Medical Series | Physical and Neurological Exams

Home | Contents | Search <previous page | next page>

Physical and Neurological Exams

PHYSICAL AND NEUROLOGICAL EXAMS

"An Artist in The University Medical Center"

Tulane University Press, N.O.La., l989

May H. Lesser

Without wanting to, I find myself involved in social issues. What value does our society place on treating all the sick? On preventing malaria or river blindness? I’m afraid the answer is: "Not much". Medical students need more financial aid; this medical center needs new machines, funds for research, more endowed chairs. One chairman says, "Our society shows a lack of concern toward the poor, the deprived, and the elderly. Doctors are part of the society; unfortunately, we sometimes behave one way to public patients and another way to private patients. Moreover, because our society looks down on dependency, it also looks down on the doctors who care for dependent patients---the economically depressed."

The administer in charge of emergency care describes the doctors and nurses who work there: "It takes a special type of individual to survive this environment. He or she needs to have a strong moral commitment to help others. In the emergency room you see patients who are very poor, people who sometimes have no other place to go. To survive, you can’t become hard. Instead, you have to say to yourself, ‘I’m going to treat these patients just the same as I would patients who live in nice houses and drive nice cars.’ That’s why I think this kind of self-motivation is tied to a person’s moral commitment. Maybe it fulfills a spiritual need."