Room For Examination by James Channing Shaw

Description

If there is one thing special about doctors, it is that society has granted us unique privileges. The license to probe the private lives and bodies of people is issued to no other group. If those privileges are not treated with the utmost respect, they can lead to tragic outcomes, prison sentences sometimes. I’ve known students who got accepted to medical school only to get expelled for cheating; I’ve known successful doctors who had their licenses suspended or revoked for alcohol or drug abuse, or for sexual abuse of patients. I’ve learned of elaborate cheating rings for the passage of specialty board examinations. I’ve watched doctors in leadership positions self-destruct because of their narcissistic exploitations of power. I’ve seen fraudulent behavior go unchecked. I’ve watched dermatologists lose malpractice suits because they went beyond their level of expertise, for financial gain. I’ve observed the cruelty of doctors toward patients, nurses, women colleagues and men colleagues.

This is the story of a medical career from my perspective as dermatologist, student, patient, teacher, father, husband, researcher and administrator. It is about the training I received on my path to becoming an expert in skin diseases. It is also about doctors, the medical profession, and the academic institutions in which many doctors work at some point in their careers.

Mostly, however, it is about the patients. Patients are at the mercy of doctors. All too often, outcomes or interactions are less than praiseworthy, for reasons as variable as the individuals themselves. This story explores behaviors, mostly by doctors, some by patients, some by me, which I ultimately viewed as less than praiseworthy. We can always do better.