What makes your doctor cry
Although it hasn’t happened more than a couple of times in my medical career, I can clearly remember the first time I cried in front of a patient. I was a medical student and had just witnessed the birth of a child for the very first time.
The baby cried. The mother started to cry. The father looked at me and I looked at the father – both of us were thinking “men don’t cry”. Moments later we were washing that macho stuff away with tears of joy, relief and (since it had been a long night) exhaustion. It didn’t matter.
Doctors are brought up to be professional, not to become emotionally involved, almost to distance themselves from their patients. However, not getting emotionally involved doesn’t mean not showing emotion.
Like anyone else doctors feel happy when good comes their patient’s way and feel sad when things don’t turn out right. There are times when a doctor may feel he or she wants to share in the joy or sadness that his or her patient is feeling and to show this. It’s often something that strengthens the all important doctor-patient relationship. The fact that the doctor feels able to demonstrate his or her feelings lets a patient know that their doctor is only human after all.
When I look back to the only other time my emotions water-falled out of control I was desperately trying to be a tower of strength for my patient who’d just lost her husband. As I came close to biting a chunk out of my lip she saved me from permanent damage and gave me permission when she said, “It’s OK doctor, he knew how much you cared”.