August 9, 2010

• Patient Gifts

  I recently reached another significant marker in my career as a physician. I received my first gift from a patient.

   

  I have been following this lady with fibromyalgia since my first day as an intern. She is one of the few patients I see who I actually have any continuity with. And the reason for that is because like many fibromyalgia patients, she comes into the doctors office for an appointment approximately once a month for varying complaints. The kicker is that she has a fear of doctors, needles, and anything medically related in general, making her condition that much more onerous.

  Every visit would turn into a friendly argument. She would have a complaint, I would recommend tests, she wouldnt get them, I would lecture her about smoking, she would tell me politely to stuff it and so on and so forth. This particular visit started no differently, but about halfway through she took out a card and box and handed it to me.

  I hadn’t saved her life. I hadnt cured her of any disease. I hadn’t done any tests that led to a one in a million discovery and diagnosis. All I had done was lecture her every month for the last year on smoking, and provided the occasional prescription refill.

  The card was a simple thanks for understanding my fear and feelings, and attached to the gift was a tag addressed to Dr J from “A stubborn patient,” a humorous understatement at best. The gift was a small glass and gold bear with a stethoscope which now sits on my desk.

   

  I was touched. Several of my other doctor friends had told me during their intern year of receiving cards, cookies, gifts, etc from their patients and admittedly I was a little jealous at the time, wondering if either my patients were unappreciative of the efforts I expend to cure, treat, or sometimes just put up with them (hey, pobody’s nerfect) or if I was just an unlikeable or interchangeable doctor. And to receive a gift from a patient who I not only had not made an extra effort to be friendly to, but instead has treated slightly paternalistic as I saw her repeatedly for similar complaints…

  …well, I guess I should stop trying to guess what people want from me, and just do what I think best. It seems to be working out pretty well thus far.

  -Dr J

  • 2:56 pm
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