You Are Fine Doctor, But How Am I?

The question is: what do we look for, hope for, or expect from our family doctor? I used to have a fantastic one, Doctor Lee, when I was living in Hong Kong. He always received me with a sympathetic and warm smile, that made me immediately feel better already before I even sat down. Even though he hadn't seen me for months, he had remembered, without checking my record, what my problem was the previous time, and solicitously inquired if whatever it was had cleared up totally. By then It felt there's perhaps nothing wrong with me this time after all. He just seemed to have this magic to make you feel safe and well cared for.

To Doctor Lee it's as if there's no illness or disease, just little health disorder and he'd take care of it. After he made you feel your were friends, he began to talk to you like a friend & listened to you attentively without once checking his watch, and never made me feel I have taken up too much of his time, or had asked too many questions, nor the kind of look some doctors give you (with intention, I suspect), to make you wish to apologise for being alive, or need to be grateful he agreed to see you, & you should thank him just for that favour.

I had since changed abode several times in as many countries. Never had I come across another doctor I feel half as comfortable with and wholeheartedly trust. Many of them are good and competent doctors, at least according to their credentials which pronounce so in neat frames all over the wall behind the consulting table. But in their
presence, I am inadequate even as a patient, not able to convey exactly what my sickness is (I usually hope they would tell me) and therefore I should be apologetic, and grateful that he hadn't exactly told me off.

Too many doctors are Doctor House of the TV screen, brilliant, arrogant & insufferable; I am glad he is but a fictional character. How I wish there were more Doctor Lee's.

Tags:patient,doctor

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