Thursday 6 July 2017

Once a doctor always a doctor.

    For a long time after I retired I took a certain pleasure in responding to the usual medical questions that physicians grow used to fielding on a daily basis from patients and friends alike, with a dumb smile and a jaunty, "don't ask me, I'm not a doctor!"  Eventually that wore pretty thin when I realized how desperate folks really are to find out what's going on with their health in particular and the health care system in general.   Physicians, often seem to be doing a poor job in communicating with patients regarding the implications of their conditions on their life and on their life-styles.  Yes, they give their patients the raw scientific data, but when an anxious patient is sitting in front of a physician the level of comprehension is often minimal.  The physician is busy, in a hurry with a waiting room that is full of scowling patients who have been waiting too long and the priority is to get the patient our of the office and get on with the next one.  The art of medical conversation is dead and the patient, despite state of the art treatment, often remains apprehensive and generally poorly informed.   Thus the necessity for the emergence of the Honorary Doctor, an unpaid, 24/365 position highly prestigious post.  All it takes is a medical degree and fifty-five years of experience and the gift of the 'conversation', which is almost extinct. 
    My case load this week (all identifying data is omitted) has been as follows:
    One case of chest pain in a friend that occurred while the patient was visiting a different city.  She was rushed to hospital where she was initially informed after a CT scan that she had fluid around her heart. Apparently cardiac studies showed no evidence of heart muscle damage and they booked an MRI.   She didn't know the doctor and decided she had enough and wanted  to sign herself out of hospital and go home to see her regular physician .  Her husband phoned me from her bedside.  I talked to her at some length, explained the reasons for staying and the risks of discharging herself.  It was a three hour drive home and we didn't know what was wrong.  Too risky. She decided to stay and have her workup completed.
    The next case in my honorary casebook dealt with a man with a longstanding neurological disorder who had been waiting for a subspecialty consultation for an unreasonable lengthy time, increasingly typical of our health services, while our government grossly mismanages the tax dollars entrusted to them. We discussed his management and the deplorable waiting lists. Unfortunately there was little I could do, apart from offering a little comfort.  
    Case number three was a family member who presented to the emergency with an acute respiratory problem.  After some emergency treatment he spent seventeen hours on a guerney in the emergency department, coughing his bacteria over a room crowded with sick and debilitated patients.  So whatever their problems when they came in they were likely to be considerably worse by the time they got out.  The reason for the lengthy delay was that there were no available beds, but when he was eventually admitted and I visited him there are empty beds all over the place.  That was because those beds were out of service and that, in turn,was because the the hospital budget couldn't afford the nursing staff.   This in a country where the PM can afford to give a jihadi terrorist killer $10000000 of taxpayer's dollars.  Canada has to get rid of this confused PM!  Incidentally, my parking fees were $14 and I couldn't but feel sorry for folks who have family members in hospital for weeks.  Maybe a little of the terrorist reward fee could go towards helping them out.  I'm sure Canadians would rather see their tax dollars spent that way.
    Other issues were minor, a sprained ankle, a couple of teeth broken in an accident, shingles, a benign cardiac arrythmia.  
    Retirement is a full time occupation.
    I can't wait to see what next week will bring to the Honorary Doctor.


If yoi have any horror stories, or delightful ones you want to share leave a comment.

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