At the end of a very long clinic day I suspect few physicians can say candidly that they look forward to working through another patient's complaints. And yet, the patient is there in the late afternoon, expecting quality and personalized service. So I ask: Is it OK for a doctor to smile on the outside when they are thinking secretly to themselves "God I just want this person to be gone from my sight"? Is it acceptable to force a few jokes, feign interest in a kid's extracurricular sports activities, and smile charmingly (Proverbs 31:30) to the mother?
Where does discipline end and deception begin?
How traumatizing for a child might it be to have a pediatrician act the way he really feels all the time? But then again, how traumatizing for an adult might it be to recollect those smiles from his childhood pediatrician and realize that they were a superficial mask covering his pressing desire to be gone from the clinic, at home with his family, drinking a cold beer?
Obviously there are times when we are called upon to act in ways contrary to our desires of the moment. The noble term for this is discipline. The ignoble term, deception. In my short time in medicine thus far, I feel I have seen it in both forms, and struggle with an answer.
Perhaps that is the hidden appeal of a doctor like House -- we don't have to second-guess his smiles and wonder whether he only likes us because we are paying him. Surely this conundrum is not limited to the medical profession. And I suppose that is why we call it the medical profession.
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