The Doctor Essay
In the movie The Doctor, the main character Dr. Jack McKee, got a taste of his own medicine. He attended to his patients in an inappropriate and unprofessional manner. One of his patients complained how her husband and her are losing their relationship, Dr. Jack McKee responded that the staple on her chest scar made her look like a playboy centerfold and that her husband would love that. He was impersonal and cold hearted towards his patients and his family. He works long hours and is never home.
One time Jack went home unexpectedly , his wife was astonished and called on their son to greet him. Instead of running to embrace him, he grabbed the phone, thinking that his father called him like usual.
His life went downhill after discovering he was diagnosed with cancer. Because of his diagnoses, Jack had to be treated and instead of being the doctor, he had to be the patient. When he became the patient, he saw how being a patient was grueling.
Long waits, inundation of paperwork, the facing of cold and impersonal doctors, and the encounter with another cancer patient June Ellis, practically opened Jack’s eyes and convinced him to be a better doctor
. June saw how Jack was suffering with the news of his cancer and talked to him, bonded with him, and convinced him to be a better doctor by showing care to his patients and a better person to people by not lying and a better husband to his wife.
With this change of heart, he also abandoned his longtime partner in a malpractice suit because he knows that his partner was cruel to his patient and in no way helped the patient.
Also as his cancer progressed and his ENT continued to show a cold, impersonal manner towards him and her other patients, he fired her. After the firing of his ENT, Jack needed a surgery on his throat and asked Dr. Eli/ The Rabbi, who he used to tease, to operate on him. He chose Dr. Eli because he knew that he cared for his patients and did not show any ill bedside manner like the other doctors. After his surgery which was successful, Jack taught some interns and instead of teaching them by making them watch surgeries or do rounds, he made them take the shoes of a patient to show what patients undergo everyday by doctors who don’t care or are cold. He wanted to teach them to be better doctors.
This doesn’t affect my views or aspirations to become a doctor but it does inspire me to become a better doctor who will always treat my patients with the most care I can offer them and to never treat them in any cold and impersonal behavior.
