Great Construction

Doctors’ Evasions

     No matter how much effort they may devote to their patients, when the expected results do not materialize, the stock expressions doctors have at hand to use are those like “You don’t recover from your disease because of your constitution” and “Yours is an unusual case, only one in a thousand, maybe even one in ten thousand.” Indeed, such patients probably rarely do exist, but as we hear of doctors saying such things so often, it does seem odd. It could even be thought that these statements are only skillful evasions.
     Previously, I heard the following story. The doctor who said to his patient, “I don’t know what your illness is. Therefore, I can make no promises. If that is still all right with you, I will attempt an examination and treatment,” is known to be a very famous doctor. Indeed that is because he is both honest and conscientious. Most doctors, however, will not admit when they have no idea about a patient’s illness. They offer the most appropriate-sounding logic and pretend to understand. That is because if they spoke to patients the way the situation actually is, it will come to be that the doctor is not trusted, so such evasions could be said to be only inevitable because continuing in medical practice would not be possible. When you think about it, being a doctor is a difficult profession. That is because, as I always say, since medical science is mistaken, no matter how much effort is made, there is no reason that patients should be cured, so that the actual situation is that doctors like the famous doctor previously mentioned, are highly respected but also deeply loathed.
     In this vein, I once heard the reminiscences of a certain medical doctor. For example, suppose he had to call at a house and it was quite clear that the patient’s condition will have deteriorated, he would have to think about how to explain so that the patient and the family were persuaded. It also happened very often that he would have to make up a reason as to the cause of a death. He said these instances were the seeds of most of his worries, and I found his account most telling.  

Kyûsei, Issue 49, February 11, 1950
    translated by cynndd