Science Times on Tuesday

I love Tuesday mornings, mostly because they have been peaceful in the last couple of weeks, giving me time to catch up on my reading and thinking. Lucky for me the Science Times comes out on Tuesdays and I find myself all caught up in articles about medicine and health. My favorite to read are those essays submitted by doctors. Here are two examples.


Cases: A Favorite Charity That Won’t Accept Donations

-Even as a student, you always find yourself on the line of getting too close to your patients (mostly in ways that don't involve money). We are the ones that spend the most time with our patients. It's difficult to not get caught up in conversation and get a little attached. So you start creating this separation between "doctor" and "person." Then there's the "I can save the world" philosophy that many of us have when we go into this field. At first you can't do much, well because you don't have the knowledge or the means. But once you have been practicing for a while, you look back and realize you haven't been doing what you set out to do and a patient's story touches you and you start thinking you can save them. All good intentions, just a little misguided.

Why Hospitals Are Cold, and Doctors Don’t Cry (in Public)

-The separation between doctor and patient I think is sometimes due to the fact that doctors have to protect themselves. There is a reason why doctors, ethically, shouldn't treat family and friends. You get emotionally attached. You take unnecessary risks. You take the numbers too personally. And while I am one of those people that believes that doctors need to be human, there is no way that a person can survive, being surrounded by death, and remain human, without some detachment ahead of time.



It's all a delicate balance. Few doctors are actually good at it, but the struggle is there. How much do you get involved? Where do you draw the line? Is it a job, is it personal? There are so many questions everyday. And to top it off, there isn't time to answer them and see your patients.