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Patch Adams, Boundary Issues, + the Patient/Doctor relationship

posted 16 years ago by roidkthx
11 replies | jump to latest

i was just reading this article for psychiatrists about Boundary Issues, and the first thing i thought about after reading it was "this is telling doctors to leave their humanity at the door". It really reminded me of the cranky old School Dean in the Patch Adams movie who said "Our job is to rigorously and ruthlessly train the humanity out of you and make you into something better. We're gonna make doctors out of you. "

http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/54/4/517

The article basically says that you (as a doctor) should leave your humanity at the door, always keep your patients at arm's reach. After reading it, i prettymuch lost interest in a career in the mental health field.

Does it seem to you that this article is saying that Doctors should be the opposite of Patch Adams, and that building healthy human relationships (i'm not talking about romance/sex) with your patients is a BAD THING?

It seems to be completely the opposite of the message in Patch Adams, what do you think? Is Patch Adams wrong?

[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

Is Patch Adams wrong? He had to watch his roommate in the hospital suffer alone because nobody came to visit him and the doctors didn't treat him like a human being, just as a medical case.

Patch Adams defies what we know as the modern medicine field, and everybody loves him for it. There are those who argue with what he does but they're nuts. People DON'T want to go to a hospital just to be ignored for what they are and only be focused on what's wrong with them. They want a doctor who cares about THEM, who sees THEM as human beings, who KNOWS they count. You can hardly do that leaving humanity at the door.

Patch works with his patients, and in his whole career of over 40 years he has never ONCE had to prescribe any of his patients any tranquilizers or psychiatric drugs, not even NOW when those are about all a doctor knows how to solve the patient's problems. I don't know about others but I want a doctor like that, one who knows the answer isn't just fill them up with expensive pills and shut them up and ignore what they're saying.

People want a doctor who is going to listen to them, who is going to treat them like they count for something in this world, and if Patch is wrong for caring about his patients overall, how they feel, how they're being treated, how they're cared for, and not just if the treatment or cure is a success or not, then why would anybody want to be right?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

There's no confusion, it's very simple, regular doctor, heartless bastard who wants more money. People who spend so many years in school and LOSE all humanity, they don't just check it at the door, they completely forget how to relate to human beings. Patch Adams, a good doctor who will perform all his services to make his patients feel better overall about being in his care, for free. A man who defies everything modern medicine knows, and the majority commends him on that because HE is the doctor we want, somebody who cares about us.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

Have you EVER talked to the man? Have you EVER gone to the Gesundheit Institute to see how they work? Did you ever read his books? I didn't think so, YOU are the one being insulting to a man who CARES about his patients.

[–] Tekawitha 13 years ago

years ago, at a library book sale, i came across a copy of his first book, "Gesundheit"...and it was even autographed by him! i had already seen the movie, and was fascinated by the book. this was back around the late 90s, right after the movie came out, and i've had severe depression/PTSD (think Larry, but very minus the violence, just needing someone who cares like Patch). back then, Patch had a set up where supposedly doctors across the country, who agreed with his philosophy, would see patients free of charge, and treat you in the same way that Patch does.

Well, i contacted the Institute, and was given the address/phone of a doctor near us. i made an appointment, and went, anxious for this doctor to help me, so i could get off meds that made me hung over, sick, and didnt help. when i left, i was more depressed than when i went in...dark office, no one else around (like Carin, i had had a lifetime of abuse, and fear men), and here i was alone in an office with one, not even a secretary out front. i dont know how this man got on Patch's list of doctors who use his methods, because this guy was more like the shrink in the mental hospital, never really paying attention to me, and i was getting more and more afraid of him, the longer i was alone with him in that dark office, with no one else in earshot. when my husband picked me up, i was in tears, scared out of my mind, sitting on the curb-the shrink had just told me to leave when he got a call from a friend, so he sent me out, and there was no where to go to wait.

in the many years i've had to be treated, only one doctor ever came close to Patch's methods, and she was an intern at the Meninger Institute in Topeka,Kansas,who, when she was done, went to work with some Indian tribe in the Southwest. only she made me feel good, and did things with me, helped me find things that helped so that i needed less meds.

the only thing i've found that really helps are service dogs, i've had them for 10+ years, lost my last one last year, but trying to get another to train now.

~*~~*~

"Ooh!Pass the popcorn! This is gonna be good!"

[–] bujinbudoka 16 years ago

I used to work as a Psych Assistant at a hospital in town. I was encouraged by my supervisors to be close to the patients as we dealt with teenagers and young kids on a long term basis. We helped many of them and I believe as did the doctors who ran the place that it was because we treated them as family.
Not all doctors are like that....only some. I'm going to Nursing school now (BSN) and then I'm off to Medical School if I do well enough on the MCAT. I want to help people, and I agree with Patch in the movie, when did the title Doctor become so esteemed that we treat those with the title as though they are royalty? When did doctors become more than a trusted and learned friend who came to you in your time of sadness, sickness and need?

I don't do what I do for the money, I do if for the satisfaction of helping another human being.

God Bless,

Randall

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

"Patch Adams" was a nice movie. But that is a MOVIE, not real life. In real life I want doctors and nurses to be professional. They are not personal friends. My mother had an anesthesiologist who thought he was a comedian. I disliked his demeanor. If I want to hear a joke I will make one. It cracks me up me doctors and nurses pretend to be your friend. It is a farce because as soon as things go array they revert to a more professional demeanor. Patients need to realize their family and close friends are the ones who butter your bread. Doctors and nurses are healthcare professionals and should conduct themselves accordingly.

[–] corinnacarpenter 11 years ago

Thank you, jefgg. Very well put.

I sure as hell don't need or want a doctor who wears squeaky clown shoes.

STUCK IN THE SEVENTIES

[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

And my mother didn't need some stick up his ass quack who didn't listen when she told him not to sew her up with a material she was allergic to after her C-section, and for 6 months her stomach was swollen and bleeding and infected, and the oh so proper professionals told her it was all in her head and she wasn't allergic to it and they'd done nothing wrong and to leave the stitching in. A doctor like Patch would've listened and paid attention to that and been on the ball to making sure she DIDN'T get like that. People really need to wake up and get the memo, Patch Adams is not just about making patients laugh, he is about improving the quality of patients' lives and care, about treating patients as people, who matter, who aren't just a paycheck or a neurotic wasting his time.

[–] 11 years ago

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