Saturday, December 31, 2005

Why it sucks to be a doctor





To start with, nobody likes me. Mothers pray day and night for their sons never to meet me. If any of your friends or family heard you are visiting me at my office, they'll be concerned and if they heard you have to see more doctors, they'll freak out.

All people hope to never see me near the end of their life. They wish to die suddenly in their sleep, or from a sudden heart attack or a car accident or a plane crash or even be suddenly killed in a terrorist attack than to die slowly with me around, no matter how much care and effort I'll be trying to provide to people. All the prayers focus that my face won't be the last thing people will see before they die. Even I feel sorry for people who die that way.

People think I'll be damn rich not knowing that when I'll turn thirty I won't be having a single shilin in my pocket, let alone not be in debt.

When I eventually ask people for money for their visits, they'll talk about the inhumane doctor who works for money, but they have no problem in paying ten times that amount of money to watch Hayfa Wahbi shaking her body.

It's almost impossible for men to miss an invitation to lunch or an important sport match, and rarely do ladies miss their appointment with a hairdresser, but when it comes to missing a doctor's appointment that's perfectly ok. Who hasn't ever missed a doctor's appointment for God's sake?

I see people dying from terminal disease yet have to answer them when each asks "When will I get better?"
I see old people left alone to die and worse I see their families showing up once they do telling me I could have prevented his death from the cancer that has eaten his body.

I see women getting divorced when they lose one breast and children being beaten almost to death and young girls being impregnated by their father.

Unlike other people, if my patient cusses me and my family I have to ask about what's bothering him- and for readers don't think of cussing bcoz I'll kick your ass ;) I can spend the whole night trying to stabilize one patient and next morning when he wakes up he'll carry his bag and walk away saying how bad he was treated because because the water in the shower wasn't too warm or the food didn't have enough salt.

Even if people didn't pay a penny for their health care they usually won't look for a way to thank you, but a way to sue you. They smoke for 50 years and drink and are one human being overweight however they blame me they got a heart attack.

If you see a doctor smiling, he's not necessarily happy. It's only part of his job.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

RRH, are you having a bad day? Your forgot two...when you get back to Amman and set up a practice, all the other Drs and Dentists will come for free treatment! Also, every relative will see you as the rich uncle to finance their every whim, not understanding your school debts and mal-practice insurance eat up 75% of yuor income, and clinic costs taking another 20%

Here is another side: Drs helped keep my children alive in utero, allowed me to be a mother due to their surgical skill, innoculated them against diseases that kill, come to the hospital in the middle of the night when fevers rage or ovarian cysts rupture, make sure hubby and I start getting checked for all those cancers that seem to appear after 40.

I THANK GOD for you, and all Drs. May God bless you, Faras, with a tender heart toward your patients, good boundaries with the bad ones. May you prosper, paying off all debts quickly, and become Amman's new darling when you come home to practice. Hang in there!

Anonymous said...

