Being a doctor is very rewarding, mostly! Sometimes friends and relatives fall sick, where one is partially emotionally involved. This is the time when one's character is tested. A precarious balance needs to be maintained. In the beginning, one may go forth with complete support but that often leads to the patient becoming dependent on you. After that, how far one is happy to go, varies with each situation. If the ailment belongs to one's specialization, one can often take it to it's final conclusion, optimistically, cure in many situations. However, one's treatment may not always provide relief to the patient. In that situation, one should objectively re-evaluate and try to find out what went wrong. If one is not able to find a cause, it is better to refer to a more experienced person. It is important not to get egoistic about it and keep on seeing the situation objectively. Educating the patient about technical aspects more than what is required may backfire and should always be balanced.
If the ailment is not of one's specialization and the patient is not immediate family then the patient should be gently steered to someone who is most appropriate for that particular disease and person. In doing that, one must facilitate the process, if that can make it convenient for the patient. Often, both, the patient and the doctor referred to would be grateful. The word 'often' is again important. Most of the people tend to be grateful for any help extended and may not really remember it but generally maintain a positive outlook.
Being a doctor sometimes one starts believing what your patients say, "Doctor is God". What keeps one on ground are certain reality checks that serve well to remind that one is very much a mortal being! Life, always comes with an expiry date and if one, as a doctor, is unfortunate to come in that line, it can be disturbing. When a doctor feels that he went out of the way to help without any selfish interest but still is at the receiving end because the outcome is adverse, it can really play havoc with whole psyche of a doctor. It can specially be so in diseases that have a poor prognosis. The same friend or relative, who at the time of initial diagnosis, considered the doctor as a God-sent angel, may look upon you as a devil as the disease worsens, and you struggle to help. Worse is when the patient ascribes the whole illness to be because of the failing doctor-friend. Though they don't say it but somewhere in their mind they hold you responsible for their illness, as you failed to cure them or get them cured. The negativity that generates may last for long, sometimes life-long! To objectively put up with that is the challenge. Not to let it affect your relation with other friends and lay patients is what separates chalk from cheese! Obviously, only a small number of situations will push the doctor against the wall but to let the effect also be small and not snow-ball itself into a mammoth trauma that can spoil the greatness of a physician is the trick. And for that it is important that the doctor keeps himself or herself happy and satisfied otherwise also. Then only one can really grow above such situations and maintain a psyche desired of a healing hand! It serves well to remember that a doctor is a human being capable of being wrong in very easy situations.
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