The Business of Pet Therapy.

Mahesh* is a 49 year old former site foreman in a road construction company. He is well built and handsome. He came to the clinic as a part of his annual check up. From his looks he didn't need any.

However his past medical history was a shocker. One harsh summer afternoon, seven years back, he was found comatose at a  road construction site by his colleagues.

Dr. Machine, M.D.

The other day I met with a professor who teaches computer chip design amongst other things. He is from a generation who has also lived comfortably in an age without the internet and mobile phones.

The professor was a multi-disciplinary person and his interests were thus wide ranging. He wanted to inquire about how doctors take to technology in their professional lives. 

He asked me if I was comfortable using more and more technology in my practice, and if so how far I would go with it.

Why is the patient a patient?

The answer to the question in the title of this post is almost always very evident as soon as one sees the patient. He or she is sick and needs help to cope with the sickness or illness and get on with life.

There could be other reasons as well: fear of suffering, seeking relief in a manner better than what is being offered now (second opinion), seeking reassurance and so on. Almost always there is a child like need that has to be addressed by the doctor when seeing a patient.

In being a patient, it is assumed by the doctor that the patient is not there to increase her suffering. It is also inconceivable that the patient has any malicious intent in presenting to the doctor.

An exception to such a generalization is any work-related health issue: here there is some psychological game playing going on,sometimes subconsciously. I have rarely seen any malicious intent in a domestic setting.

Sometime back a lady in her mid forties started consulting me