Sutured Dreams

Recently I had advised a friend to visit a nearby Taluk Hospital. Apparently, the doctor there was not only not helpful but also gave a mouthful of colourful words to boot. This behavior is not uncommon in our profession and over the past few months, I feel that I can hardly consider myself to be an exception to this problem. I had decided early in my practice that I did not want to be one of those doctors who needlessly scolds patients. But simply having good intentions is not enough to prevent compassion fatigue from creeping in. It’s a cultural problem. Only a couple of days back I had someone ask me half-jokingly why I needed a day off when I don’t have any family at home (thanks for that). While this comment was tongue-in-cheek, it is more or less along the lines of how most people think. I never realized before how good it is to have an excuse to take a day off (the most acceptable being usually family or religious reasons). Things like trying to recharge your mind is viewed