A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
-George Bernard Shaw
Pessimism never won any battle.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
nihilism: an extreme form of skepticism; nothingness; nonexistence; an approach to philosophy that holds that human life is meaningless; skepticism as to the value of a drug or method of treatment (cf. therapeutic nihilism)
When it comes to cancer care I suspect you can count on one hand the number of nihilists in this country who are also oncologists. You could probably find a higher number of the proverbial one-legged winners of butt-kicking contests. Speaking from experience, you just can't be a nihilist and care for people who are desperately sick, often fatally stricken, if for no other reason than you'll starve from lack of work. Nobody wants a creep for a physician. Why then do some doctors harbor black feelings about their professional obligations?
I'm not talking about the delusion of denial, where in order to minimize their own psychological distress doctors refuse to admit that their treatment has failed, so as to avoid having to discuss this with their patients. I'm referring to the bizarre phenomenom of doctors who look upon certain illnesses as unworthy of the time, effort and expense involved in fighting them.
So we haven't cured cancer yet, nor diabetes, coronary artery disease, depression or alopecia androgenica (actually there is a cure for that but it is too gruesome to mention in mixed company). Does this mean we should let a scowl be our umbrella? Message to all doctors in the clincial practice of medicine: Cheer up! Stop radiating the barren aura of gloom when speaking to patients. They know they're sick and don't need you to orate on their parlous circumstances.
Wise doctors accept the grim reality of mortal illness that when it's over, it's over. None should be under an obligation to propagate any illusion to the contrary, but until that sad day arrives, it sure makes patients' lives more enjoyable if they know their doctor follows at least one of the many bits of advice the father of modern medicine engendered:
"Courage and cheerfulness will not only carry you over the rough places in life, but will enable you to bring comfort and help to the weak-hearted and will console you in the sad hours."
-Sir William Osler
Up next: Hypocrisy, or Falling in Love with Janus
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See, and I thought that was just rudeness on their part. I never would have considered that as an attempt to protect themselves from emotional harm.
Orac - Almost every practitioner of woo capitalizes on precisely the "courage and cheerfulness" recommended by Osler. The problem is that courage and cheerfulness is all they've got to offer. So, as a nihilistic addendum to the quote from Osler, I propose... "This is so, even if none of your proffered therapies have a chance in hell of being effective."
Sorry about that Craig. I need another cup of joe.
bob koepp - I agree with you that none (or essentially none) of the therapies offered against cancer by Dr. Osler had much of a chance of being effective. Of course, one hundred years later the infernal regions are much more friendly toward anti-cancer treatments.
Also, for more info about the dangers of drinking coffee go to:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&do…
oh my yes marshal the resources against cancer, diabetes, m.s.! they are the worthy afflictions for the war. but, acne? how drole, let them suffer. it's all about burnout in various degrees.
"I'm referring to the bizarre phenomenom of doctors who look upon certain illnesses as unworthy of the time, effort and expense involved in fighting them."
Ahhh, it is always refreshing to see things from your pov. I hadn't even considered that, but how true.
Linked to this. Liked this whole series. I think many medical folks are more comfortable with giving patients false hopelessness than false hope because we are blind to how destructive that is to a patient.