Doctors are important in culture

His grandmother was bedridden with muscle aches. Howling could be heard through the wall. She claimed that nothing helps. But a family friend recommended a specialist who was said to be able to cure any disease in just three days. Mom decided to give it a try. Later the same day, the famous doctor emerged from the hunting cart with the doctor’s bag in a tight fist under his arm. He was tall and stately, and his whole being radiated self-confidence. But something was wrong: The doctor’s nose was red and he was constantly apologizing for coughing into his arm. After examining the old lady, he concluded that, unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done. They paid him, and he sped off. A few days later the family caught a cold. When the doctor found out, he laughed at the ridiculous misunderstanding that it was him who had hit them. However, the mother was more explicit.

“Doctors carry their patients’ snot with them, as in a sack,” she said, sighing.

The scene was reproduced in Marcel Proust’s (1871-1922) novel “På espaning after den tid som flytt”. Proust was the son of a doctor and another brother. Perhaps that explains his contradictory relationship with the guild. On the one hand, he was unhealthily drawn to healthcare and often sought to develop friendships with his caregivers. He was actually very ill, a circumstance that did not improve due to the fact that he also had real illnesses, asthma being the most prominent. For longer periods, he also maintained a diet consisting only of croissants and café or with milk, which hardly contributed to his health.

On the other hand, Proust seems to have found the social standing of physicians undeservedly high. In “På espaning…” doctors are often portrayed as silly and sometimes just crooks. The most common of them, Dr. Cotard, is a form of fraud who does not know how to behave in social life. Among other things, the author mocks a custom that also occurs among today’s doctors, which is to use their specialized language in a joking manner on a daily basis. For example, Cottard describes a summer’s day as “extremely hot” and then is surprised when no one else laughs at the ridiculous choice of words.

I thought to myself of Proust’s portrayal of the medical profession some time ago when I was reading Svenska Dagbladet. Lena Anderson praises Agatha Christie’s writing there in one of her op-eds (“Welcoming Change in the Perspective of Criminals”). As one of Christie’s main strengths, Anderson highlights her skeptical image of the medical profession. I share Anderson’s point of view and find it unfortunate that our professional group is presently so absent from the literature. After all, art and literature contribute to society’s self-understanding, and in our culture doctors are among those of the highest status. Therefore, we must also be scrutinized not only by journalists but also by writers.

This is especially important because people listen to doctors not only on medical matters. For example, I was once asked to decide whether or not a patient should get a divorce.

Once you put on the red badge, many people seem to see you as a teacher of wisdom rather than a specialist in a particular field, as one might consider an engineer, mechanic, or physicist. I do not necessarily mean that this view is illogical. After all, working with patients and suffering provides a unique experience that can certainly be a guide in many cases, not least when you have been in the profession for a long time. However, the fact that cognition is so widespread makes it very important to take a closer look.

Therefore, I demand many amusing – and preferably highly critical – images of us in the medical profession. Let’s hope my wish comes true.

Medical Journal 38-39 / 2022

Lakartidningen.se 2022-09-21