Salamaat min el-Doha!
(warning.... long comment ahead!)
Just like the best of the websites I discover... I came accross the Jordan Planet site while googling for something totally different.
El mohem, I smiled to what you previously wrote (although I thought there was too much information sometimes regarding your kalaseen!) however, I was really happy to know that you are in Tucson, I spent some really good time there during my masters. I am now in Doha,Qatar. Tucson is the kind of place you need to get used to in order to appreciate, especially for people like us who come from another kind of desert and look for something much more greenish... well, other things kaan feeha (tarawah) around campus and compensated perfectly ;)
I went to the UofA 1999-2001 and stayed at a studio off of Park and Grant .My studio faced North so I always abserved the mountains and how they formed differently as shade changes. Winter time in tucson is the best weather I have ever seen! Something I miss so much. I only stayed in the states for about three years, but long enough to learn that in spite of all that is known about usa... living there for this long was so insightful and made me appreciate so many things I never took notice of, I picked up so many social and professional skills and I became sensetive not just to other people's culture, but also to my own!
bikaffi falsafeh lahone tara elwa7ad mish nagso...sa7?
one I thought to share and pushed me to comment... to share since you are a doctor... I was a few days away from leaving AZ, I have graduated and finished and was about to Head for TX where I have family and thought I would work there and call it a life!... Plan 'B' is the story of my life... and I ended up where I am now as a result of PLan 'C'. I still have hope that Plan 'D' would apply and I end up somewhere across any of the oceans for some time! elmohem... one very cold night around this time of year, just past midnight, I hear a bang on my door, I open it and the shigfeh next door is looking at me very madly and fell right on my door step! she barely had something to wear... (this story will not end as you might think, It would have if I were shofeir taxi fallamji!)... elmohem... yakhouk ou hal-shigfeh started crying and shouting then her eyes turned blood red... then started to throw out chunks of pills! I knew that this was a cry for help, so 3assaree3 I dialed 911 and the police came before an ambulance! and started asking me question, right after sept 11 was the worst time so look like, or sound like or even know a middle eastern! the police man saw an argeeleh in my place (which I bought from New Jersey and it was cheaper than Amman!)... and he had me explain to him what it was...the story goes on and so many things came up... eventually everything came out perfect.
Why am I telling you all of this? I have no idea! maybe deep inside I advise you to make the best out being anywhere on earth, be open minded (this goes for everybody else reading this ofcourse!) and welcome new places and faces, I have left in Tucson (and elsewhere) truly wonderful people, I know... it is a small world... so my final word would be a couple of advice...
1- It is a very small world... a very good reason to be nice!
2- Keep them clean those underwear... just in case of an accident!
good luck to you, and enjoy the california borrito from LosBitos.
PS: Some of the mexican food looks the same wether you cook it, chew it, throw it up or whatever **** you make of it, if you want to enjoy mexican food, either have on the south side where it is very cheap (make sure you are covered with health insurance) or drive up North and waste a considerably amunt of money... OR... enjoy the chicken and California borrito from and only from Los Bitos! I jused to love it although everybody else though it was horrible... it must be my stomach with all the history of stuff we ate as children and still do!
I warned you it was going to be a long email, didn't I?
salaam,
signed,
me!

Dar said...

Why i had never found someone who tell me that b4 i entered med schoooool :( , one more thing , this job is SO-VERY demanding

Roba said...

Haha good one Hareega!
I am amongst those people who would rather lose an arm and a leg rather than go to a doctor! I utterly despise them.

Anonymous said...

Well Hareega
Watching ER, Chicago Hope, Strong Medicine and now your post have helped me to see you (doctors) from a different perspective.
I don't have any emotions towards doctors, neither love them nor hate them, however; I do respect them and the effort they put in each patient.
I needed doctors, still do, and will always need them to stabilize my carelessness about my health, the rest is to God.
But cheer up, as there some people out there who do appreciate you and what you do

Happy New Year

Anonymous said...

Yaa 3ala albii..
Kooooool had shayloh bi albaak?!
Fadfed yaa khoy fadfed!
;)
U didn't mention anything about the nurses!!!!

Dakhiiil el ER ana o dakhiiiil George Clooney in the white rock... and the blue and green one too!

Anyway... the best part of being a doctor is that Ur mother will get to say: IBNI DAKTOR! And U will get her blessings. That's enough!

Great post Mr.Fire!

((1- It is a very small world... a very good reason to be nice!)) >>> 3ajbatni!

Hareega said...

salam... thanx for ur support, some doctors really die in debt and some of them do not do well and some of them belong to th so-caled middle class. But if the effort somone puts in becoming a good doctor is put in another profession, he's get much more rich and famous at a younger age.

My mother is proud of me exactly the same as my 3 other siblings and none of them is a physician!

ipviously you don't have to be a doctor to be proud of yourself :D

kinzi.... thanx a lot for your supporting words :) yes i'll return to Amman eventually. I \'m not in debt but most of my colleagues are, some have 150,000 dollars to pay!!

Arizona man... thanx a lot dude for your reply, as you said winter here is awesome and people are nice and easy going. Grant and Park... hatha farket ka3eb 3an a pakistani restaurant which i really like! nseet esmo

Darwish nobody told me ana kaman! good luck anyway!

Roba.... hopefully you'll never lose any limb :)

Khlaidah, i'm also careless about my health, but i feel sick from some people who blame the doctors for any health problem they get.
Hope you'll stay healthy.

Vimto.... hehe well my mom i proud of me but as i told salam she's proud of me just like my other siblings none of wom is a doctor, it's all about the effort you put in life and not what career do you have

Anonymous said...

A fantastic blog yours. Keep it up.
If you have a moment, please visit my used car west palm beach site.
I send you warm regards and wish you continued success.

Anonymous said...

Pretty good reasons, but let me put one great reason why it's good to be a doctor (and it's not the girls you easily get): you can auto-prescribe generic viagra ! Isn't it great?
Sincerely: Dr. Guy Hardy