The Curious Scalpel

When patients see a doctor for anything other than a well checkup, they expect to end up with something . A prescription or test, perhaps. Any recommendation, even just an over-the-counter solution or dietary advice. What they don't expect is to hear "its not a problem" or "it'll be fine."  They may have spent time researching this issue they're experiencing, and certainly took time out of their day to come see the doctor (likely more time than the doctor thinks). They wouldn't do that if this wasn't a problem, right? Not always. Plenty of patients show up with complaints that are harmless, or may resolve on their own in the near future without any intervention. It's hard to offer the patient nothing but reassurance.  "It's going to be okay" is cheap (free) and may be true, but it's often challenged with "So what should I do about it?" or "Aren't you going to order any tests? What if it's...

When I see a patient with a horrible injury, as I did last week, I'm always reminded of the hit 70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors. I know of it peripherally, but never watched very much - it was cancelled almost a decade before I was born (editorial note: remind me to talk about older generations blaming younger generations for not knowing about the culture that preceded theirs). (Bonus editorial rant: $6M is a pittance compared to what it would REALLY cost today to rebuild a human to that degree. Even partially. $6M might cover part of the surgery and/or maybe part of the ICU stay. But you'd need to tack on a whole lot more to that tab, such as the nursing, the drugs, the anesthesiologist, the post-operative therapy... and who would pay for the dozens of administrators necessary to ensure quality, safety, reliability, and 17 other things that end in "-ty"?) Invariably, someone will jokingly refer to the most famous line from that show...