I don’t know of any patient, whether male or female, who these days goes to a doctor to be told by their physician that they are as fit as a fiddle and in such good health that they don’t need any medicine or further medical checkups.
In the past, a doctor would usually begin by conducting a number of physical checks; starting by taking the pulse, then using the stethoscope to examine the heart and lungs, and finally asking the patient to open their mouth and say the famous “aaaah”. By then, the doctor would have been able to determine the case before him, based on all these examinations, and then able to prescribe the necessary medicine. I still remember that in Britain they used to check the eyes too, with a device that beamed rays of light into it, even if the patient was not complaining of any eye ailment.
A doctor once told me that a good physician is one who discovers two symptoms of the illness the patient complained of the moment the patient enters the room.
These days, we see doctors starting with the question, “What is wrong with you? I hope everything is all right.” After having listened to the patient explain what is actually wrong, the doctor orders a series of laboratory and X-Ray tests and asks the patient to come back for the results. When the patient returns, the doctor simply reads the results.
Doctors these days have become totally dependent on machines, to the extent of being unable to make any move until they’ve consulted the tests. The tradition of doctors serving their patients instead of themselves no longer exists.
The kind of medicine being practiced these days has led to the emergence of a long list of titles; including general practitioner, specialist, consultant, first consultant, member of the American board, the British board, the Canadian board, and God knows how many other boards.
Man’s struggle with the environment has led to the emergence of new diseases that assume new names. So, we now have Maltese fever, bird flu, mad cow disease and many other diseases that derive their names directly from the environment. This may be another symptom of what modern life can produce or an expression of man’s failure and inability to deal with his surroundings.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I hear that a doctor started to publicly complain of having to do the same monotonous work time and again; giving appointments to patients, asking for lab tests, waiting for the results and prescribing the medicine.
