Personal Essay: On Becoming a Physician and Human Communicator

534 Words2 Pages

“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line.” There is more to being a great physician than having intellect, clinical experience, and competence in the medical field. A doctor must be daring and genuinely driven to positively impact a patient’s life. A doctor needs stand tall, even in the face of uncertainty.
In December of 2010, my grandmother was diagnosed with a severe case of Mesothelioma. This news was incredibly overwhelming for my family because the oncologist said that the cancer had proliferated, and there was not much he could actually do. Later on, we found out she only had three more month to live. My grandma underwent chemotherapy for almost two months, but her condition worsened significantly. The oncologist demanded how her treatment plan would carry on, and never offered my grandma any choices. I wondered why my grandma was getting worse as the days went by. My fam...

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