Here's a Scary Thought: Doctor's Are Only Human

When I think of doctors, three types of bed-side manner come to mind.

1) Nice
2) Cold
3) Indifferent

Of course, there are subsets of these personalities, but these three comprise the make-up of most of our experiences with doctors.

Everyone loves the nice, warm, jovial doctor. Who wouldn't? Pleasant people rock. In any profession, the pleasant employee can get a lot accomplished by placating colleagues across various groups. And, when the pleasant employee has a bad day, which is just life, for the most part, it is completely acceptable. "Ah...Joe must be having a bad day," you might say, and then leave it at that.

Are doctors really any different? They are humans after all.

I'm starting to believe the answer is no. At least based on what I hear from my friends who tell me their stories of visits, or even calls to their doctors. "They were so indifferent when I told them I hadn't slept all night because of my headache," a friend once told me. And then he continued on to say, "doctors are so bad sometimes....but you won't be like that."

I've always felt super comfortable around doctors. Heck, one was my grandfather, so I saw from a very young age his human side. He got angry, he got sick, he laughed, he got cranky. In fact, he even slept from time-to-time, and in a real, human bed. I never saw him bleed, but I am 99 percent certain he was a human. I don't think a robot could tan like that.

There are some bad doctors out there, but most of them are just, well...human. They have bad days too. They get upset stomachs and headaches, and funny-enough, they even get grossed out sometimes by what you come into their offices to show them growing in your ear.

Then there are the exceptionally nice doctors, and to me, those are the doctors truly destined for the profession. I witnessed, recently, a doctor who had one of the best bed-side manners this side of a cupcake factory. The patients just melted in her presence and really worked hard on improving their lives for their next visit. She confessed to me later that she loves her job, but really never liked the sciences.

Then you have the science genius, who got all As in high school and college and didn't have the first clue on what to do with such a genius brain, so took the next best logical step, and went to med school. Twenty years later, Dr. Smarty Pants can become the emotionless doctor or the downright unpleasant doctor. Remember, he/she too started out life human, watched Different Strokes and played Connect Four just like you and me. So, like many humans, Dr. Smarty Pants can get depressed about the choices he/she made about becoming a doctor, or maybe it's the spouse they married or the town they live in. Just like other humans, life can wear them down.

Now, imagine being that human with the responsibility of other peoples lives in your hands, a broken health care system and a stomach ache from the pizza you ate the night before. Maybe it would be better if you weren't human.