Rachel Clark with Naomi Jefferies, John Hasler and David
Pendleton
Radcliffe Medical Press,
£19.95, pp 142
ISBN 1 85775
906
0
Rating:
****
Interviewing
prospective medical students is a privilege. Although some who attend
interview show, through their attitude or unrealistic expectations,
that they are clearly unsuited, most hopeful applicants appear to be
caring, empathic young people with a genuine concern for others. All
medical schools now teach communication skills as an integrated part of
the curriculum. So why do so many people feel hurt and let down by
doctors attitudes when they are faced with the most frightening
and worst possible time of their lives—the diagnosis and ensuing
sequelae of a terminal
illness?
Rachel Clarks book
movingly and truthfully chronicles her dealings with medical, nursing,
and allied professionals in Sydney and then in London during and after
the diagnosis of a rare head and neck
cancer.
Rachel, and later her twin
Naomi, take the reader through the experiences of being a patient,
being given, and sometimes seeking, a bewildering array of options and
conflicting information, and yet not knowing which way to turn or what
to do with the answers. The loss of important scans, cancelling of
vital appointments, and the general confusion of where to go next are
themes that will be familiar to us all as professionals and users of
the health service. When cancer is diagnosed patients are linked into
several different professionals and agencies—multidisciplinary
working is essential in cancer and palliative care. But somebody needs
to conduct the orchestra. In the United Kingdom the obvious person to
carry out this role is the general practitioner, yet GPs are often
unintentionally sidelined. Many GPs may feel they have little to offer,
especially when things change so quickly and letters arrive so slowly.
Patients consumed by hospital appointments may not see the relevance or
have the energy to make yet another appointment with the
GP.
At the end of September the
BMJ is due to publish a theme issue on “what is a good
doctor and how can we make one?” What makes a difference to
patients when they are faced with a serious illness? Why are so many of
us perceived as indifferent, uncaring, or at times downright cruel when
patients so desperately need us to show care and
compassion?
A Long Walk Home
is an extremely well written book that may make many of us squirm with
discomfort. More importantly, it may make us stop and consider how we
would want our loved ones or indeed ourselves to be treated when faced
with any serious illness. Surely that is with understanding, kindness,
patience, and, dare I say, loving care?
