An open letter to Ms. Sicam

Dear Ma’am,

You have offended a number of my colleagues.  But what amazed me is that most of your co-journalists were also offended by your transgressing article “Are Resident Doctors Really Doctors” published in the Opinion section of Mindanao Times dated July 20, 2015.

Let me start by introducing myself as a physician, only 2 years in practice, have not started my residency training yet but I am a doctor, nonetheless.

Now, regarding your offensive article. Thank you for emphasizing Senator Santiago’s stand against malpractice. But i guess you haven’t heard or read, the senator is actually probing on the businesswoman, Antonia Carandang-Park , who treated a little girl’s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with stem cell therapy only to find out the so-called Dr. Park is a fake. Now there was no mention Ms. Carandang-Park  is a “resident” doctor, if i remember correctly. We are all against malpractice, Madame. It is also an insult to us licensed physicians, who were made to swear to “do no harm” by our great grandfather, Hippocrates.

Resident doctors BELIEVE they’re “doctors” because they have finished 4 years of premedical course, 4 years of doctor of medicine degree, a year of internship, passed the Physician licensure exam, passed their pre-residency screening! They gave up all the “nightlives” a young adult could have, they gave up seeing their young children grow, they gave up all important family affairs just to pass the course, they go on duty for 36 hours or more just to tend to patients. They barely have time to go out of the hospital hence they are called “residents”! They deserve to be called “doctors”.

You mentioned that you only recognize the doctors who are compassionate, who gave you attention, and who have big hearts and gentle hands that cure the sick but, Madame, i tell you, those you see in the emergency room are only a part and parcel of the whole medical field.  You have a very limited definition of what a doctor is. We have pathologists, radiologists, anesthesiologists who have less patient interactions but still are doctors and have very big impacts on implementing proper patient care. You have the DOH secretary and heads of offices who are all doctors but do not interact first-hand with patients, but are vital for implementing disease prevention and primary health care in this country.

In the hospitals, Madame, we have a section in the emergency room we call triage.  This section, often manned by a licensed doctor, identifies which department (internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics or obstetrics) should see the patient and identify which patients needs immediate care and who doesn’t. You mentioned your friend came in for acute heart pain?  A chest pain is not always due to a heart disease.  We have differential diagnoses for every symptom a patient feels, the diagnosis may range from a non-serious costochondritis to gastroesphageal reflux disease to myocardial infarction.  However, regarding management in the emergency room, it always depends on the urgency of your patient’s condition.  In most public hospitals, only 1 or 2 resident physician go on duty in the emergency room.  Oftentimes, there is at least 10 patients arriving at the same time in the ER; let us say, two are dead on arrival, two are in coma but still have heartbeats, two are having shortness of breath due to asthma and due to gunshot, two are having massive bleeding, one is in severe acute chest pain and the last one is having mild acute chest pain.  If you were the resident at that time, Madame, with all common sense, who among these do you attend to first? For a resident doctor who hadn’t eaten lunch nor dinner, who hadn’t had bathroom privelege for 10 hours at least, who stayed awake while all the world is sleeping, who do you think among the patients will he attend to first?

As for the nurse, Madame, she answered you “nurse ako. Ano PO ba ang problema?” she was, actually, asking you of the history of your patient’s problem.  She even used PO just to be courteous, but you answered with “ikaw ang nurse, dapat alam mo ang problema”. Now who’s arrogance are we talking about here? Probably she observed that your patient was okay so you weren’t entertained for another hour, or she was actually pissed off by your answer so she made you wait on purpose!  A common response to someone who is arrogant and impatient, and who sounds so demanding and audacious.

I have to say the “no uniform, no name tag, no insigna (are we members of the armed forces?)…did not answer in english” made me laugh.  We have the scrub suit, madame, we can also attend to patients without our white coat on.  Your fake doctor, Ms. Park, wore smock gown and they believed she was a doctor! Your resident physician wore casual clothing and you thought he was a fake? C’mon..  Madame, you are in a public hospital, majority of our patients there are those who have less in life and underprivileged, they would be intimidated if you speak to them in english.  You should have told the doctor that you only understand English, I’m sure he will speak the language fluently, and explain to you the condition of your patient in layman terms for you to understand fully.

You are wondering if these are the kinds of nurses and doctors that we have right now? Yes Ma’am.  These are the kind of compassionate, attentive doctors and nurses we have in the country right now, with the heart and hand for all patients.  These are the doctors and nurses who are in-demand abroad because of their dedication and motivation to work. Now, may I ask you, is this the kind of journalism we have in the country right now? Biased and prejudiced and is not even based on facts and clearly with no proper research?

I have heard Senator Santiago said that “The government is duty-bound to protect its citizens from unscrupulous individuals who claim to be practitioners of medicine and other professions without legitimate education, training and experience”.  But a bill to punish some “arrogant” licensed and experienced resident doctors? For real? In that case, I’d also like to suggest a bill punishing unscrupulous politicians, policemen, traffic enforcers, custom officers, lawyers and journalists.

Madame, I actually reacted later than my colleagues, because I always would consider where a person is coming from. However, i have a hard time putting myself in your shoes! Because, earlier today, I asked my 12-year old nephew, “are resident doctors real doctors?”, he answered “of course”.  Madame, I can’t fathom why you even have to ask that?!

Love,

One-of-the-doctors-who-will-come-to-your-aid-when-you-get-sick