I forget

Writing solidifies thoughts. I have done a lot of reading in my life without much writing and I think that is selfish. There are a lot of interesting things and people that I see, hear, and experience and to let them vanish into the emptiness that is my memory makes it feel like a waste. Here's a good example. A patient of mine today who has COPD told me that his primary care doctor of at least two years has never once laid a stethoscope on his chest to auscultate his heart or lungs. He also said, after a simple 15 minute discussion, that I was the first doctor to look at him during a medical interview. (His doctor stares at the computer the whole time.) Physicians do not treat the human body they treat the person who is body and soul. I am afraid that this physician is becoming the rule and not the exception in my field. It takes knowledge to know how to treat a number on a computer screen but it takes wisdom to treat a person. I hope remember this now.