CHOOSING A DOCTOR

Evening Star, Issue 18807, 4 December 1924, Page 9

CHOOSING A DOCTOR

POWER T© INSPIRE CONFIDENCE. Most people devote too little attention to the choice of a doctor (says the medical correspondent of ihe London ‘ Times ’). They wait till illness arrives, and then call in the nearest physician. It is a method flattering to the medical profession in general, but not very flattering to any particular member of it. Our fathers were more cautious. They had a rooted idea, now unhappily dying out, that good doctors, like good wives, were a matter of opinion. That is to say, they believed that what suits one individual docs not necessarily suit another. This is undoubtedly true. But its truth is not grasped unless w-o realise that at least half of the benefit to be derived from a. medical attendant is psychological. The same prescription, as is well known, is apt to prove more effective when written in Harley street than when written in a country village. And the difference is merely a matter of confidence. FAITH IN ONE’S PHYSICIAN. In our health, as in our business, wc live to a large extent on credit. It follows that the very first qualification of a family doctor is bis power to inspire belief in his capacity. If he possesses that power his patient will, other things being equal, fare much better than be could have fared in the hands of a doctor who aroused no enthusiasm. Ho will believe that his recovery is probable even when be is gravely ill, and so will mobilise all the forces of his body to bring it about. Further, his reliance on his doctor will prove a great comfort to his mind. It will prevent him worrying about himself, and so working himself up into a state of anxiety. But even a doctor who inspires confidence may be so lacking in other qualities that his selection is inadvisable. There was an idea in the Highlands of Scotland a generation ago that o.very really brilliant medical man was a heavy drinker. Tims one often heard that Dr So-and-So, in spite of, or because of, Lis awkward habits, was a man of almost supernatural skill.

This belief is really but a reflection of human nature, which likes to offset the failings of persons in authority by equally glaring virtues. Tims the bad-tempered popular idol is a lamb at home among his children, and so on. TEMPEMA.MEXTAL DEFECTS. The writer knows a doctor who never, in any circumstances, tolls his patients v.hat is wrong with them. Ono day a patient dared to inquire about Ids condition, whereupon the physician said that be could no longer attend the case, as it was evident that confidence in his judgment and ability was lacking. This inhuman attitude was “ counted for righteousness ” by an admiring circle. Nevertheless, it was not righteousness, but sourness of disposition. Wise people avoid doctors with such temperamental defects even when those doctors inspire, confidence. For always, sooner or later, a day arrives when the defect shatters the confidence. When that happens, if actual tragedy is avoided, the sense of disillusionment is so great that it requires a long time, to restore it. People who have been “ tel down ” in this way are very apt to develop belief in quacks and go in search of “false, gods.” An oven worse fate befalls them, however, when the doctor whom they have learned to trust becomes a faddist or oncidoa ma.n. In that event, as a rule, they Hud themselves, willy nilly, enrolled as members of some cult of healing with the very nature of which they are imperfectly acquainted. VIRTUE OF ORTHODOXY. It is a good rule to prefer an orthodox doctor, even though orthodoxy may be dull and may occasionally bo at fault. For, after all, orthodoxy is what the bulk of instructed people think, whereas the “ new idea, ” is held only by one man, who may or may not be a great pioneer. Ono must judge cases, of course, on their meiits, and must try not to damp the light of genius. But one cannot close one’s eyes to the truth that most of the “ wonderful doctors ” who become popular idols for a time turn out to be wonderful merely as persuaders of their fellows. The wonder lies in the fact that so many people are carried away by their eloquence of tongue *or manner. The orthodox doctor is safe, and safety, after all, is the first principle of clinical medicine. If wonder-workers are required they can bo called in later to consult. The family doctor is, or should be, an institution, not n.n experiment. Finally, one must like one’s doctor as a man, in addition to feeling confidence in and respect for him ns a physician. The idea that it is better not to bo on terms of social intimacy with him a wrong one, TJie practice of medicine in th.s last issue is the practice of humanity.