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OtherArt of Family Medicine

We do what we can

Sarah Fraser
Canadian Family Physician February 2018, 64 (2) 135;
Sarah Fraser
Author and a family physician practising in Dartmouth, NS.
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Figure1

It will come as no surprise to physicians that our patients do not always do as we say. Treatment cannot be imposed upon the competent patient, even if in his or her best interest. I wrote this poem as a second-year medical student. It is about recognizing that we cannot always help everyone, and about the process of growing to be okay with that.

Teenage apathy versus cervical adenopathy

The teenager’s adenopathy (lump)

blanketed one side of her neck

Her drug list was long.

cigarettes, alcohol, special K,

marijuana, benzos

fentanyl and amphetamines

What? she said

When left to their own devices

Some people try shit

While I was palpating her nodes

she requested to leave for a smoke

I told her the exam wouldn’t last much longer and

her boyfriend encouraged her to stay, too

She would need to see ENT

but had skipped such appointments in the past

Out for a smoke

and she didn’t come back

Two months later sitting on the street at night

she was begging for money with her boyfriend

I gave them five dollars

but they didn’t recognize me

or thank me for the money

which I was ambivalent about

Her adenopathy had grown significantly

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    None declared

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada
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Canadian Family Physician: 64 (2)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 64, Issue 2
1 Feb 2018
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We do what we can
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Canadian Family Physician Feb 2018, 64 (2) 135;

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