a doctor's touch

Tanzania 2012

This week, I planned to provide a few prompts for physicians and healthcare providers who are blocked for whatever reason from telling their stories, perhaps because of constraints on time and energy, self-doubt, or lack of inspiration and support. I had planned to offer words of encouragement by Julia Cameron (http://www.theartistsway.com ).

"Writing is medicine.

It is an appropriate antidote to injury.

It is an appropriate companion

for any difficult change."

~Julia Cameron~

 

…and by mindfulness meditation leader Jon Kabat Zinn:

 

"Cultivate wisdom and equanimity

~not passive resignation~

in the face of the full catastrophe

of the human condition."

~Jon Kabat Zinn~

  

Then a friend of mine (she knows me too well...) sent me a link to a YouTube video by Abraham Verghese, titled "A Doctor's Touch.”

 

https://www.ted.com/talks/abraham_verghese_a_doctor_s_touch/transcript

 

"The most important innovation
in medicine to come along in the next ten years:
the power of the human hand."
~Abraham Verghese~
 

Suddenly a whole new set of questions arose. This video emphasizes the therapeutic effect of the laying on of hands by the physician...the healing roles of ritual and expectation...the importance of time spent with patients. It undermines the glorification of the ten-minute office visit…the game of "Beat the Clock" that doctors are required to play in order to meet productivity quotients. Don't get me started...

 

"The life sciences contain spiritual values
which can never be explained
by the materialistic attitude
of present day science."
~Sherwin B. Nuland~
 

These trends in the practice of "modern" medicine, among others, are what led me to bow out of practice because of fear of the inevitable: that the day would arrive when I would miss something important because there simply wasn't time to do the job well.

 

These are the questions I still can’t answer:

 

--Should I have taken a stand against the system and what I perceived to be the erosion of my wisdom and authority as a physician in the care of my patients?

 

--How could I have done it...without risking my job?

 

--Would it have made any difference?

 

--Is it too late now?

 

Thankfully, there are physicians like Abraham Verghese who are able to speak eloquently on our behalf while the rest of us scramble to collect our thoughts and yet fail to act on what we know to be true.
 

 "What moves men of genius,

or rather, what inspires their work

is not new ideas,

but their obsession with the idea

that what has already been said is still not enough."

~Eugene Delacroix~ 

 

 

Is there an issue you need to confront? What is holding you back? What kind of a difference can you make? When will you begin?

jan