- Please refer the patient to other doctor or hospital if you couldn’t find what is wrong with ur patient. Remember, you are not perfect. You have to admit that sometimes you couldn’t diagnose the patient. You have to bear in mind that the patient might present with atypical presentation in which you might miss the diagnosis. If you are a responsible doctor, then you should refer the patient. Your referral might save the patient life.
- Do your job before being asked by the patient. Make sure you write the confirmation letter about the disease before you being asked to do so by the patient. It is your job. You are the one who should inform the patient about it. You should be knowledgable about the medical policies. You should be informed about the exceptions (e.g. medical leave), the aids (e.g. money) or the subsidy that the patient should get once they have been diagnosed with the disease. You should seek the information if you are not informed with it. You are the one who should make the life of the patient easier, not to make it become more difficult. If you cannot help to cure the patient, at least what you could do is to help as much as you can.
- Make sure you understand your job as a doctor is to treat the patient, not to cure them. Treatment is always there eventhough the patient is in the terminal stage of a disease. Because the meaning of treatment is to care and manage the patient. Thus as long as the patient is alive, they should be treated well. There should be no role of give up in your life if you understand your job very well. To cure the disease is the right that only belongs to the GOD. Therefore, you should give your best to treat the patient because your job is treat them, not to cure. If you encounter incurable disease, then you should never give up because you still have to treat them. It’s their right to receive a treatment from you and it’s your duty to treat them. As for cure, it is all depend to the GOD to cure them. The only thing that we can do is to do what we can (ikhtiar) and pray (tawakkal).
Since I was a child, the word of ‘doctor’ is so synonym with me. It was not only for me, but for my mum and my younger brother too. Hospital became like a playground for our family. Being treated by Dr Chin, a pediatrician, I was so inspired to become one. For me, doctor is the nicest and the kindest person in the world. She talked nicely, concerned and cared about me as her patient. It was the impression that she left to me. It was what a doctor means to me when I was a child. However, after gone through such bad experiences lately, my impression toward the doctor changed 100%. Now I wonder, who is a ‘doctor’ actually?
What is exactly the job of a doctor? To treat or to cure? In Malay, ‘treat’ means ‘merawat’ while ‘cure’ means ‘menyembuhkan’. A doctor should be a person who treats the patients, not the one who cures them. Doctor has no power to do so. Whether it is as mild as URTI or as severe as terminal stage of cancer, it is only God who cured them. It is only God who decides which one will live longer, the one with URTI or the one with cancer. It is not impossible for the URTI patient to get pneumonia and later died. And it is also not impossible for the cancer patient to become completely healthy later.
How could u give up when the patient is not yet give up? Even if the patient is give up, shouldn’t it be ur responsibility to pull out their spirit? As a doctor, u are the one who should encourage them. But what happen now is vice versa. Instead of encouraging them, doctor becomes the one who discourage them. If u give up earlier, then how could the patient won’t give up? It is a very shameful for u to give up even before u start treating the patient. Don’t u think so?
It is not that we give false hope to the patient. And it is not that we can’t accept the fate. Whether it is due to the disease or unknown cause or sudden, all of us know that one day we will die. It is only a matter of early or late. Whether u just wait for the death to come to u or u live fullest until the death come, it is all the patient’s choice. But then, if the doctor gives up before even start the treatment, can u imagine what will happen to the patient? U may not actually say so, but the patient can read it thru ur action. Once the patient loss their hope, then their body would die earlier eventhough they are still breathing normally.
Did u know why the patient like traditional healer more than a doctor? Firstly, it is because the traditional healer always listens to the patient. They always have the time for them, unlike the doctor. It is what u always heard from the lecturer when u asked them the question. But bear in mind as it is not the only reason actually. The second reason is because they never give up. It doesn’t matter whether the patient come to them ambulated by themselves or confined to bed, they will treat them equally. It is a shame to us because it is a doctor who should have the quality actually.
If I ask u, I bet all of u would say that of course our job is to treat, not to cure. But then, did u act like the one who treat? Or, did u act like the opposite? When u said that the patient is already in the terminal stage thereby nothing can be done anymore, it reflect that u are acting like the one who cure, not the one who treat. Treatment should always be there even when the patient is coma or nearly death. Bcz according to medical dictionaries, treatment means to manage and care of patient. Thus, as long as u understand what is treatment mean, whether it is a mild or severe disease, or simple or complicated disease, treatment would always be there.
As a doctor, ur job is treat the patient the best u can. U should do as much as u can till the patient’s last breath. Once u understands that ur job is to treat the patient, not to cure them, then there will be no role of give up in ur dictionary. It is exactly what the doctor should be.
