When Doctors are the Patient

R. Kltzman 2013

ABSTRACT

Study entitled “when doctors are the patient” is interactions that physicians who are also
patients report having with their physicians. to provide a better understanding of the
complex relationships between physicians and patients by highlighting the unique
situation of the sick doctor, with a focus on power, dignity, denial, errors, guilt,
communication, authority, professional boundaries, dependency, emotional distance,
and the interpretation of numbers

METHOD

After experiencing a life-changing but fortunately brief illness, Robert Klitzman, a

psychiatrist, interviewed 70 patients, and he presents their reactions to being on the
other side of the medical divide.

RESULT

Any physician who has had the misfortune of having a serious disease will recognize
the reactions, emotions, frustrations, and rewards that are expressed by those who
were interviewed.The research found out that physicians when they become patients,
issues of self-identity and professional responsibility, and issues of blurred boundaries
between patients and physicians and between professional and personal thoughts and
actions.

CONCLUSION

the overriding conclusion is that a profound understanding of what it means to be a

patient can be gained by listening to physicians who have become ill. The answer
comes into acute focus when physicians are faced with their own illness and all its
physical, emotional, philosophical, professional, financial, moral, spiritual, and ethical
complications.
References:

Janet R. Gilsdorf, M.D. Robert Kltzman University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Copyright © 2018
Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. Electronic ISSN 1533-4406. Print ISSN 0028-4793.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1054/NELMbkrev59639