Patients From Hell

The title of this book, Patients from Hell, may seem a little controversial to some, since doctors are supposed to empathize always and sympathize frequently with their patients. The name does not mean that I see my patients as demonic or deliberately evil. Instead, my intent is to show how the natural differences in personality and lifestyle can make a physician’s life a life of hell at times. People’s choices in life create their problems and their good in many ways. If I can show others how those choices create problems or good, it is possible they may be able to correct those choices and live healthier, happier lives.

            Additionally, I want to explain that I entered the profession to heal people. Many times healing people involves helping them to change their lifestyles in a way that will enable them to be healthy and happy. I firmly believe that most physicians enter the profession largely for that reason. We sometimes become discouraged and cynical when it seems it is an uphill battle to achieve health and happiness in people because of the natural obstinacy of the human race. This creates frustration in my mind and the minds of most physicians. This is a major source of mental struggle for all physicians and particularly family practice physicians such as myself. We, in particular, are charged with practicing preventive medicine and treating the “whole patient” including all their diseases and social and psychological dysfunctions. The patients’ stories told in this book are not intended to demean or belittle anyone or to minimize their sufferings. The mental struggles I and other physicians go through to help people that are resistant to that help are a form of “hell” that few if any other professionals have to deal with but we face on a daily basis.

            Many patients’ diseases and conditions are not of their own making and this book is also not intended to suggest that all patients are dysfunctional. We are all victims of human frailties caused by many circumstances, some of which are beyond our control. Genetics, environment, habits, family associations, friends, and our workplaces are some of the many things that make us who we are. Many of these circumstances are beyond our control, but the way we handle them is usually within our control. One of my aims in this book is to help people see how others may have mishandled their circumstances and prevent them from repeating those mistakes.

            None of this is meant to portray myself or other physicians as perfect and above the problems that plague the rest of mankind. The reality is that I, like all physicians, have many frailties and flaws that lead to disease and dysfunctional lives. I have made many mistakes in my own life. Sometimes we see physicians as godlike individuals that work some sort of magic in people’s lives to heal them. But we are people like anyone else, blessed with the gift of being able to heal others with our own knowledge and, above all else, the knowledge of all past generations of physicians.

            Additionally, I want to say that the stories compiled in this book generally cite no names. The facts of the stories are real, however. They are not embellished, but written as my memory recalls them. Most of the stories are about a single patient, though some may be an aggregate of the hellish circumstances enveloped in several cases. Also, I hope that these stories will be entertaining. If some of them make you laugh, cry, or contemplate applications to your life, then I have achieved a significant goal. Most people do not get to see many of the extreme circumstances that we physicians deal with and I think this book will be an eye-opening experience for many.

            Finally, medicine is an art, not a science, though we use science diligently in the practice of medicine. Learning to practice medicine successfully is an ongoing process that never ends. I frequently tell patients that every one of them is different and their response to disease or illness is going to be different than others in some way. Often, the presentation of disease is very different than the way textbooks describe, in that one patient will have completely different symptoms and signs than another. Hopefully, the stories presented here will help you appreciate that and the mental gyrations your physician has to go through to figure out what your ailment is and how to treat you.