Doctors As Patients

I think doctor ' s make the worst patients. A friend ' s father, she told me, was a doctor but ignored his own cancer symptoms and said he was fine until he wasn ' t. I have never met a doctor who rushed to be a patient....But I think the best training for a doctor is to be a patient - particularly a patient of the disease or ailment they treat. This would provide so much more understanding for them.Here is the story ofa British breast cancer surgeon who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and finally returned to work in 2017. She never expected to face this diagnosis. I don ' t anyone ever does." Doctors face particular challenges when they become patients —challenges that they are rarely prepared for. It is hard to relinquish control and allow others to dictate the treatments that you yourself are used to doling out. It is crushing to know your own prognosis in the starkest terms—a 65 percent chance of surviving for 10 years, in O’Riordan’s c ase. It is awkward to see your own former patients while you’re being treated: To strike up a chat would break confidentiality. "I would like to disagree here. I don ' t think it would be awkward to see your own patients while in treatment. I would not expect my doctor to treat me as a patient if I run into them in the store or something. I just say hello as I would with any other person." And it is difficult to be cut off from the same supportive forums and networks that other patients use to share experiences and suppo...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient breast cancer treatment doctors surgery Source Type: blogs