In one of the episodes of Golden Girls, Dorothy Zobornak confronts her previous doctor for not taking her seriously and misdiagnosing her chronic fatigue syndrome as just being a woman and being extremel apathic. She cries out to him that may be if he had brush with a disease in the beginning of his career he would treat his patients with care and respect that the deserve. That hit home.
I read the book "When Breath Becomes Air" which is a story of a hardworking doctor who at the peak of his career as neurosurgeon found out he has cancer and he died while his peak had just started. That book changed my prespective of life and my career decision. I also had a medical school fellow who was really smart and would have been a great doctor and his life ended abruptly because of a brain tumor.
Even these experiences did not alter me as much as finding out one of my parental figures had been diagnosed with parkinsonism and since it was a progressively degenerative disorder there was nothing we could do but slow her symptoms down and there was no hope for them. They were literally able to move shit with one hand and now they could not even go to the loo with out assistance.
Seeing their lives fall apart and than working in the hospital as a young doctor I was really weary of not being a harsh and apathic person but I did observe a lot of my older peers to flat out talk down to people and I kept thinking of how not to end up like them.
Share ur story of a life changing experience and how would you have wanted a doctor to respond.
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