As someone who aspires to become a physician someday, I may have what some of you might consider a biased and incredibly naive perspective on this topic of discussion, so here I go with more than a little trepidation....
What makes us respect certain people? It's a combination of attributes, namely, if that person has a lot of knowledge or expertise in any given field, if he has power or is in a position of power, if he is emotionally mature due to having successfully overcome difficulties in life and career, if he is committed to others, and if he has a lot of money. And who are people that we respect? Professional athletes, firefighters, policemen, teachers, Nobel Prize winners, scholars, humanitarians, philanthropists, astronauts, the President...we can all think of someone we respect who possesses at least one of those attributes.
But physicians enjoy the luxury of possessing not just one or two, but every single one of those characteristics, in addition to something that in my opinion cements their place at the top of the societal food chain: trust. Whether genuinely or just out of necessity, people trust physicians to take care of their aches and pains. In more severe circumstances, they trust physicians to keep them alive. They trust physicians to be confidential with their personal information. Because of the weight of responsibility that they carry, it seems only natural that physicians be held in high regard. On the downside, this leads them to be perceived as being infallible. Here's an excerpt from Body of Work which I think explains this phenomenon nicely:
"Here in medicine, because failure and weakness can cost people their lives, it is unacceptable to fail; it is unacceptable to be weak. Admission of either makes one seem unfit for the lofty charge....Doctors stay up thirty-six hours at a time and subsist on vending machine fare. They perform emergency surgery while others sleep. They maintain composure when the baby is lodged wrong in the birth canal, when the bone breaks through the skin, when the face is unrecognizably burned away. Part of this comes from necessity. But the problem arises when instead of setting aside our natural reactions, they are denied altogether. Then the culture simply becomes superhuman." (Montross)
(Digression: For anyone interested in going into medicine, or just interested in human anatomy in general, Body of Work by Dr. Christine Montross is an amazing book on the "meditations of mortality.")
I think in that sense, it's easy to forget that doctors are also regular people. They're not always model citizens, much less superhuman. They can be greedy and arrogant. But that doesn't necessarily cancel out the fact that they are good at their jobs, that arrogance can be born out of experience, or that their intentions are not in the right place.
For example, Dr. Bernard Kouchner (a fascinating person, in my opinion), is a French gastroenterologist who has been widely criticized as being a blunt, abrasive, opinionated, quick-tempered man. The Economist has described him as being "hard to work with...vain and media-obsessed." And yet, Dr. Kouchner has a resumé many can only dream of attaining. He is one of the core founders of Médecins Sans Frontières (better known in English-speaking territories as Doctors Without Borders), and Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World). He is an outspoken advocate of humanitarian intervention, and has thrice served as the French Minister of Health. He may not win any congeniality prizes, but he has demonstrated incredible compassion for others, and--face it--he gets things done. With that being said, even an arrogant physician will still command a lot of respect.
(Despite his level of expertise, would you willingly seek an arrogant doctor out for help? Maybe not. Which brings us to the debate of Good Doctor versus Bad Doctor, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.)
Back to the trust thing, why are physicians trusted more than other healthcare professionals? Take nurses, for example. A patient might tell the nurse that he has a headache, but then confide in the doctor that he actually came in to see about the rash on his butt. Why is that? (I don't really have an answer, though personally I am very fond of nurses and think that they definitely deserve a lot more appreciation and recognition.) Something unique to physicians is that they are able to forge strong relationships with their patients, even though they may not see each other very frequently. That one time you went in to get stitches? Hey! It was a bonding experience. Your doctor got to know you. He got to know your family. He helped you, showed that he was on your side, and in doing so, became part of your team. Sure, you're not going to hang out with your doctor on a regular basis, but the next time something happens to you, there's a strong feeling of dependability--you'll go back to see him again. And that is a relationship that's rarely forged with any other professional. The nurse who took your vitals in the morning will not be the same nurse who takes your vitals in the evening. The doctor who took care of my aunt when she had breast cancer remained with us for more than ten years.
What about dentists? Here, again, I confess to be biased (being the daughter of a dentist and all). On the whole, they're not hated, exactly. Feared is more like it. I blame the strange, scary noises the dental instruments make. As a result, though you rely heavily on your dentist to take care of your teeth, you'll never trust him 100%. Have you ever gone to the dentist's office, heard someone moaning/screaming/crying/praying in the depths and immediately wanted to run as far away as possible? Something evil's got to be going on in there. Dentists = sadists. Is it any wonder, then, why we tend to wait until all our teeth corrode and implode before we (grudgingly) call to make an appointment?
So, then, physicians seem to be unopposed in their position at the top of the professional hierarchy. Is that position deserved?
I cannot say that they don't deserve to be respected. I can list off the top of my head a few physicians I'd like to throw down the stairs, but I can name just as many (more, even) who I admire and emulate. Nor can I say that physicians are the only ones who deserve to be highly respected. But instead of lobbying for equal respect for all professionals, it is more pragmatic to utilize physicians' current social position to enact more positive and progressive changes in the quality and efficacy of healthcare services being delivered. Instead of remaining an independent entity, physicians ought to be more aware of their role in the healthcare system overall. They need to realize, or be trained to realize, that because they are trusted leaders among laymen, they are not just healthcare providers but communicators as well. In this way, medicine can evolve from a two-dimensional field into something more all-encompassing.
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