinic have been infrequent in the past few years, I can proudly say that homeopathy works.
ReplyDeleteI am still available in my clinic as usual by video conferencing (see my blog: http://homeopathicure.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/east-is-east-and-west-is-west/)
I fact we see all our old patients as well as new cases every day thanks to technology. Whenever you need medicines or just need to talk, remember I am always around. Just stop by at the clinic and I'll take care of you.
Dr. Vijay Vaishnav
@Dr Vaishnav - My visits have definately declined.and yes homeopathy works!... there is no doubt abt it...:)...I wanted to know whether you are were up for sleep deprivation on a regular basis..:D...i realised after reading your post that you are!...I am not even going to try to look for another doctor. 'See' you... :)
ReplyDeleteHey- nice blog! your post reminded me of this ted talk I watched on a similar topic.. on how the human touch is getting lost in medicine today. V interesting, worth a watch:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/abraham_verghese_a_doctor_s_touch.html
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ReplyDelete@natalie - It seems sad that the quality of human interaction is going down. I would not have thot doctors wud be so cut and dried.. and thanx for the compliment on the pic...:D
ReplyDelete@Sandeep - Been hearing about this mechanical phenomenon since a while from people who have moved abroad. I did not think this phenomenon was going to come to India this soon. I would like to believe I met a moron who was dead inside..and thanx!
well enjoyed reading this..
ReplyDeleteu r too expectant.. thats hardly an opinion..
c this is the nature of the problem dat we dont even try and solve our problems ourselves..here u have described it wid a doc!
but for everything we need someone to stand for us!
nd we compare every1 wid previous 1s..
well written..
@Prashant - thanks :)...but life is about expectations rite? and comparing ppl is a human flaw everyone is guilty of.I am def guilty of that. I also believe that one cant solve everything themselves and there will be a certain level of dependence on others. Here, for instance, the dependence is on my doc. I am not gng to pretend i understand the science of healing so leave it to the experts :)
ReplyDelete