Doctor and patient : hints to both / by Dr. Robert Gersuny ... ; translated, with the permission of the author, by A. S. Levetus ; with a preface by D. J. Leech.

  • Gersuny, Robert.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Doctor and patient : hints to both / by Dr. Robert Gersuny ... ; translated, with the permission of the author, by A. S. Levetus ; with a preface by D. J. Leech. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    each supposed failure tends to deepen the mistrust. Hence nothing but an astonishing success can then reinstate the doctor in his former position. Many medical men are so sensitive that, on the slightest sign of lack of confidence they adopt the final course and retire from the case. Such a decision may give momentary satisfaction ; but it is nobler to be forbearing, and to remember that a sick person needs pity and cannot always be held accountable for what he does. By seeming acquiescence the doctor will show his moral superiority and make the patient ashamed, but at the same time thankful to him. In some people a predisposition to distrust everyone is inborn and cannot be overcome, while yet at heart they may be really attached to their doctors. I once attended a lady suffering from an incurable form of cancer. Though she was con- stantly detailing her sufferings to me, and begging for fresh means of alleviation, her nurse at last confided to me that while the sick woman had each prescription made up at the chemist's she did not use the remedies for fear they might do her harm. I casually asked to see the remains of the medicines, and she was forced to make a confession, for the bottles were quite full and the