When doctors become patients, they shouldn't be surprised that the experience is frightening, undignified and disempowering
Stories of doctors experiencing illness are common. Major illness is life‐changing for most people, and the impact on doctors can be particularly profound.1,2,3,4,5 But why do so many doctors seemingly have to experience a life‐threatening illness before they truly develop empathy? Despite years spent caring for patients, why is it that it takes their own illness to realise that being unwell can be frightening and demoralising for the soul as well as wreaking havoc on the body?
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- 1. Costanzo MR. The physician becomes the patient: how my breast cancer journey taught me to be a better doctor. J Heart Lung Transplant 2014; 33: 1100–1102.
- 2. Laberta V. When the doctor has cancer. Oncology Times 2016; 38: 1–2.
- 3. Taran S, Detsky AS. When physicians turn into patients — becoming Kafka's cockroach. JAMA Intern Med 2018; 178: 753–754.
- 4. Munster P. I treated breast cancer for years as a doctor. Then I was diagnosed. Time 2017; 25 Sept. http://time.com/4949983/breast-cancer-diagnosis (viewed Dec 2018).
- 5. Tierney W, McKinley E. Excerpts: when physicians get cancer. NPR 2006; 6 Apr. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5326183 (viewed Dec 2018).
The inspiration for this article came from a discussion with a group of insightful medical students reflecting on a doctor's illness narrative.
No relevant disclosures.