Are you a better doctor if you’ve experienced the illness or condition your patient has? I’ve wondered about this for years! Can a man know what it’s like to give birth, for example, and does experiencing this make a female doctor a better obstetrician as a result?
Can an overweight doctor give believable advice to a patient about how to lose weight?
If the doctor is wheezing can they adequately treat their asthmatic patients?
Sometimes there may be an advantage in having experienced something similar. For example I know what pain from gallstones is like (and yes, it is as bad as labour pains). However is it valid to believe that my experience was the same as yours? Maybe I will be less sympathetic if I think you are making more fuss than necessary about something because it didn’t affect me too badly. And why are so many gynaecologists men?
What do you think? Please let me know in the comment box.
